What: Santa Fe Club Grand EB

When: Sunday - March 15, 2009 starting 4:30PM

Where: The Texas Roadhouse Grill, Bonifacio Street High (View Map)

Sticker distribution and FREEBIES will be given away!

Hyundai Santa Fe has been the number one selling midsize SUV in New Zealand since it entered the market back in 2006. In the same year, it won the Energywise Rally, which is a four day event that shows motorists how they can slash their fuel bills by choosing a fuel-efficient car and driving it in a fuel efficient manner.

Most recently, a diesel powered Santa Fe, claimed the large lifestyle vehicle class in the AA Energywise economy rally returning an outstanding fuel economy average of just 5.9 litres per 100km over the four day, 1641km trial to find New Zealands most cost effective vehicles to operate.

The 2.2 litre CRDi Santa Fe easily beat its factory fuel economy figure of 7.3L/100km and is outstanding for a vehicle with go anywhere four-wheel-drive abilities, seating for up to seven people and a towing capacity of 2000kgs (braked).

Hyundai officials have been thrilled with the result, especially because Santa Fe did better than some of the smaller cars from the classes below. The fact that Santa Fe is as cheap to run per kilometre as a medium sized sedan shows the ability of Hyundais world class diesel technology to power a much larger and usable vehicle yet still return outstanding fuel economy.

But the Santa Fe wasnt the sole Hyundai contender in the event. It was joined by six other vehicles from the range, all powered by diesel engine. As a matter of fact, Hyundai was the only car company to feature a car in every class of the rally.

All Hyundai vehicles that entered the rally also beat the proposed 2015 Government target of 170grams CO2 per KM. The Hyundai i30 hatch returned a truly frugal 4.1L/100km (108 g/KM), the medium sized Sonata 4.9L/100km (Sonata 130 g/KM) and the large luxury class Grandeur consumed just 6.1L/100km (161 g/KM). Hyundais entry-level car, the Getz, achieved 126 g/KM, while Tucson and Santa Fe achieved 151 and 157 gm/KM respectively.

Source: Hyundai Blog

The Australian authorities have banned this popular New Zealand made television advertisement meant for promoting Hyundai’s Santa Fe. The advertisement has shown a kid driving Santa Fe. The Advertising Standards Bureau of Australia has stated that it decided to ban this advertisement after receiving more than 80 complaints. However, the advertisement in question was voted to become most popular ad last year in New Zealand.

The ASB in its ruling cited that the ad depicted an illegal driving practice. While the complaints maintained that the advertisement would encourage copy-cat behavior in young children and it might lead to accidents.

Reacting to the development Hyundai spokesman Richard Power told the Daily Telegraph that the ad was aimed at adults and since it had a PG rating it was aired during the adult time slot of 8.30pm to midnight.

source: ADpunch