In the roughly 24 years the Hyundai Santa Fe has been on sale in the USA, it’s gone through lots of changes. On the tech front, cars from the early 2000s are pretty much dinosaurs. The Santa Fe has evolved, but up until now, each new generation at least resembled the old one – pick a model year and park it next to the previous one at any point in the last two decades, and you could see it was the same SUV, just updated. Enter the fifth-generation 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe.
This time, it does not look like the same vehicle. At all. And we’re okay with that because it’s a fantastic change in direction. This is the future of Hyundai, not the past. This Santa Fe is bold, blocky to the extreme, bigger, and pretty much better in every way. Of course, nothing is perfect – and we do have our gripes – but they’re minor. A day of driving through the twisting country roads outside Nashville, Tennessee, allowed us to see just how close Hyundai came to perfect.
Exterior: H Stands For Hyundai
The exterior design of the Santa Fe is a love-it-or-hate-it proposition. We love it because it doesn’t look like every other SUV – well, unless you happen to be a fan of the Defender. They added almost two inches to the wheelbase of the new generation, 1.8 inches to the overall length, and 1.4 inches to the height, so it doesn’t just look bigger, it is bigger. The blocky design makes it seem like a lot more than a few inches, but this is still considered a mid-size SUV with less room all around than the larger Palisade.
It looks rugged and off-road ready, and if that’s your goal, there’s the XRT trim with added goodies, including all-terrain tires, and an additional 1.3 inches of ground clearance to help you handle tricky terrain. The Santa Fe also has a funky little grab handle just behind the rear doors. It blends in with the C-pillar, but a light press pops it open, creating a handhold. The idea is to make it easier to hop up on the door sill and reach stuff on the roof, but while that’s great in concept, we found it an awkward reach compared to just grabbing the roof rail and hiking yourself up.
Hyundai decided to make sure everyone knows you’re in a Hyundai by incorporating an H into the design at every opportunity. At the back, there are H-themed taillights. Up front, H headlamps that combine with a light bar just under the hood to create – you guessed it – an elongated H. Another one finds its way into the front fascia. The H lighting is a standout feature and works well with the huge fenders and angular sheet metal to create a cohesive design.
Interior: It’s A Looker
The whole H theme continues inside, starting with the pattern on the seat backs. There’s also an H on the backs of the front seats along with two little hooks for groceries, backpacks, purses, or anything small you don’t want rolling around underfoot. Hyundai is getting dangerously close to Louis Vuitton monogram territory, but they haven’t quite crossed that line.
There’s a range of seating surfaces, from cloth on the base models to quilted Nappa leather on the top Calligraphy trim, which was what we drove for the bulk of our jaunt around Nashville. It also has open-pore wood accents, giving it a premium look. Hyundai has long had a knack for giving its top trims a touch of luxury with attractive materials and thoughtful features, and they did it again with the Santa Fe.
Parents especially will appreciate the available driver’s relaxation seat – it’s one of the Santa Fe’s coolest features. When the Santa Fe is not in motion, the seat morphs into a living room recliner complete with leg rest. It’s great for catching a quick nap while waiting for the kids to come out of whatever activity has you waiting in the parking lot yet again. It’s also perfect for taking a quick break during lengthy road trips.
Seating: Now With Three rows
Depending on the model year, the Santa Fe had two rows or three. Hyundai even had the Santa Fe XL as a standalone three-row model and the Santa Fe Sport as a two-row. Confused? So was everyone else. Now, thanks to its larger wheelbase, three rows with seating for up to seven are standard across the lineup.
Second-row captain’s chairs are optional and far more comfortable for older kids and adults, but that takes seating down to seven. The third-row seats aren’t huge, but they aren’t awful. There’s good headroom back there, but keep your tall friends further to the front so their legs aren’t squished. Dual cupholders, available air vents, and USB-C charging ports make sure third-row passengers don’t feel forgotten.
Infotainment: All The Right Stuff
The Santa Fe features a panoramic curved display that houses both the digital instrument cluster and the 12.3 infotainment screen. It’s oriented toward the driver, but not so much so that it becomes a tough reach for the front passenger. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto make connecting smartphones easy. Available dual wireless charging pads sit in the expansive center console, and they hold your phone snug in place even through sharp turns; there’s no worry about them sliding off and shooting into some unreachable spot on the floor.
There’s also a bit of unique technology in the form of a UV-C sanitizer tray. Yeah, it’s a little odd. It’s on the passenger side above the glove box. Open it up, add your phone, keys, sunglasses, or whatever you think is a bit germy, then push the sanitizing button on the center console. Ten minutes later, the process is complete. We’re not sure how often the urge to sanitize all your stuff will strike, but it’s there just in case.
Cargo: Massive Liftgate
The back of the Santa Fe looks like it belongs to a far larger SUV. It’s not unbalanced or unattractive, it’s just big. This makes for a cavernous opening that measures 30 inches high and 44.5 inches across. The idea here was to create a space that not only works for cargo, but also serves as a sort of outdoor living space.
Time to learn a little Korean: Take the word “cha” for ‘car’ and “bak” for ‘stay,’ and you have the concept of chabak. Instead of camping in a tent, chabak embraces the notion of using your car as a camper. Should you choose, you can fit an air mattress in the Santa Fe and make it your tent. If you’re not into that whole outdoorsy thing, just focus on how easy it is to load cargo thanks to that wide opening. There’s 14.6 cubic feet behind the third row, 40.5 cubic feet behind the second row, and 79.6 cubic feet behind the first row. It can also tow up to 4,500 pounds in its most capable guise.
Powertrains: Two Choices
The Santa Fe is available with either a gas or hybrid engine. The gas option is a 2.5-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder with 277 horsepower and 311 lb-ft of torque paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission. It has plenty of oomph to get the Santa Fe moving and if you mash the gas, that highway merge is easy. This isn’t a sports car, so don’t get too excited, but it easily manages its own bulk.
The second option is a 1.6-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder hybrid with 231 net system horsepower and 271 lb-ft of torque paired to a six-speed automatic. This engine is arriving stateside a bit later and wasn’t available for test drives. We expect it to be just as responsive despite the lower outputs but with the upside of better fuel economy. Speaking of which, front-wheel drive trims with the gas engine get an EPA-estimated 20/29/24 mpg city/highway/combined, while hybrid trims get 36/35/36 mpg. All-wheel drive drops those numbers for both engines, with gas trims getting 20/28/23 mpg and hybrids at 35/34/34 mpg.
Drive Impressions: Focused On Comfort
Our drive route for the Santa Fe included both highways and twisting country roads. The Santa Fe is quiet and well-mannered in highway driving, easily getting up to speed without a racket from the engine or transmission. Even under hard acceleration, this is a quiet SUV ideal for families. If you’re driving a sports car, you want all the engine noise you can get, but in an SUV, you want kids to be able to nap. Despite the blocky exterior design, there was a minimum of wind noise as well.
The Santa Fe handles well with relaxed steering that is responsive without being tiring. The comfy front seats add to the drive experience, providing enough support to avoid road weariness without being stiff or confining. Something we find awkward, however, is the gear shift placement, as it’s hidden behind the steering wheel, so setting eyes on it to shift gears often means moving the wheel a little for a better view.
We also ventured into the countryside outside of Nashville where there were plenty of hills and narrow, twisty roads. This isn’t the type of driving where an SUV typically shines, especially a larger one like the Santa Fe, but it did surprisingly well. While you won’t be tossing it through the corners like a Miata, you also won’t be struggling to manage its bulk.
Hyundai also gave us the opportunity to take the rugged XRT trim on an off-road course that, thankfully, was an actual off-road course and not just a dirt road. Steep hills, rocky descents, and uneven dirt tracks all proved no problem. It can take on more aggressive off-road terrain than the average SUV can manage.
Conclusion: An Affordable Family Hauler
The Santa Fe with the gas engine runs from $33,950 to $46,500 with front-wheel drive. Add $1,800 for all-wheel drive to any trim except the XRT, which is all-wheel drive only. Pricing for the hybrid, which is only available in three trims, starts at $36,950 and goes up to $47,000 with the same $1,800 premium for all-wheel drive. This keeps things within the range of affordability, with the option to stretch your budget if you want a more attractive interior.
There are more affordable options out there, but the Santa Fe differentiates itself on several fronts to make it worth your consideration. It’s well-equipped even in the base SE trim, offers premium amenities on the top Calligraphy, and has a responsive gas engine that makes it a pleasant drive. Its solid range of trims includes the off-road XRT, the option for all-wheel drive, and the late-arriving hybrid to further its appeal. It’s a versatile family vehicle with the features and versatility to manage family life.