2023 Hyundai Santa Fe vs 2024 Subaru Forester

What's the difference?

The Santa Fe Hybrid is a better Santa Fe to drive than the V6 petrol or the diesel variant. It’s also a lot more fuel efficient, but the value isn’t as great at this price. Also keep in mind that the Hybrid has a much lower braked towing capacity relative to the diesel and V6 petrol Santa Fes.

The Elite grade will save you money, and you’re not missing out on many luxuries. 

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with accommodation and meals provided.

Don’t let the 7.5/10 make you think the Forester is not a good car. For the person who needs a practical, off-road-capable mid-size family SUV without too many complications, it’s extremely hard to look past this thing.

Is the STI Sport the best choice in the range? Not for most, given its higher price and relative lack of extra ability to go with it. A standard suspension tune and even a slightly less plush interior are probably a better call for most family needs, which means saving a fair bit at the purchase.

It’s also worth noting that the next generation Forester is coming soon, and with that could come a price hike. If a Forester is on the shopping list but the cost of living is starting to bite, now might be the time.

If the slightly sharper handling and red interior leather is of interest to you, the STI Sport might be worth a look, but just know the Forester’s best attributes can be had for less money in a much cheaper variant.

There’s only one way to tell the hybrid version of the Santa Fe from the petrol and diesel variants - the wheels. The hybrid's wheels are smaller and have a sort of ‘cog’ design to them. I’m not a fan of the styling, but they’re supposed to be aerodynamic and save fuel.

Overall, I am a fan of the Santa Fe’s looks which were given a major change in 2020 with a completely different grille and interior.

I like the way Hyundai has moved away from giving all its cars the same face, with each model now having its own visual identity.

The Santa Fe’s wide, cat fish-like gaping mouth grille might not be for everybody, but it sure doesn’t look like the front of any other SUV on the market.

The rear of the Santa Fe is far more conservative but looks prestigious enough to stop short of the boredom threshold.

It’s far from boring inside with the dash sculptured into what appear to be rock pools, with geyser-like air vents and a floating centre console.

Again, no sign this is a hybrid in the cabin either, which is the way it should be, or will be when electric vehicles become the norm.

The cabins of the Elite and Highlander are filled with leather and modern tech. It’s a plush place made even plusher on the Highlander with its Nappa leather upholstery.

The Santa Fe is a big, mid-sized SUV at 4.8m end-to-end, but it’s not as large as a Hyundai Palisade. That's huge at five metres long.

The Forester is a pretty good-looking thing in this writer’s eyes, but its design hasn’t changed dramatically in the last few years.

The mid-size SUV looks equally at home on inner-city residential streets and in the middle of nowhere, even with the slightly ‘sported-up’ black trim of the STI version. And I do mean ‘slightly’.

Aside from the fact it looks a lot like the Forester 2.5i Sport of a few years ago (without the red bits), the STI Sport is perhaps ironically unadventurous. Even its alloy wheels don’t scream ‘sports’.

For all the SUVs with their respective brands’ performance badging (and not engineering) attached to them that bear more bark than bite, maybe it’s not such a bad thing Subaru has refrained from putting the Forester in full Tecnica uniform.

Inside, however, the black and red leather seems determined to distract from the fact that not much else has changed cabin-wise. It feels visually busier than it needs to, but still falls on the correct side of the restrained/garish line.

But there’s probably a reason the interior feels a little bit ‘classic Subie’ - if it works, it might pay to avoid making big changes.

The Santa Fe is among only a handful of mid-sized SUVs offering seven seats. The third-row seats are really designed to be used occasionally. They’re flat and fairly hard and the passengers back there aren’t fully covered by the side curtain airbags.

The second row offers plenty of room. Enough, even for me at 191cm, to sit comfortably behind my driving position.

And if you’d like more space then the Highlander grade allows you can replace that bench seat with two captain’s chairs in the six-seat version.

Clever cabin storage spaces can be found throughout. I particularly like the floating centre console with an area underneath big enough for a small backpack, and the shelf above the glove box in the dash is also good for throwing a wallet or phone.  

Big door pockets, cupholders and a deep centre console storage box are also on board.

For charging devices there are five USB ports (two up front, two in the second row, and one in the third), two 12-volt outlets (front seats and cargo area) and a wireless phone charger.

While there isn’t three-zone climate control. There are directional air vents in all three rows and the Elite and Highlander grades also come with pull-up sun shades for the rear windows.

As for the boot, most of the time you’ll probably have the third-row seats folded flat, and that’ll give you a cargo capacity of 571 litres.

Or, if you are using the third row there’s 130 litres of space left for you to use.

I've heard the Forester called a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ kind of car, and I reckon that’s unfair. Aside from having Subaru’s venerable all-wheel drive at its disposal, the Forester is a supremely practical SUV - exactly what it needs to be given the reasons most people buy SUVs.

Okay, so the interface and tech is pretty old. If you’ve been in a Forester built in the last few years, there’s not a lot new to find.

There are some deliberately large buttons, the climate controls are still very classic and tactile, even the steering wheel buttons are pretty chunky.

If you’re not used to the amount of technology in new cars, Subaru has tried to make this as easy as possible to navigate.

I hate to sound like one of those ‘back in my day’ people, but in a lot of cases I’m finding myself preferring interior layouts and controls of a few years ago rather than post-2020 screens and ‘iPad’ style controls.

Newer Subarus have a rather large portrait centre screen, and even though it works fine, this one with the buttons below it is easier.

The instrument cluster being a pair of physical dials is also welcome, even if it means the digital display looks many years older than the car really is.

It’s also a spacious cabin, if not just physically then in feeling also. The huge sunroof and high-visibility glasshouse means plenty of light comes in and makes it feel roomy while also of course being easy to see out of (and therefore, manoeuvre).

Ergonomically, the Subie is sound. The seating position, aforementioned driver visibility, controls placement and space around each passenger is practical and well thought out, plus moving back into the second row doesn’t feel like a huge comfort downgrade.

Light in the second row is also good, the seats recline and the touch-point materials are like the front seats - comfy leather and a lack of scratchy plastics unless you go looking for them.

The second row can also be folded down (in a 60/40 split) from the boot with controls near the electric tailgate, which brings the boot space from 498 litres to 1060L, though Subaru says maximum space available is 1740L up to the ceiling.

At $48,640, before on-road costs, the Forester STI Sport AWD (to use its full name) has some strong competition - there are high-spec AWD hybrid Toyota RAV4 GXLs, powerful front-drive SUVs like the Ford Escape Vignale and Hyundai Tucson N-Line hybrid, or even variants of Euros like the VW Tiguan and Renault Koleos all within $1000 of the STI Sport’s sticker price.

But those looking for the practicality the mix of Subaru’s AWD, the space inside, and perhaps even the slightly older interior can provide, there’s a decent list of features for a car coming in at just a slice under ‘fifty large’.

The STI Sport AWD is based on the top-spec (petrol) Forester 2.5i-S, so it shares plenty of standard features - read on for those - but the key additions for this variant include a suspension tune by the eponymous performance division, a combination black and ‘Bordeaux Red’ interior leather with red contrast stitching, STI badging inside and out, dark grey 18-inch alloy wheels and black exterior trim for the grille, mirrors, roof rails and light surrounds.

From the Forester 2.5i-S, the STI Sport also brings along the existing leather seats and trim, with power-adjustable fronts which are also heated, plus the other main interior features like the 8.0-inch touchscreen for multimedia with wired Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, an eight-speaker Harman Kardon sound system with subwoofer and amp and a large electric sunroof.

It’s lacking some more modern features like wireless phone mirroring, wireless phone charging, USB-C ports or a fully digital driver display, but the latter of those is certainly no great loss.

On the outside, the existing self-levelling LED headlights with cornering response, LED DRLs and fog lights, privacy glass, roof rails and electric tailgate all also carry over from the 2.5i-S.

There are certainly rivals with more features, but they require trade-offs in other areas that might not appeal to Subaru customers.

The Santa Fe Hybrid is not a plug-in hybrid like the Mitsubishi Outlander or Kia Sorento. That means you don’t need to connect the battery to a power outlet to charge it. Instead, the battery charges on the go as you drive it, and through regenerative braking.

Under the bonnet is a 1.6-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-petrol engine and an electric motor. They have a combined output of 169kW/350Nm.

That’s pretty good grunt. Just as a comparison, the V6 makes 200kW/331Nm, while the diesel engine produces 148kW/440Nm.

If you’re planning on towing, then the diesel and petrol are clearly the better choices with their 2500kg braked towing capacity, compared to the hybrid’s 1650kg.

The Hybrid Santa Fe is also all-wheel drive and a six-speed automatic transmission shifts gears smoothly.

The same drivetrain as is used in the 2.5i-S is found in the STI Sport AWD.

No prizes for anyone who guessed it’s a 2.5-litre flat-four engine, but some might be disappointed to know that means no turbocharging and no sporty transmission - the STI Sport still outputs 136kW and 239Nm via a continuously variable transmission (CVT).

Subaru’s ever-present ‘symmetrical’ all-wheel drive system is, of course, here in the Forester too, but the brand’s relatively recent foray into hybrid drivetrains was given a miss for this version.

This is what it’s all about isn’t it? How much fuel does the Santa Fe Hybrid use? 

Hyundai says this hybrid will use 6.0L/100km after a combination of open roads and urban driving. That is excellent, but if this was a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) that figure could be as low as 4.0L/100km.

Still, the Santa Fe hybrid is much more fuel efficient than the V6 variant which uses 10.5L/100km.

I took a look at the drive history of the Santa Fe Hybrid I tested at the end of the Australian launch.

According to the trip computer the car had travelled 967.2km and had used an average of 7.3L/100km.

About 500 of those kilometres were done by me with peak hour city traffic, country roads and motorways all in there. That’s great fuel efficiency, but a Santa Fe PHEV would do better.

As I said earlier, there’s no need to plug the Santa Fe into an external power supply to charge its lithium-ion battery, it’ll charge itself automatically through normal driving.

Subaru claims a 7.4L/100km combined cycle (urban/extra-urban) fuel consumption figure for the STI Sport AWD, and while we’ve seen tests come close to that in other variants of the Forester with the same drivetrain, inner-city life can be a detriment to the Forester’s drinking habits.

On a test loop which was fairly unsympathetic to fuel efficiency, the Forester’s trip computer reported a 10.2L/100km figure, though a commute from inner-Melbourne to the CBD saw the digits nudge 13.0.

Historically, highway driving has been better for the Forester, and the STI Sport should be no different - plus its 63-litre fuel tank (able to run on 91 RON) should mean if you can approach Subaru’s claimed fuel consumption figure, you could theoretically find yourself driving more than 800km on a single tank.

You’re not just getting better fuel economy in the hybrid version of the Santa Fe, you’re getting a better SUV to drive. 

That’s what I found when I tested the Santa Fe Hybrid at its Australian launch. The ride is more comfortable and the steering feels more responsive and lighter than the V6 petrol or diesel Santa Fe, both of which I’ve driven extensively.

The better ride I think comes down to the stabilising effect of extra weight situated low from the batteries (they’re located under the driver). Hyundai told me the front suspension had been revised to deal with the added weight, too.

So, I feel the ride is now more comfortable, less jittery with a smidge more planted feeling to the handling.

The lighter and better steering feel may have something to do with having a smaller engine in the nose of the Santa Fe. The 1.6-litre four-cylinder weighs less than the 2.2-litre diesel engine and the V6 petrol. That lighter font end now has a more ‘pointable’ feeling.

That said, the electric motor would add more weight to the Santa Fe hybrid’s nose, too.

Another difference to the way the hybrid drives is the take-off acceleration. It’s quite sudden and forceful for a family SUV in this class and that’s due to the 350Nm of torque, available from 1000rpm.

That’s great for moving away out of a car space and quickly blending into traffic, or accelerating away from traffic lights.

Visibility as with the regular Santa Fe is excellent and parking is easy, too, given this isn’t a large SUV.  

Like much of the Forester STI, the driving experience is heavily borrowed from some tried and true Subaru characteristics.

That naturally aspirated flat-four engine, though underwhelming on paper, gets the job done without much fuss. In fact, it sometimes feels peppier than it should given its outputs.

Its 'S/I' (Sport or Intelligent) drive mode selector is there to adjust acceleration style, but it doesn’t make an enormous difference.

Yes, it could do with more torque, but the engine doesn’t struggle and only starts to sound laboured at high revs during the kind of acceleration you’d need for seconds at a time.

The sound of a CVT whirring away isn’t exactly auditory bliss, nor does it make for engaging acceleration.

But it’s relatively quiet under regular load below highway speed and, as long as the road isn’t too coarse, NVH is generally good in the Forester.

Road, wind and engine noise are certainly present in certain circumstances, but they’re not intrusive until you get to higher speeds.

At those high speeds is where you might notice one of the most significant changes to the STI version of the Forester - the dampers have been retuned by STI, for what Subaru hopes is a “sharper, more responsive driving experience”.

It’s hard to seriously call the Forester sharp - it’s a mid-size family SUV with enough clearance to go light off-roading - but the STI Sport holds up well for what it is.

The Forester driving experience was already likeable and easy, and in terms of cornering and handling bumpy rural (or even just bumpy urban) roads, the suspension keeps things under control without feeling too stiff.

Its body doesn’t roll as much as you might expect when cornering, but given STI’s engineers focused their efforts on the dampers, its a good thing the Forester doesn’t either waft or thud when presented with big sharp bumps, nor does it vibrate and rattle over constant rough surfaces.

Of course, it’s also got 'X Mode' controls for different surfaces like snow, dirt and mud, making it a pretty handy companion for outdoor adventuring or camping trips in regions where the weather gets a bit unpredictable. If you’ve ever tried to get a front-wheel drive hatchback out of a muddy hillside campsite…

Essentially, the Forester is the kind of SUV that, if you wanted to, you could have a medium amount of fun with on a twisty road before taking it down a particularly rough, unsealed or muddy trail, then later hand the keys to your grandma knowing she’d be able to handle everything about the driving experience, too.

The Forester holds a maximum five-star ANCAP rating from assessment in 2019, which sounds outdated but arguably the most important aspects of the ANCAP testing are the crash protection, for which the Forester scored highly - an extremely good 94 per cent for adult occupant protection and 86 per cent for child occupant protection.

Seven airbags including dual frontal, side chest, curtain airbags and a driver knee airbag keep occupants protected, while Subaru notes the engine’s low-centred nature means it’s designed to slip under rather than into the cabin cell in case of a frontal collision.

Its active safety systems have been kept up to date, with functions like lane-keep assist, driver monitoring, automatic reverse braking and the help of Subaru’s ‘EyeSight’ monitoring system are all welcome additions, particularly since they’re not as intrusive as some rivals.

The lane-keep assist, for example, only beeps (relatively calmly) and intervenes when the Forester actually approaches the lane edge, and the driver monitoring and speed warning systems don’t chime or give warnings unless something is actually going wrong.

Like the multimedia and interior layout, the active safety is one area where the most recent previous generation of common features seems to be better than those many manufacturers are now implementing.

The Santa Fe Hybrid has the same warranty as the rest of the range at five years/unlimited km. The battery is covered by an eight-year/160,000km warranty, which is pretty standard for hybrids.

Servicing is required every 10,000km/12months, however, the costs were yet to be finalised at the time of publishing.

Subaru’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty is now considered the minimum par-for-course coverage for a mainstream new car in Australia, while some rivals are offering seven-, eight- or even 10-year warranties (though the longer one are sometimes conditional).

Subaru also offers 12 months of roadside assistance, though this is also often offered in similar lengths to warranties by competitors.

Servicing intervals for the Forester are every 12,500km or 12 months, with the first of five capped price services (aside from a free one-month check-up) costing $370.91 and the most expensive (fourth) costing $888.62.

A $1387.25 three-year service contract or a $2674.64 five-year plan are on offer.