Hyundai Santa Fe 2024 review

As you might imagine with its expanded dimensions and more premium look and feel, the new Santa Fe has climbed up the price ladder, and not by a small amount, either.

The new entry-point, now simply called ‘Santa Fe’ is nearly $10,000 more expensive than the outgoing base model, now starting at $55,500 before on-roads.

It can be chosen in front-wheel drive, or all-wheel drive (which hikes the price to $58,500). From there, the range climbs to $65,000 for the mid-spec AWD-only Elite, and then $75,000 for the top-spec, which dumps the old ‘Highlander’ badge in favour of the new international ‘Calligraphy’ one. It is also all-wheel drive only, but can be chosen with a lavish six-seat interior layout at $75,500.

Helping to simplify things slightly, there is only one powertrain, a familiar 1.6-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged hybrid-electric system.

We’ll talk more about this later in the review, but Hyundai tells us a V6-replacing 2.5-litre turbocharged option will also join the line-up before the end of 2024. Tune back in later to see how it compares.

Equipment is, as usual with Hyundai, stellar, even on the base vehicle, but maybe the best part is you don’t have to feel short-changed buying the entry-spec.

Sure, it only gets cloth seat trim rather than the synthetic or genuine Nappa leather available on the higher grades, but you still get a synthetic leather steering wheel, and the cloth trim has a cool tartan finish, so even it gets some design intrigue.

The wheels also manage to measure 20 inches, you get the complete dual 12.3-inch screen set-up in the interior with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and dual wireless phone chargers

The only thing missing in terms of core non-luxury appointments is a handful of more advanced autonomous driving features, particularly ‘highway drive assist’. But it still scores all the key necessities when it comes to safety. Check out this part of the review for more.

Stepping up to the Elite adds said autonomous driving features, synthetic leather interior trim, additional power adjust features for the front two seats, integrated sunshades for the rear windows and additional sound deadening via acoustic front glass.

Finally, the top-spec Calligraphy grade adds 20-inch wheels in an alternate design, Nappa leather interior trim with heated and ventilated front seats (plus heating for the outboard second-row seats), a panoramic sunroof, head-up display, digital rear vision mirror and even an ultraviolet sanitising tray in the front dash compartment.

Hyundai Santa Fe Calligraphy

The best value here? I think the Elite is the right balance. It offers the best kit without going overboard on price. That said, the front-wheel drive base model is a lot of car for the money, and somehow you still won’t feel short-changed with the luxury appointments in the Calligraphy despite its relatively tall price.

Rivals include the Nissan Pathfinder (from $54,190) Toyota Kluger (from $54,420), and the outgoing Mazda CX-9 (from $47,600) but none at the entry price are hybrid, and none offer quite the same level of standard equipment.

The new Santa Fe has grown in almost every direction. It’s significantly longer and taller than before, although width is identical.

It instantly feels versatile. Big doors join with the high roof and additional length to make access to the first two rows easy, and adjustability is excellent throughout, especially since the second row is on rails and offers various recline angles.

Up front you’re greeted by an airy space, with a commanding view of the road and massive windows. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t remind me of a Land Rover Discovery (in all the good ways), and it feels like a substantial vehicle to helm.

It has grown in almost every direction (image: Tom White)

There’s also lots of practical touches to make the most of its huge cabin. The doors offer a large bottle holder and storage tray, with a further two giant bottle holders in the centre console.

The console area itself has benefitted from Hyundai moving the transmission shifter to a stalk-mounted position, which has cleared the space to offer dual wireless chargers and a large pass-through area underneath which is great for larger objects.

There’s also a huge armrest console box (with a false floor and an additional concealed compartment below) as well as a decent-sized glove box on the passenger side and a flip-open tray atop the dash.

It instantly feels versatile (image: Tom White)

Even the cut-away between the two dash sections has a rubberised finish, meaning you can actually use it as a storage area rather than it serving as an aesthetic design flourish.

The screens are huge and easy to use, and Hyundai has committed to maintaining tactile controls for all of the car’s core functions.

You score volume and tuning dials for the multimedia, with separate dials for each of the climate zones on either side of a touch panel which offers shortcut buttons for all the climate functions. Much better than negotiating exclusively with the touchscreen.

I fit in the third row in comfort (image: Tom White)

There are also plenty of USB-C outlets in the console tray for charging and connectivity, with a 12-volt outlet in the pass-through below.

The rear seat offers plenty of room, with the one caveat being it’s a bit of a climb up into it. The second-row is on rails, so you can adjust to add legroom for third-row occupants or add additional boot space if you’re not maximising space in the second row.

There are all sorts of clever features back there, too. Elite grades and above get built-in sunshades for the rear windows, while the Calligraphy adds heated outboard rear seats.

It has dual wireless chargers (image: Tom White)

The trim is comfortable in all cars, and there’s no shortage of practical touches either, like coat hooks built into the rear seat trim (where there’s also the H-pattern motif), dual bottle holders in the doors, with a third one and a storage area in the lower section of the door.

Need more than three bottle holders? There are two more in the drop-down armrest on seven-seat variants. USB-C outlets appear on the backs of the front seats, adjustable air vents are available in the pillars, and there’s a big drawer for extra storage on the back of the centre console.

When I set the second and first row seats to a position comfortable for myself (at 182cm tall), I can fit in the third row in relative comfort. My knees aren’t hard up to the seat in front, and there’s a small amount of room for slipping my feet under the seat in front which lends it a bit of extra space.

The utility panel is pragmatic (image: Tom White)

Access isn’t the easiest. It’s still a bit of a clamber up into the third row for an adult. The floor is high and the remaining aperture for access is quite small when you slide the second row seat forward or fold it flat. 

Once you’re in there, though, there are dual air vents on either side with an independent fan controller, a bottle holder and a storage tray above the wheel arch and a USB-C outlet on either side. There’s even a 12-volt outlet in the boot if you need extra power.

Boot space is great with the third row folded flat at 628 litres, or 1949 litres with the second row folded flat. Hyundai does not offer a figure for the space when the third row is up, but like most SUVs in this class, it’s not much. Stay tuned on a future test for more.

Underneath the boot (outside the car) there’s even a full-size spare wheel, great for those longer trips.

Powering the new Santa Fe is just one engine, a 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol unit in a hybrid set-up, mated to a six-speed automatic transmission.

The transmission blends the power sources via a single-clutch system rather than a transaxle like some hybrids. It’s in the name of efficiency, and unlike most clutch-based transmissions, this one is a recently-updated version with a new and more powerful electric motor, and it’s nice and smooth from a take-off, too.

The powertrain produces172kW/367Nm (image: Tom White)

The combined power of this system sounds reasonable at 172kW/367Nm, but for a vehicle which weighs 1990kg, I’d describe performance as adequate.

The other downside is limited towing performance. While the design of this new car might suggest it’s ideal for open road touring with a big trailer in tow, the maximum braked towing capacity is 1650kg, well short of the 3500kg you might expect from a ladder-frame rival.

The upside of this compact hybrid electric system is, of course, fuel efficiency. This big SUV has an official combined cycle fuel consumption figure of just 5.6L/100km, regardless of whether you pick a front- or all-wheel drive, and as an added bonus it’s even capable of consuming entry-level 91 RON unleaded.

On our drive program we saw between 6.5L/100km and about 8.0L/100km across several vehicles, which tells me the number you’ll see in the real world will vary depending on driving conditions significantly, but we’ll get the car back for a longer test in the future to investigate further.

The large 67-litre fuel tank suggests a cruising range (at the official consumption rate) of over 1000km.

Almost every active safety tick-box is ticked here, even on the entry-level Santa Fe, with the key missing feature for the base car being the semi-autonomous ‘highway driving assist’ features including distance and lane following control, as well as lane change assist - so basically a more advanced adaptive cruise. The base car also misses out on the clever (but slow) remote parking feature.

Otherwise the new Santa Fe has an array of 10 airbags, with the curtain set extending far enough to cover the third row. At the time of writing, it was yet to be rated by ANCAP.

The real shame is some of the active safety items are still intrusive and annoying. Particularly the traffic sign recognition - which routinely picks up the wrong speed from the back of buses and inactive school zones, and the driver attention alert, which frequently chastises you for looking even slightly away from the road to adjust something on the touchscreen. It’s a shame because it only serves to tarnish an otherwise excellent drive experience.