Not sure if this is the beginning of a growing trend but we've noticed that Hyundai, in particular, is doing something funny inside their engine bays. It started with their previous generation Santa Fe but seems to be imbedded into their brand now. Lift the hood on a current Santa Fe, four-cylinder or V-6, or a coming seven-passenger Veracruz (a pretty nice vehicle we'll be writing more about later) and you'll see a clean and open engine compartment. It may not be instantly obvious, but you'll notice a small uncomfortable feeling in the back of your mind as you stare at the two-tone plastic engine cover with the dipstick and engine oil filler opening right behind the radiator. If you line yourself up to the center of the engine, as determined by the plastic cover, you'll notice it's not in the center of the engine compartment where you'd expect a longitudinally mounted engine. From the three intake pipes running to either side (one to the right, the other to the left), it's easy to assume the Veracruz engine is a V-6. The only problem is that it's not a longitudinal aligned V-6, but a transverse-mounted V-6, like the vast majority of other crossover-type players in this segment.
So why would Hyundai go to all the trouble of making their transverse-mounted V-6 look like an offset (to the passenger side) longitudinally mounted V-6? We asked Hyundai that same question and were told that the cover is only used for the U.S. market because traditionally understood SUVs had their engines mounted in the direction of the rear axle and that was the image the designers and engineers wanted for their vehicle, which they also told us doesn't have the compromises in ride and handling that a traditional SUV has. Kind of an odd mixed message.
If you don't want to be identified with an SUV, why try to make it look like one, even under the hood? Interesting that there isn't some type of roughly translated proverb that suggests that straddling a fence too tightly can put your family jewels at risk. From our point of view, there's no shame is stating what you are and what you don't want to be, as long as you're not trying to hide something. But there's plenty of shame in trying too hard to play both sides of a fence.
Here's some good advice: If you want to make a vehicle for people who don't know anything about which direction their engine is pointing, make sure people who do know the difference never see it. Good luck with that.