Hyundai Santa Fe Review, For Sale, Colours, Interior, Specs & News

Hyundai Santa Fe Review, For Sale, Colours, Interior, Specs & News

FROM
$53,000

Hyundai's Santa Fe debuted in the early 2000s, and it's evolved from a larger mid-sized SUV competitor against the Honda CR-V to a smaller large SUV with three-row, seven-seater capability over successive generations. The Toyota Kluger is the main rival.

Today, the Santa Fe sits underneath the slightly-bigger but closely related flagship Palisade SUV, offering the choice of V6 petrol or four-cylinder turbo-diesel power. Front and all-wheel drive are also available. The cheapest grade starts from $53,000, rising to $77,295 for the most expensive version.

9.3L/100km (combined)
SUV
8 Speed Automatic
Premium Unleaded/Electric
Rating Summary
Price and features
9
Practicality
10
Driving
9
Safety
8
Overview
Likes
Superb storage in cabin
Forgiving to drive for most driver types
Passenger comfort in all three rows
Dislikes
Not as efficient as hybrid siblings
Exterior design won't land with everyone
Basic warranty terms on offer

Hyundai Santa Fe FAQs

My 2005 Hyundai Santa Fe timing belt broke

It really doesn’t matter how fast you’re driving when a timing chain or timing belt breaks. If the engine is an interference design, then this failure has possibly turned the rest of the engine to junk. That’s because the valves and pistons have tried to occupy the same space at the same time, and widespread internal damage is the usually outcome.

From what I can gather, the V6 engine in your car is indeed an interference design, so the damage is possibly terminal. You could remove the cylinder head(s) to check, but if the engine has locked up, there’s a fair chance you’ll need to either rebuild the engine or replace it with a different one. You may also find that the cost of these repairs will be greater than the market value of the vehicle itself. At that point, you need to decide whether to repair it or start again with a new vehicle.

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My 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe won't move in Drive

A modern automatic transmission is a very complex piece of equipment with a whole bunch of parts that have to be talking to each other for it to work properly. Your best plan of attack is to have the vehicle inspected by a transmission specialist who is familiar with this transmission and should be able to diagnose the fault.

But it sounds like there’s something broken or loose inside that is not allowing the engine’s power to be transferred to the car’s wheels. This could be anything form an input or output shaft, a clutch assembly, torque converter or even the gearsets themselves. Perhaps the fault is in the valve body (the part that actually selects each gear) but until it’s torn down and inspected, you won’t know what’s going on.

The other major cause of a car not moving when it’s in gear is that there’s a broken driveshaft or CV joint. The symptoms can be very similar, so check the whole driveline before committing to repairs.

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My 2020 Hyundai Santa Fe smells like petrol inside after a dealership service

The Santa Fe may well have a fuel filter below the rear seat, but it’s almost certainly located on the outside of the car (as in, under the floor) rather than inside under the seat cushion. I’d be very surprised if any of the car’s fuel system or lines ran inside the passenger compartment.

Which means it’s still possible that some fuel was spilled under the car during the filter change or that there’s even a fuel leak as a result of the change. Either could lead to a smell inside the car, but it shouldn’t persist. If it does, there’s a problem. Take it back to the dealership and ask for the problem to be fixed. If the dealership somehow spilled petrol on the seat trim or allowed fuel to enter the cabin in some other way, they are responsible for fixing it. Driving around in a car with petrol fumes inside is an obvious health and safety issue.

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Disclaimer: You acknowledge and agree that all answers are provided as a general guide only and should not be relied upon as bespoke advice. CarsGuide is not liable for the accuracy of any information provided in the answers.

Hyundai Santa Fe Seats

The Santa Fe large SUV is offered with six or seven seats.

In the seven-seater there are two seats up front, three seats across the second row and two more in the third row.

The six-seat Santa Fe swaps out the second row bench seat for two 'captain's chairs'. You do lose the middle seats, but gain a more luxurious chaffuer-car-like interior.

Upholstery in the Santa Fe varies depending on where it sits in the range, with cloth seats in the entry-grade and leather in the Elite and quilted Nappa leather in the Calligraphy.

Hyundai Santa Fe Interior

The Santa Fe has a luxurious looking interior with premium black cloth seats standard in the entry-grade car and black leather upholstery in the top-of-the-line Calligraphy. 

Stepping up through the range adds more prestigious looking and feeling materials with the Elite and Calligraphy grades gaining suede-like headlining. There's also synthetic leather door armrests and stainless steel scuff door plates.

Hyundai Santa Fe Accessories

Coming standard on the entry-grade Santa Fe are 20-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights and LED running lights, roof rails, proximity unlocking, a power tailgate, rear privacy glass, dual-zone climate control, fabric seats, power driver’s seat, double 12.3-inch displays for media and driver’s instruments, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, six-speaker audio and wireless phone charging.

Stepping up to the Elite adds leather seats, dual-zone climate control, a Bose sound system, sat nav, dual wireless phone charging, rear sun shades and a heated steering wheel.

The-top-of-the-range Calligraphy brings a head-up display, sunroof, digital rear view mirror, UV-C sanitisation tray, Nappa leather seats and Bose sound system. The Santa Fe is a seven seater SUV, however, the Calligraphy grade comes with a choice of seven or six-seats.

All Santa Fes currently have hybrid powertrains as standard.

Hyundai Santa Fe Colours

The Santa Fe comes in a range of colours including (depending on the grade) 'Abyss Black', 'Creamy White', 'Magnetic Force', 'Ocado Green', 'Pebble Blue', 'Typhoon Silver' and 'Terracotta Orange'.

Abyss Black
Creamy White
Magnetic Force
Ocado Green
Pebble Blue
Terracotta Orange
Typhoon Silver

Hyundai Santa Fe Boot Space

The cargo capacity of the Santa Fe with five seats in place and the third row folded flat is 628 litres.

Hyundai Santa Fe boot space Hyundai Santa Fe boot space

Hyundai Santa Fe Fuel consumption

The Hyundai Santa Fe is available in a number of variants and body types that are powered by PULP and Hybrid and ULP and Diesel fuel type(s). It has an estimated fuel consumption starting from 9.1L/100km for SUV
*Combined fuel consumption
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Hyundai Santa Fe Engine

The new-generation Santa Fe is current exclusively available as a 172kW/367Nm four cylinder petrol-electric hybrid.

Hyundai Santa Fe Speed

The Santa Fe has a 0-100km/h time of about 10 seconds. Top speed is around 230km/h.

Hyundai Santa Fe Range

The Santa Fe has a range of about 1196km.