The Indian Automobile industry is nowadays booming with surfeit automobile manufacturers who are filling Indian roads with their diverse range of vehicles. The density of SUVs on the Indian roads has increased manifold over the past decade.
There was a time when only SUV which turned heads on Indian roads was the mighty and muscular Honda CR-V but as soon as the prices of petrol flew off the hook there has been a considerable decrease in the sales of CR-V. Taking advantage of the fall, Chevrolet rolled out its Captiva Diesel and took the market for a while. But the charm of Captiva wasn’t enough to sustain it in the market and eventually it was sidelined by a less popular brand Nissan. Nissan X-Trail also failed to generate buzz in the market due to its high price and brand value. Thus came Santa Fe throwing both Captiva and X-Trail off the track. But no car can rule the roads alone and there is always some other mean machine waiting to take the predecessor head-on. So Renault Koleos came barging through the doors of India.
It has not been long that Renault has stepped into the automobile industry here in India. Now that they have launched their first SUV Koleos in the Indian market, there is a close contender monitoring every move of it. Hyundai Santa Fe seems to have a fierce rivalry with Renault Koleos and hereby we will adjudicate the features of both by their looks and ergonomics.
Design Feature
The common feature between both cars is the monocoque chassis which is used in designing the car. Thus there are no dyed-in-the-wool ladder frames which are put to use in the manufacturing of Koleos and Santa Fe.
Renault Koleos :-
One thing is for sure that the outer body of Koleos is widely different from that of upbeat Sante Fe. Critical analysis by experts has rated Renault Koleos on a better scale than Hyundai Sante Fe in terms of looks and design. This advantage of Koleos over Sante Fe is due to the uplifted semblance of the car over Hyundai Santa Fe. Renault Koleos comes with highly-mounted headlights and a conventional and customarily wide grille. And adding to all this the chin of the car is wedge-shaped which adds bonus points to its looks from the front side. Koleos has special nacelles which serve as fog-lights and along with that there is a faux scuff plate attached. The fit to bust wheel arches give the vehicle a more sporty appeal. Roofline is commendable and so are the wrap-around taillights.
Hyundai Santa Fe :-
The design of the Sante Fe is altogether different in par with Renault Koleos as Santa Fe has more height than Koleos and makes the best out of the vertical space available to it. The capability of holding passengers is more in the case of Hyundai Santa Fe than Renault Koleos as in Santa Fe the front two rows can easily and comfortably accommodate at least five passengers. There is a section in the back especially for kids. Santa Fe has headlights which are quite spaced out owing to the designing of the car in 2007. If the grille is to be compared then one can easily make out narrowness in the grille of Santa Fe whereas on the other hand Koleos has a wide and bulkier grille.
Ergonomically there are many similarities between Santa Fe and Koleos as both house obliquely mounted engines and the suspensions installed in both the cars is autonomous. Both come equipped with system of four-wheel drives along with four-wheel lock, which ensure that the car remains on track even in the most adverse road conditions.
Hyundai Santa Fe is approximately 266 kg heavier than Renault Koleos and thus Santa Fe comes fitted with wider tyres and larger wheels.
Ergonomics and Driving Force
The feeling of sitting behind the wheel of both the cars is altogether different as there is a considerable difference in the ergonomics associated with Koleos and Santa Fe.
Renault Koleos :-
This is the section where the Santa Fe is a step ahead of Koleos as the acceleration of Koleos is quite slow in comparison to that of Santa Fe. The response of the Koleos gearbox is pretty laissez-faire and apathetic and this is the reason why Koleos takes time to shoot up. Koleos comes in both automatic and well as manual transmission modes but it the manual transmission mode is more firmly recommended due to better handling and increased scope of thrust. Koleos gives an rpm count of 4500 and at this rate the car can fare well and take on traffic but still one cannot ensure optimum satisfactory performance from the car. It takes Koleos 12.1 seconds to go from 0-100kmph which is considered as average pickup rate of most SUVs.
Hyundai Santa Fe:-
Even if Santa Fe is heavier than Koleos yet 50bhp along with 2.2 L engine gives it a better thrust of power than Koleos. Thus the acceleration of Santa Fe is much better than that of Koleos as it is capable of jumping from 0-100kmph in a humble 10.2 seconds which is almost 2 seconds quicker than Koleos. The engine is capable of delivering an impressive torque which in turn assures better performance. If the suspension of both the cars is to be measured then one will realize that the suspension that comes with Santa Fe is stiffer than that of Koleos and as a result Santa Fe can take bumps much better than Koleos.
Price Range
Hyundai Sante Fe starts at a base price of Rs.21,74,065 and goes on till Rs.24,69,894 whereas Renault Koleos starts from Rs.22,99,000 which is more expensive than the base price offered by Hyundai for Santa Fe.
