Isuzu MU-X vs Hyundai Santa Fe

What's the difference?

Isuzu has proven that you don't need a lot of horses in the stable to get things right and the MU-X 4x4 LS-T is a horse I can back. It offers kid-friendly growing space, a roomy interior for parents and a powerful engine. It also has just enough creature comforts to make it competitive against its rivals but I would have liked to have seen a few more scattered throughout for the price tag, especially in that third row. While the driving is pretty solid, the ride isn't as refined as it could be, but my family really enjoyed the MU-X this week and it earns a solid 8.0/10 from us.

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.

At 1825mm tall, the MU-X has clear SUV proportions, but urban drivers need not stress because, at 4850mm long and 1870mm wide, it's still accommodating in a tight car park.

The nose is nicely tapered and accentuated by a large chrome grille with black highlights and sharp LED lights. It's very similar to its stablemate, the D-Max, but the addition of the ‘boot' doesn't compromise it's kerb-side appeal. There are no sharp blocky-looking edges on this and while handsome, it doesn't prance to announce its presence. There's a subtlety to it's styling that should see it age well.

The interior has soft touch points throughout that are mixed with a nice combo of trims to make it feel refined but it is let down by flimsy/plasticky sun visors and door panelling.

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 interior is roomy with decent leg and headroom available to front and middle-row passengers. The side steps made it easy for my six-year old to get in and out without my help (always a plus) and the high ride ensured a good view for him this week.

Storage throughout is adequate for an SUV of this size but the middle console and drink bottle holders could be a little deeper and wider. The double glovebox and hidden retractable cupholders in the dashboard are a highlight, though.

There are enough creature comforts in the front and middle rows to satisfy individual family members, however, I was disappointed that there is only one USB-A port up front and no wireless charging pad. But the second row gets two USB-A ports, which should help with staying charged up on a road trip.

As far as third-row amenities go, it's a bit lean and tall adults will complain about the space, but it was fine for my 168cm height (5ft6). It's easy to climb back there because of the tumble-fold function of the middle row and the multiple grab handles.

I always like to have a powered tailgate and the level load space of the boot made it very easy to slide gear in and out this week. The boot is very practical with 311L of space available when all rows are in use but you can bump that up to a massive 1119L when the third row is flat. You can also knock it up again to a whopping 2138L with all back seats are folded down, if you need it.

Impressively, you also get a full-size spare tyre too.

The 9.0-inch touchscreen multimedia system is easy to use once you get used to it and the built-in satellite navigation was a plus. It has wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and it was simple to get the connection going but it did take a few minutes for the CarPlay to kick in once you started the car up. I prefer to see a 360-degree view camera on large SUVs like this but the reversing camera in the MU-X is adequate and clear.

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.

Hybrids cost more than their petrol and diesel equivalents, but how much more depends on whatever the car manufacturer decides you should pay. 

Hyundai is charging $6500 extra for the Santa Fe hybrid over the petrol version and $3000 more than the diesel. 

Also, for now, you can only get the Hybrid on the Elite and Highlander grades, the two most expensive levels in the Santa Fe line-up.

This means you’ll pay a list price of $63,000 for the Santa Fe Elite Hybrid and $69,550 for the Highlander Hybrid.

The standard features for the Elite Hybrid and Highlander hybrid are exactly the same as their petrol and diesel equivalents, except for the wheels. The hybrids have smaller 19-inch wheels (they’re 20-inch alloys on the regular Santa Fe) that Hyundai says are designed to be more aerodynamic.

So, along with those futuristic wheels, also coming standard on the Elite Hybrid are LED headlights and tail-lights, a gesture tailgate, privacy glass, proximity key with push-button start, a 10.25-inch media display, 12.3-inch instrument cluster, 10-speaker Harman Kardon stereo, leather upholstery, heated front seats with a power driver’s seat, dual-zone climate control, a wireless charger, sat nav, plus Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The Highlander Hybrid has all of that, but adds Nappa leather upholstery, a power front passenger seat, ventilated front seats and heated window seats in the second row, a head-up display and a panoramic sunroof.

The Elite and Highlander are both seven seaters, but you can ask for six seats in the Highlander and have that second row bench seat replaced with two captain’s chairs.

All MU-X models share the same 3.0-litre, four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine but it perfectly complements the 4WD system. With a maximum output of 140kW of power and 450Nm of torque, most weekend adventures can be pursued. It also doesn't feel like you're digging deep for that power, which is great.

The six-speed auto transmission is surprisingly smooth but occasionally the pick-up isn't super quick when you're going from a standstill. It can feel heavy in that situation but I was still confident when I had to cut across city traffic, so it wasn't a major bother.

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 official combined fuel cycle is 8.3L/100km. Real-world testing saw my figure at 7.7L. I've been doing a good mix of open-road and urban driving this week, so I think that's very respectable for the size of this car.

The MU-X has an 80L fuel tank with an approximate driving range of 900km.

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.

Overall, I've enjoyed driving this. The engine has enough grunt to make you feel you can handle most situations and despite being a turbo-diesel, it's not super loud in the cabin. You do notice a fair bit of wind noise, though.

The only real drawback to the driving experience has been the ride comfort. I'm a fan of the D-Max and feel it outruns its stablemate in this area. I'm not sure if it's the suspension or tyres but you feel a lot of the bumps in the road.

The high driving position and the visibility out of the windows has been fantastic and helps make up for the ride quality. The steering is firm and direct, making this feel like a smaller car than it is and that's a nice feeling to have in a large SUV.

It's not a beast to park either and you'll be comfortable navigating your local shopping centre car park.

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.  

The regular Santa Fe scored the maximum five-star ANCAP rating when it was tested in 2018. You don’t need me to tell you the world was a different place back then, as it was in terms of automotive safety requirements.

New advanced safety tech has been added to this SUV over the years and this Santa Fe hybrid comes equipped with all of it, too. 

There’s AEB which works at intersections, too, blind-spot warning, rear cross-traffic alert, lane keeping assistance, rear occupant alert, auto high beam headlights and adaptive cruise control.

The forward AEB will bring the vehicle to a complete stop for cyclists and pedestrians at speeds between 10km/h and 65km/h or 75km/h for vehicles.

Above the speeds the vehicle will slow as much as possible in an attempt to avoid a collision.

The Highlander adds even more tech in the form of a surround view camera, blind spot monitor, and rear AEB. 

This top grade also boasts remote parking that allows the you to drive the Santa Fe in or out of tight parking spots using the key fob as a remote control. It sounds incredible but it’s real. I’ve demonstrated this feature in the video above.

On a super serious note be aware that even though this is a three-row SUV, the curtain airbags don’t completely cover the third row windows.

The Santa Fe isn’t the only SUV with this airbag inadequacy - the Kia Sorento has the same problem.

This comes with a six-year/150,000km warranty, but it is usual to see an unlimited kilometre term in this class.

The MU-X comes with a seven-year capped-priced servicing plan and services are competitively priced at an average of $527. Servicing intervals are reasonable at every 12 months or every 15,000km, whichever occurs first.

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.