Preparing to Check Out the New Hyundai Santa Fe

New Hyundai Santa Fe

New Hyundai Santa Fe

Last August the folks at Hyundai took a bunch of non-auto-centric bloggers to Park City, Utah to check out the new 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport. I described the experience here and the drive test here. It was a great experience, and the only thing missing was the full-sized 3-row Santa Fe. Now that is ready and today I am preparing to check out the New Hyundai Santa Fe !

This time the folks at Hyundai are taking us to Coronado, California. For those who don’t know, Coronado is “an affluent resort city located in San Diego County, California, across San Diego Bay from downtown San Diego”. We are being put up in the historic Hotel Del Coronado – which looks like an amazing place. Here is a picture I found at this site that shows the hotel in the foreground with the bridge to San Diego in the background. Yeah … I like the looks of this place.

HotelDelCoronado

There are two obvious elements about a ‘junket’ like this – the trip and the vehicle. The trip itself seems guaranteed to be every bit as wonderful as the one in August to the Montage Deer Valley resort, and this time rather than Olympic Park we get to choose between visiting the San Diego Zoo or going hang-gliding/paragliding! If you know me, you can guess my choice – paragliding! The hotel looks amazing, combining luxurious accommodations with a layout that integrates it into the surroundings organically. It is more 125 years old, and I can’t wait to see the rich history first hand.

As for the New Santa Fe … I am excited to check it out. I know these are not exactly ‘sexy’ cars for many, but for myself it is perfect. Integrating storage, practicality, all-weather capability, amenities, fun and more were things that excited me about the Santa Fe Sport. And one of the most important pictures I took was of the rear seat space:

Preparing to Check Out the New Hyundai Santa Fe

The issue for me is that while I am over 6′ 1″ tall, I have two teen boys who are each 6’3″ tall! They get absolutely squished up in the back of my Ford Escape, so I was happy that the rear seat was roomier. But very often we are carting around a couple of their friends, which means taking my wife’s Mazda 5 – three rows but very small! So naturally I was excited about the full-sized Santa Fe … and now we get to check it out!

The questions abound – is the rear row comfortable? What compromises were made? Does it still feel zippy and fun? And OMG I can’t want to cruise along the Pacific Ocean, something I haven’t done in nearly a decade (and then only in the Silicon Valley area).

But as I have always mentioned, there are a few things closest to my heart (aside from gadgets): first is my family. Having been traveling a load for a work project the last couple of months has made me realize just how many people have no issue spending Monday through Friday in a different state from their spouse and kids – but it absolutely shreds me! So I naturally made sure I could FaceTime my wife and kids regularly … here is the Verizon 4G map – awesome full coverage:

Coronado Coverage

My other frequent posting topic is my running habit – so it should come as no surprise that one of the first things I did after I decided with my family that I would be going was to check out running routes on Coronado island. Basically – you can go anywhere! And given that the high temperature is forecast at 70 degrees, after I settle in at the hotel I plan to do precisely that! I have found a load of different routes, but pretty much plan to loop the town and run the beach a bit, which will total out around 7-8 miles. Here is a selection of routes greater than 7 miles on the island, with a great looking 7.5 mile course highlighted!

Coronado Run Maps

For all the details of the new Santa Fe, head to Hyundai News. And keep your eyes on Gear Diary here as well as on Facebook and Twitter for updates over the course of the weekend. We are not the only group checking out the new vehicle, so in fairness they are asking everyone to hold their drive impressions until Monday the 18th. But I will be providing loads of pics and my impressions of the experience all weekend long!

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About the Author

Michael Anderson
I have loved technology for as long as I can remember - and have been a computer gamer since the PDP-10! Mobile Technology has played a major role in my life - I have used an electronic companion since the HP95LX more than 20 years ago, and have been a 'Laptop First' person since my Compaq LTE Lite 3/20 and Powerbook 170 back in 1991! As an avid gamer and gadget-junkie I was constantly asked for my opinions on new technology, which led to writing small blurbs ... and eventually becoming a reviewer many years ago. My family is my biggest priority in life, and they alternate between loving and tolerating my gaming and gadget hobbies ... but ultimately benefits from the addition of technology to our lives!