Three Hyundais

In 2011 I was cruising around in a dream machine. It was a 2.7litre. V6. 24V.... Hyundai. Ok bit of a damp squib there. However it did make me feel like James Bond and also transported me around during a significant point in 2007. In some respects this was my escape vehicle. 

It also took my dad and I on an incredible 3000mile road trip to Sorrento and back (2009) taking in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Italy.

Then something happened.

The possibility of dogs joining our family and an all too near miss with total disaster. The dogs is an easy on too explain. It's a coupe and not really suitable. 

The near miss happened on the weekend of my wife's 40th birthday (2011). She'd travelled down to Cornwall with her mate for a couple of days. The plan was for me to drive down later and spend a couple of days with her as well while her friend returned home. My very alternative route had a scheduled travel time of 6 hours 40 mins covering 315miles. 

Yes Surrey isn't 315 miles from Cornwall.

On one such section I parked on the side of the road to have a leak. I believe I was in the area of Dinahs Hollow on the B3081. While absorbing the view and wetting the ground I heard a car horn. Somehow I felt the need to go and look. 

What I saw still makes me sweat with fear. My beloved car was across both lanes of the road with the back end resting on a fence. Beyond the fence was literally straight down. Had the fence not held I would be down 1 Hyundai Coupe. I believe what had happened was that I hadn't put the handbrake on properly. I'd noticed on the Sorrento trip that on steep hills the handbrake wasn't quite strong enough so instead left it in gear. I really should have continued with this habit - from this point on I did and continue to do so!

With luck - some luck - damage was barely noticeable. A small piece of plastic trim had popped out so I popped it back in again. The fright was enough and convinced me that perhaps it was time for a change.

So what to choose? As a kid I spent most of my life in 4x4s and perhaps my destiny of car ownership was to join the 4x4 crew. There is a huge choice but very few that actually took my eye. I'm quite a rough and ready chap but my wife requires some creature comforts. This sadly ruled out Defenders. In the end I looked seriously at Nissan's X Trail. But I found them to be over priced in my opinion.

Then browsing through some car dealer websites I came across the Hyundai Tucson. It ticked all the boxes and had plenty of space. Including a cabin that would fold completely flat. The garage in question was the same place I'd got the Coupe from so I knew the salesman and was only too pleased to help and give us a good price for the Coupe. Considering we were getting dogs the good omen came in the form of a dog chew found in the boot. 

This was the car for us.

It's first meaningful test was only a month after we'd got it. You may remember the snow of 2011 and the standstill it left the country in. Well during this time we'd booked to pick up Edwid (our first dog) from the breeder - somewhere Farnham way. The breeder was going on holiday later that day so we had to get her then or face delay by a month. 

As night fell the snow covered the region. Well over a foot deep in places. Our plan was to get up and go early. Although a relatively short journey it could take hours to get there and the less cars on the road the better. So 6am came and off we went with water, emergency blankets, shovel and a sack of grit. We passed abandoned vehicles and lone cars struggling on hills - I would have stopped if there wasn't a more pressing appointment.The snow kept falling and getting deeper but eventually we made it.

The Tucson got us there without a single slip or skid. I drove carefully in the normal factory tyres and they didn't miss a beat. Not once. The journey home was a different experience. By the time we left the snow fall had abated meaning that every dick in the world had decided to drive. It took us two hours to get home because people thought their Ford Ka could make it. Junctions were blocked. Roads were blocked. I did consider following a pickup driving up the middle of the road passing all the stuck traffic.

I remember on one hill outside Camberley all the cars were struggling to get up it. A Smart car tried and then slid backwards only to try and retry with the same result. I was beginning to lose my patience now so I whacked on my full beams, punched the horn and off we went. Straight up the hill. Not a single moment of slip.

Well 5 years on and the clock is now on 85000miles - it only had 20000m when I bought him. Marlon (I do name my cars) has been a working star. It has only genuinely failed once to get me out of something and that was when mud trapped it in a field. Acceptable given a Land Rover Discovery also got stuck.

So why change? Well space is one thing. Although we can fit in all the camping stuff using a Thule Roof Bag it does mean my wife is a bit cramped. From a technical point the car is fine and could well cover another 80k before something drops off - so far nothing has gone wrong in any sense at all. 

During the search for a new car I looked and tried many of the 4x4s out there. But there is something lacking in the market place. Namely a decent non-premium SUV. I did look at Ssangyongs and Dacia and even stretched to pick ups from Great Wall and Mitsubishi. All had their plus points but the number one on my list was a 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe. For one year this car became a special edition. Loaded with extras and with a huge .. no ... H U G E capacity. It would be perfect. Sadly the current version in my opinion doesn't come close.

I was on the brink of just carrying on with the Tucson (which was in no way a bad thing) when I spotted an advert on the website of the garage I'd got my Coupe and Tucson from. It isn't mine yet but subject to a viewing tomorrow my third Hyundai could well be coming home.