2020 Hyundai Santa Fe vs Subaru Outback

What's the difference?

Practical and refined, with a huge focus on safety, and a great ownership package, the Hyundai Santa Fe V6, even in entry-level Active trim, is a quality seven-seat, family SUV option. That said, value-for-money lags key competitors, and the big, smooth V6 is thirsty relative to smaller capacity turbo fours more common in the category.

The Subaru Outback 2.5i Premium is exceptionally good in terms of value, practicality, its design and build quality, safety and in the way it drives. Many might overlook it as just a station wagon and go for a tall SUV instead, not realising that the Outback is exactly what they need.

Comment call to action: Is the Subaru Outback the perfect anti-SUV SUV? Tells us what you think in the comments below.

Hyundai has a massive design card up its sleeve in the shape of Peter Schreyer, the person responsible for development of the look and feel of Hyundai and Kia vehicles.

A car design rock star, Schreyer has built a stellar team that’s managed to catapult the two main Korean car brands into the top tier, giving each a distinctive, confident personality.

At close to 4.8m long, just under 1.9m wide, and a touch less than 1.7m tall, the Santa Fe is big rather than huge, and within a classic SUV profile stands apart thanks to its large, black, egg crate grille, with slim, sweeping upper ‘positioning’ lights defined by LED DRLs either side, and an enormous, angular aperture for the main (bi-xenon) headlights underneath.

A sharp character line running the length of the car’s shoulder, conspicuously raised and chiseled outer edges on the bonnet, and long strakes on the hood itself add visual interest without being too busy.

The standard 17-inch alloys don’t exactly fill the wheelarches (18s and 19s are standard on higher-tier variants), and the rear view is less recognisably Hyundai than the front, with irregular, vaguely boomerang-shaped tail-lights the only element not conforming to a generic family SUV treatment.

Inside, the cabin is neat and tidy without pushing the envelope too far. The dashboard follows a layered approach, accentuated by subtle colour differences between a gently curving top, protruding centre, and lower console area.

Key elements are defined by bright metal-look surrounds, which also serve to highlight the fact there are several different shapes across the fascia, one being the relatively modest 7.0-inch media touchscreen, standing proud of the centre dashtop. 

Overall, the interior is user-friendly, but not as cohesive and unified as some. 

Is the Subaru Outback a wagon or an SUV? Well, it’s sort of a cross between them and it could be the perfect vehicle for people who don’t want an SUV but still want the elevated ride height, extra ground clearance and practicality of a sports utility vehicle.

The Outback shares much of the Subaru Liberty sedan’s underpinnings and this is good for its ride comfort and handling, but more on that in the driving section below.

I’m a fan of the Outback’s tough plastic wheel guards and chunky side skirts, oversized fog lights and hardcore looking roof racks. The seriously dark privacy glass to the rear and back windows looks great and so does the roof top spoiler.

What are the Outback’s dimensions? The Outback is large at 4820mm long, 1840mm wide and 1675mm. Ground clearance is 213mm. Regular cars normally have around 170mm and the Toyota RAV4’s is 195mm.

'Crystal White Pearl' was the colour of my test car, but there are 10 hues to choose from including 'Crimson Red', 'Wilderness Green', 'Dark Blue' and 'Crystal Black.'

The 2.5i Premium’s cabin feels sumptuous with soft-touch, high-quality feeling materials and an excellent fit and finish.

There are hints that the cockpit is starting to age from a styling perspective and the new generation Outback coming by 2021 will surely see the interior move to a more modern look.

To those new to Subaru it can be a bit confusing working out where the Outback fits into the brand’s SUV range, which can look a bit samey. So, what you need to know is that the XV is the small SUV, the Forester is the mid-sized one and the Outback is the large SUV-ish station wagon.

A 2765mm wheelbase is sizeable relative to the Santa Fe’s overall length, the driver and front passenger enjoying plenty of space as well as multiple storage spaces including, a large lidded storage box (doubling as a centre armrest) between the seats, big door pockets (with room for full-size bottles), twin cupholders in the centre console, a small oddments tray ahead of the gearshift, an overhead sunglasses compartment, and a decent glove box.

Connectivity and power options run to a 12-volt (180W) socket, two USB ports (one for media connection, and another for charging only), plus an ‘aux-in’ audio plug.

Moving to the centre row and sitting behind the driver’s seat, set for my 183cm position, I enjoyed more than adequate head and legroom, with enough shoulder room for three adults abreast for short journeys. Kids on a road trip will be fine, and adjustable air vents for rear-seaters is always a plus.

Here, storage includes twin cupholders in the fold-down centre armrest, map pockets in the front seatbacks, an oddments tray below the centre air events, and lengthy door bins, again with space for bottles. There are also two USB  power sockets to keep devices charged and occupants happy.

Getting in an out of the third row seat is reasonably awkward for grown-ups, despite the centre seat folding and sliding forward easily, but a cinch for the pre--teen kids that will inevitably occupy it.

The centre seats slide, so a legroom compromise can be reached between the rear rows, but no matter how far that goes in favour of the ‘way back’ seat, it’s very tight on head and legroom for adults. This is a small person zone.

There’s plenty of storage with a deep tray on the left-hand side, and a pair of cupholders on the right, as well as a 12-volt outlet and rear A/C control with a vent. Nice.

Then the boot offers 547 litres of space with all seats up. Drop the 50/50 split-folding third row (via buttons in the boot space), and that number grows to 625 litres. Lower the 60/40 split centre row, and you have 1625 litres at your disposal, with a completely flat floor. There are six tie-down points, a luggage net, and a small under floor storage area, which is handy for wet swimming gear or muddy boots.

Towing capacity is 2000kg for a braked trailer (interestingly, the same rating as the AWD diesel model), and 750kg unbraked, and the spare is a full-size alloy.

The Outback is a spacious five-seater wagon with excellent head and legroom in the second row. I’m 191cm tall and could sit behind my driving position with about 40mm to spare. Space up front is good, too, with plenty of elbow and shoulder room.

Cabin storage is great, with four cupholders (two up front and two in the second row), large door pockets, a deep centre console storage bin, map pockets in the seat backs, and a covered area in front of the shifter which houses two USB ports and a 12-volt outlet.

There are two USB charging ports in the second row and directional air vents. Another 12-volt outlet is located in the boot.

The cargo capacity of the boot is 512 litres with the second row in place, and 1801 litres with the rear seats folded down.

Large, tall and wide opening doors along with the raised ride height makes getting in and out a breeze, and also means putting little kids into their seats is easy on the back.

The roof racks are standard on all Outbacks and their toughness (I’ve danced on them – see the video) and design means they’re more than just for show.

Take a look at the front and rear door sills, too . They’ve been widened for you to stand on while loading your kayaks/mountain bikes/queen-sized mattress onto the roof.

Under the boot floor is a full-sized spare alloy wheel, and this pleases me big time. Many SUVs seem to promise adventure but only come with a space saver spare which will limit you to 80km/h and a few hundred kilometres at the most.

Finally, here’s something that not many people know about the Outback – you can lock and unlock it without a key, using a PIN number. To find out how watch my video above. You’ll also see me lock myself out of the car while the keys are on the dashboard.

The 2.5i Premium sits in the middle of Subaru’s Outback range with its list price of $43,940. The standard features list is extensive and includes an 8.0-inch screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, sat nav, digital radio, six-speaker stereo, CD player and Bluetooth connectivity.

Also standard are leather seats in 'Ivory' or as in our test car black, power adjustable and heated front seats, dual-zone climate control, paddle shifters, privacy glass, adaptive LED headlights, roof rails, an electric sunroof, 18-inch alloys wheels with a full-sized spare.

For less than a $40K list price that’s excellent value and I haven’t even mentioned the impressive array of safety equipment. Well, I have now, but you can read more about that below.

Rivals to the Outback include all-wheel drive wagons such as the Volkswagen Passat Alltrack, but also regular SUVs such as the Toyota RAV4 Cruiser and, wait for it, the Subaru Forester 2.5i-S.

The Santa Fe V6 is powered by the Hyundai Group’s ‘Lambda II MPi’ all-alloy, 3.5-litre, naturally aspirated V6 petrol engine.

Featuring direct-injection, variable valve timing (on the exhaust and inlet side) and a timing chain (rather than a belt) it’s claimed to produce 206kW at 6300rpm, and 336Nm at 5000rpm.

The engine is manufactured in Montgomery, Alabama, as are US market Sante Fes, although Australian cars are assembled in Hyundai’s main production plant in Ulsan, South Korea.

Drive goes to the front wheels only via an eight-speed automatic transmission. The 2.2-litre turbo-diesel version of the Santa Fe is all-wheel drive, with that engine’s low-down torque delivery making it better suited to towing and off-highway work.

The Outback 2.5i Premium has, you guessed it, a 2.5-litre petrol boxer engine making 129kW of power and 235Nm of torque. Personally, I prefer the much more powerful and torquey 3.6-litre six-cylinder engine in the Outback range, but you’ll have to step up to the pricier 3.6R grade to unlock that beastie.

Boxer engines are different from traditional ones in that the pistons move horizontally like a boxer punching rather than up and down. One of the benefits of this is a lower centre of mass which improves handling.

All Outbacks are all-wheel drive and have a continuously variable transmission (CVT) which isn’t my first choice when it comes to automatics as they seem to take the torque and just turn it into a droning noise.

That said, if I had to live with a CVT for the rest of my life I’d choose a Subaru CVT as they seem to get the drive to the wheels better than those made by other brands.      

The Outback 2.5i Premium has a braked towing capacity of 1500kg.

Claimed fuel economy for the combined (ADR 81/02 - urban, extra-urban) cycle is 10.6L/100km, the V6 emitting 249g/km of CO2 in the process.

Over around 250km of city, suburban and freeway running, we recorded 11.3L/100km, which isn’t exactly miserly, but unusually close to the claim, and equates to a real-word range of just under 630km..

Fuel required is standard 91 RON unleaded, which helps, and you’ll need 71 litres of it to fill the tank.

Subaru says the 2.5-litre engine with the CVT should use 7.3L/100km over a combination of open and urban roads.

I drove 213km in my test car doing urban commutes into the city, as well as forays onto dirt trails and country roads, and used 26.6L measured at the fuel pump, which works out to be 12.5L/100km.

There weren’t many motorway kilometres in there and I should point out there were only 646km on the odometer when I started the test, which may account for the high fuel usage.

When you attach a turbo, or turbos, to a car engine, the result will be pulling power, and typically plenty of it, with the peak output arriving low in the rev range.

Well, there’s not a single turbo to be found under this Santa Fe’s bonnet, and despite its relatively large, 3.5-litre capacity, the V6 sitting in there coughs up it’s maximum 336Nm of torque way up at 5000rpm. 

To put that in context, the turbo-diesel Toyota Fortuner pumps out 450Nm from just 1600rpm, right in the sweet spot for around town driving.

But, that’s not to say the V6 feels puny, far from it. The upside of a naturally aspirated engine is smooth, linear throttle response, and flicking the Santa Fe into the ‘Sport’ setting (‘Comfort’, ‘Eco’, and ‘Smart’ are also available) puts the polished eight-speed auto in a more energetic mode, keeping the 1720kg seven-seater on the boil.

The suspension layout is strut front, multi-link rear, and Hyundai Australia scores many brownie points for tuning its cars for local conditions. 

Once again, ride quality is great, helped in no small part by the Active’s comfy 235/65 Hankook Ventus Prime 3X rubber sitting on the standard 17-inch alloy rims.

Unlike many of its competitors, the Santa Fe relies on hydraulic (rather than electric) assistance for its rack and pinion steering, and the result is swift response and good road feel.

The driver’s seating position is excellent, and ergonomically the Santa Fe keeps things, clear, clean and simple. It’s a relaxed drive, but the Sante Fe will respond well if mum or dad gets a rush of blood and decides to hurry through a few of their favourite corners.

With that, and this car’s 2.0-tonne towing capacity in mind, braking performance becomes even more important. And with ventilated 320mm discs at the front and solid 305mm rotors at the rear, stopping power is strong with nicely progressive pedal feel.

It’s also worth calling out the ‘Hyundai Auto Link’ app, which connects the car to your smartphone, tracking your driving style and fuel efficiency, monitoring the car’s condition and registering any faults. Yes, it’s Big Brother, but one that cares.

Under the heading of ‘Any Other Business’, we like the extendable front sun visors that help keep sun coming in from the side, out of your eyes. The chunky cloth seat trim looks a bit stuffy, but feels great. And the steering wheel controls for phone, audio, cruise and other functions are super easy to use. 

The Subaru Outback feels like a car to drive but has the ground clearance to go where a regular car can’t. And when I say 'like a car to drive' I mean the Outback doesn’t feel tall and wobbly like an SUV.

The Outback’s boxer engine combined with a relatively low overall height gives the car gives a low centre of mass. This, and sharing the Liberty sedan’s platform means it handles better than almost every SUV in this segment, and feels planted with only modest body roll in the corners.

The ride is also composed and comfortable, the steering is accurate and well weighted, and pedal feel is excellent, too.

While the Outback isn’t a traditional four-wheel drive (with transfer case, diff locks, etc) and wouldn't be the ideal choice for serious off-roading, its 213mm ground clearance and full-time all-wheel drive system make it impressively capable on dirt and gravel roads.

The Outback has what’s called 'X-Mode' which is activated by pressing a button and manages the engine, transmission and all-wheel drive system to maintain optimum traction on loose surfaces.

There’s also 'SI Mode' which allows the driver to switch between a sports mode or a more fuel-efficient setting.

The Subaru Outback was given the maximum five-star ANCAP rating when it was tested in 2015.

Coming standard is an extensive list of advanced safety equipment including AEB with pedestrian detection, lane departure warning, lane keeping assistance, lane sway warning and adaptive cruise control.

The 2.5i Premium grade adds more safety tech such as blind spot warning, lane change assistant and rear cross traffic alert. Joining the rear-view camera are side and front view cameras.

For child seats there are three top tether points and two ISOFIX mounts.  

Hyundai offers a five-year/unlimited km warranty, with 24/7 roadside assistance included for up to 10 years when the car is serviced at an authorised dealer.

Service is scheduled every 12 months/15,000km, with a pre-paid service plan available as follows - three years (up to 45,000km) $1050 / four years (up to 60,000km) $1440 / five years (up to 75,000km) $1770, the latter working out to $354 per year..
 

The Outback is covered by Subaru’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, and Subaru recommends servicing the Outback 2.5i Premium every six months or 12,500kms.

A five-year/125,000km capped price servicing plan covers the Outback and you can expect to pay $316.38 for the six-month service, then $316.38 for the 12-month visit, $404.64 for the 18-month service, $549.74 for the two-year check-up, and so on.

Over five years the total routine service bill should come to no more than $4560.49, according to Subaru.

The Outback also comes with 12 months of roadside assistance.