Sir Brandley Wiggins is a seven-time Olympic medalist and was the first Briton to win the Tour de France. In the 2014 road cycling season, there was speculation that Wiggins would found a new team as part of his preparations for the 2016 Olympic Games. Sure enough, by the end of 2014, Team Wiggins had been formed. For 2016, Team Wiggins has partnered with Hyundai, who is providing a fleet of five different vehicles as a mobile support squad during 2016 Tour of Britain and other European races during the 2016 racing season. To commemorate this partnership, Hyundai is releasing a limited-production Santa Fe, dubbed Team Wiggins Edition. There is nothing major about the limited-run model, but this special Santa Fe is equipped quite well, sports some subtle Team Wiggins badges, and is actually priced to sell.

Hyundai’s marketing director, David Pugh, said, “We’re proud to be supporting Team Wiggins this year. Sir Bradley is one of Britain’s sporting icons, and his team is innovative, dedicated and full of perseverance. We share that ethos at Hyundai, and it’s great to be able to celebrate this successful partnership by issuing a desirable twist on one of our own icons, the flagship Santa Fe. The Team Wiggins Edition is packed full of equipment, looks the part but crucially offers great value too. Buyers will need to be quick to snap up the 500-car run.”

That value that Pugh is talking about is the official price of this limited-run flagship. It is based on the Santa Fe Premium SE, but is actually priced about £700 (about $943) less than the standard model and is being produced in just 500 examples. When speaking of the partnership between the team and Hyundai, Sir Bradley Wiggins said, “It’s great to be working with Hyundai this year – the company is a great fit with a really positive spirit and attitude. The diversity of the cars at our disposal has already proved invaluable in the Tour of Yorkshire, and the Santa Fe has been a big hit with the team. I’m very proud to put my name to this limited run of special Team Wiggins Edition models and am looking forward to putting the range through its paces over the summer racing season and beyond.”

With just 500 examples being produced, it is sure to be snatched up quickly – if not by cycling fans in Europe, it will certainly be snatched up by those looking to save a little money over stepping up to the Premium SE trim level. So, with that said, let’s take a better look at the Santa Fe Team Wiggins Edition.

Continue reading to learn more about the Hyundai Santa Fe Team Wiggins Edition.

2016 Hyundai Santa Fe Team Wiggins Edition

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  • Model: 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe Team Wiggins Edition
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What makes the Hyundai Santa Fe Team Wiggins Edition special

Based on the Premium SE, the Team Wiggins Edition model is very well equipped with lots of features, including third-row seating, leather upholstery, heated and ventilated front seats, heated steering wheel, keyless entry, and a 10-speaker audio system, among other things. There aren’t any major changes to the interior, but there are custom floor mats that bare the “Wiggins” name with a logo on the outside edge. Aside from this, the interior is bone stock, but that’s not that big of a deal since the model is based on the Premium SE and is pretty much fully loaded.

On the outside, the Team Wiggins Edition Santa Fe gets the best features Hyundai has to offer. This includes a panoramic sunroof, smart electric tailgate, smart parking assist, smart high beam and dynamic bending lights, all as standard equipment. The special-edition model comes with 19-inch wheels, just like the standard model it is based on, but these wheels are all-new, sport a gunmetal grey finish, and are wrapped in 235/55-series tires. Furthermore, the SUV has been tagged with Team Wiggins badges on the front wings, running bars, and those new wheels. The biggest news about the exterior is the availability of five limited body colors. There is an all-new pearl-effect White Crystal, Solid Creamy White, Metallic Titanium Silver, Metallic Ocean View, and pearl-effect Phantom Black – all of which are excellent color choices and really stand out on the Santa Fe.

The Team Wiggins Edition is only being offered in a seven-seat configuration with a 2.2-liter, CRDi, diesel that offers up 197 horsepower. This is the only engine available, but it comes equipped with all-wheel drive and is available with a manual or automatic transmission. Pricing starts out at £35,995 for the model with a manual transmission and £38,295 when equipped with an automatic transmission. Priced in this way, the model actually runs £705 cheaper than the recommended “on-the-road” price, regardless of transmission choice.

All told, the Santa Fe Team Wiggins Edition is actually pretty well equipped, without going overboard – at first, I expected to see this thing loaded to the gills with equipment related to cycling, but this thing doesn’t even come standard with a bike rack. Normally, I think manufacturers go overboard trying to over-equip models to make them worthy of a special-edition badge, but this time around, Hyundai almost didn’t even try. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, as this model is actually cheaper than the standard Premium SE. And that, my friends, means that car actually has a value that most overzealous special editions don’t have.

Hyundai Santa Fe

The Hyundai Santa Fe was released in 2001 as the Korean brand’s first model in the SUV/crossover segment. Since then, it has gone through two major generational changes, with the most recent coming back in 2012. That said, it was no surprise when Hyundai showed up at the Chicago Auto show with refreshed model. The Santa Fe didn’t change much upon first inspection, but Hyundai claimed to have changed some 350 individual parts – a figure that computes to about one-quarter of the SUV itself. The Santa Fe is sold in various markets across the globe and in a number of different trim levels. Here in the U.S., however, we have just four trim levels – the SE, Limited, SE Ultimate, and Limited Ultimate. Pricing starts out at $30,800 for the entry-level model and climbs to as much as $39,400 for the range-topping Limited Ultimate. While the model is offered in some markets with the option of four-cylinder and diesel engines, it is only available in the U.S. with a 3.3-liter V-6 that delivers 290 horsepower and 252 pound-feet of torque. That means that choosing a trim level depends on your individual budget and what you look for as standard equipment.

Read our full review on the Hyundai Santa Fe here.