NEW YORK--Today at the 2012 New York auto show, Hyundai debuted not one, but two new versions of the 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe for two different kinds of crossover buyers.
The first debut was the Santa Fe Sport, a small crossover that seats five. Under its hood, drivers have a choice between either a 190 horsepower direct-injected 2.4-liter engine that should net an estimated 33 highway mpg or the turbocharged and direct-injected 2.0-liter engine that outputs 264 horsepower at the expense of a pair of highway mpg. If these engines sound familiar, it's because they're the same that you can find powering the Hyundai Sonata. Whether this shared architecture means we'll ever see a Santa Fe Hybrid, remains to be seen.
Like the Sonata, the Santa Fe defaults to a front-wheel-drive configuration with a six-speed automatic transmission. Unlike the sedan, however, Hyundai's new crossover can be optioned with an all-wheel drive system that sends power on demand to the rear axle. Through a combination of true torque vectoring and torque braking, Hyundai claims that the Santa Fe Sport can control traction to each individual wheel without the driver ever knowing the system has intervened.
Hyundai also features an interesting Driver Selectable Steering Modes (DSSM) feature that gives users the choice between three settings for the power-steering system. Comfort decreases steering effort by 10 percent from the baseline normal mode for easy one-handed parking lot cruising. Likewise, the Sport setting increases steering effort by 10 percent, while also increasing steering feel for tackling winding roads.
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