The 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe has been revealed with the Korean car maker saying Australians can expect it towards the middle of this year.

BOASTING A RAFT of design and engineering changes and enhanced safety features, the fourth-generation 2019 Santa Fe “represents Hyundai’s ongoing commitment to delivering vehicles that feature world-class innovation and design”.

“The fourth-generation Santa Fe continues the model’s global success story. The first Santa Fe is the foundation of Hyundai Motor’s SUV heritage,” said Byung Kwon Rim, executive vice president at Hyundai Motor Company.

“Hyundai truly cares about the customer’s well-being. We offer innovative and unique active safety features and class-leading roominess for extra comfort.”

As you can see from the images, the new Santa Fe now shares its ‘look’ with the smaller Kona, getting twin headlights (LED main and LED DRLs) and the brand’s new-look cascading grille. The new Santa Fe measures 4770mm long, 1890mm wide and gets a wheelbase of 2765mm which should mean a spacious interior. Indeed, Hyundai claims there’s more head and legroom in the back with stadium style seating improving the view of those in the back seat. Headroom has also been improved by 22mm for those in the third-row seats. Hyundai reckons the new look rear-end design improves rearwards vision by a staggering 41%. While, just like BMW, the Santa Fe now gets extendable seat bases.

The Santa Fe gets Hyundai’s SmartSense active safety package with some key new features, like Rear Occupant Alert which monitors the rear seats to detect passengers and alert the driver that there are still passengers in the rear seat when leaving the car. The Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist is also a Hyundai first. “When reversing out of areas with low visibility, the system not only warns the driver if vehicles are approaching from the rear side, it also applies the brakes automatically. The Safety Exit Assist prevents accidents by sensing when vehicles approach from behind by temporarily locking the doors before being opened, so that passengers can exit the car safely.” SmartSense also includes, Blind-Spot Collision Warning, Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist with pedestrian detection, Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist, Lane Keeping Assist, Rear Occupant Alert, Safety Exit Assist and Speed Limit Info Function.

The Santa Fe continues to offer on-demand all-wheel drive, meaning that when the vehicle is cruising it will default to front wheel drive, only sending torque to the rear when needed. Just how much torque is shuffled around depends on the driving mode. In sport mode, up to 50 percent of torque is distributed to the rear wheels. In comfort mode, up to 35 percent is sent to the rear wheels. In eco mode, fuel efficiency is the aim of the game and so power is mainly sent to the front wheels. In slippery conditions the system automatically distributes power to all four wheels automatically.

The engines offered have been tweaked and are now mated to a new eight-speed automatic. The 2.2-litre CRDi engine offers 144kW and 436Nm of torque. Hyundai said its aim with the ride and handling “was to improve responsiveness and vehicle stability while also enhancing comfort and overall quietness”. The suspensions is now stiffer and offers longer travel for improved comfort on rough roads, or so it says. Extra sound deadening has been placed in the floor to reduce the amount of road noise leaking into the cabin. The cost-optional self-load-leveling suspension controls the continuous ride height regardless of the vehicle load by a self-contained damping and leveling control. As with all new Hyundais the fourth-generation Santa Fe has undergone local Australian testing and suspension tuning.

The new Santa Fe gets a proper heads-up display and not the retractable one the Kona offers. And the infotainment system offers smartphone mirroring and wireless charging.

Pricing and final specifications for the new Santa Fe haven’t been released. Stay tuned.