Hyundai Santa Fe Review (2024-present)

What is the Hyundai Santa Fe?

The Hyundai Santa Fe is a large, seven-seat family SUV. It’s now in its fifth generation, and is more upmarket and more expensive than ever, but it’s also roomier, more versatile, more efficient and more full of tech, so is that price justified? We’ll find out in this Hyundai Santa Fe review.

It’s offered with a full hybrid 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine, which you can have with two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive, or with a plug-in hybrid version that uses the same engine but can manage 33.6 miles of WLTP electric range thanks to the 13.8kWh battery (more like 20- to 25 miles of electric running in the real world).

At 4.83m long, it’s a fraction bigger than the Peugeot 5008, and noticeably shorter than the all-electric Kia EV9 that some may consider to be a rival. More likely is that you’ll be considering the similarly-sized Kia Sorento, which is the Santa Fe’s chief rival, or there’s definite Land Rover Defender vibes to some of the interior features and styling of the Santa Fe. Other rivals in the electrified seven-seat SUV class include the smaller, pure-electric Mercedes EQB, the Volvo XC90 and – if you don’t want pure electric running - the Nissan X-Trail e-Power hybrid. The latest Skoda Kodiaq will also compete for your cash, along with the Mazda CX-80, and even premium rivals such as the Audi Q7 and BMW X5.

In terms of its place in Hyundai’s own model line-up, it’s the flagship of the combustion-engined range, sitting above the Kona and Tucson, and it’s also a more versatile offering than the firm’s electric cars such as the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6.

How practical is it?

We were all set to give the Santa Fe a full five stars for practicality. After all, everything from the rugged-yet-quite-posh materials, to the sheer roominess and versatility, makes this a very useful car.

The middle-row seats slide and recline in a 60/40 split, and have tons of legroom and headroom even for tall adults. A one-touch button has the seats tilting and sliding forwards for reasonable access to the third row, too, and when you’ve climbed into the rearmost seats there’s actually room for an adult to sit in reasonable comfort. The floor is quite high, though, and there’s not much foot space. Even so, an adult will be okay back there for shorter journeys, especially as there are cup holders and climate control in the third row as well as in the middle row.

It's also a doddle to raise the third row of seats up from the flat boot floor when you want them, and there’s still enough room for a single buggy or a couple of soft bags even with all seven seats in use. Mind you, there’s nowhere for the loadbay cover to go when you take it out in order to raise all seven seats, which is annoying.

Fold those rearmost seats down to reveal the five-seat mode that most owners will default to, and you have a healthy 621 litres of boot space underneath the tailgate, which is more than enough for most things that family life can throw at you.

There are also Isofix fittings on the third row of seats, as well as two pairs of Isofix in the second row, which families of multiple small children may consider a big advantage. You can also optionally get the Santa Fe in six-seat executive configuration, albeit only in the top-spec Calligraphy model.

Towing capacity is a big disappointment, and a key reason we decided to dock a star off the Hyundai’s practicality rating. This new Hyundai Santa Fe can only tow a braked trailer of up to 1,010kg in PHEV guise (despite being all-wheel drive), and 1,110kg in Hybrid guise – regardless of whether you choose the two-wheel drive or AWD model. Yes, you can spec a towbar for light trailers or bike carriers, but the Santa Fe has been a favourite with caravanners and equine fans for several years, so to have this new car turn up with such a low towing capacity - a capacity that a standard VW Golf can rival - will alienate quite a few loyal Santa Fe fans.

Still, if you’re not worried about that, then you’ve got a seriously cool cabin up front. There are definite Land Rover Defender vibes in the straight, bluff dashboard architecture and rugged-yet-posh materials, while the high-set driving position gives an appropriately commanding view down the road. There are loads of cubbies, a double glovebox, and an excellent, curved touchscreen, as well. It really does feel classy, as well as robust enough to stand up well to a hard life in the countryside, which is quite a tricky balance to strike.

What’s it like to drive?

The Hyundai Santa Fe isn’t fast, but it is planted, refined and surprisingly satisfying to drive, regardless of whether you’re pottering around town or enjoying a nice twisty road.

We drove both the full hybrid (which has a small battery for intermittent electric running at low speeds, or when you lift off the throttle) and the plug-in hybrid that gets all-wheel drive as standard. Both flick between electric running and propulsion from the 1.6-litre turbo petrol engine very smoothly, with the six-speed automatic gearbox blurring gears and making it easy to forget about what the engine’s doing. It’s also pretty refined: the petrol engine does get noisy if you really rev it, but in the sort of moderate driving that you want to enjoy in a Santa Fe, it’s hushed, relaxing and comfortable, too.

Every Santa Fe gets self-levelling suspension, and it manages to keep things very cushy without feeling too soft or motion sickness-inducing. In fact, the big seven-seat Hyundai is actually surprisingly decent to drive on a fun road if you stick it in Sport mode for heavier steering (although it’s cornering ability won’t have you mistaking it for a sports car from behind the steering wheel, obviously). Otherwise, it’s just a big, laid-back seven-seater, as it should be.

It's not as off-road oriented as the Land Rover Defender, but the ground clearance, and the all-wheel drive (you can get the hybrid as a front-wheel-drive model) matched to the automatic terrain settings for the traction control means that it’ll dispatch a rutted farm track or muddy field without too much hassle.

Technology, equipment & infotainment

The Santa Fe is offered in three trim levels – Premium, Ultimate and Calligraphy. All get heated front seats, leatherette upholstery, keyless entry, wireless phone charging, sunblinds for the rear windows, that seven-seat layout, alloy wheels and a suite of semi-adaptive driver assist systems. They also get the full-fat 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system with satnav, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, over-the-air software updates and online functionality, not to mention a configurable digital driver’s readout.

Ultimate adds a camera that displays a view down the side of the car when you indicate to mitigate blind spots, a head-up display, a Bose sound system, heated seats in the back, a double opening sunroof, dual wireless phone charging pads, and more.

Calligraphy adds fancy styling features including black alloy wheels, nappa leather upholstery and a front seat that fully reclines for full lounge-like comfort.

Hyundai Santa Fe running costs

The Hyundai Santa Fe isn’t cheap, with prices starting at just under £47,000 for the Hybrid 2WD, or £49,000 for the Hybrid 4WD. while the Santa Fe PHEV starts at just under £52,000 (actually a very small price jump for the electric zero-emissions running on the PHEV, especially as it also gets four-wheel drive as standard). That’s not a bad price for the equipment and general versatility of the Santa Fe, although it’s worth pointing out that the Peugeot 5008 plug-in hybrid is usefully cheaper.

The Peugeot is also cheaper on Benefit-in-Kind company car tax, although many won’t mind as the Hyundai is roomier, has all-wheel drive, and many would argue also has more kerbside appeal and styling swagger. We’d like to see more affordable finance deals, as currently you’ll be lucky to get the Santa Fe for less than £650 per month, even with a very healthy deposit. The more tempting finance deals will no doubt arrive after the initial flurry of interest following the Santa Fe’s 2024 launch.

Fuel economy is up to 40.4mpg on the Hybrid 2WD, or 38.2mpg on the Hybrid 4WD, while the Santa Fe Plug-in Hybrid manages 166mpg. As we always say when it comes to PHEVs, they can make a lot of sense provided you can charge often and do mostly of shorter journeys so that you can take advantage of the cheaper fuel costs of electric charging at home or the office. Otherwise, you may well be better off with the lighter, cheaper Hybrid.

Hyundai Santa Fe reliability

Hyundai has a good reputation for reliability, and comes with a five-year, unlimited-mileage warranty, which is usefully better than you’ll get on most rivals. The battery is also covered for up to eight years and 100,000 miles.

The new Santa Fe hasn’t been around for long enough to feature in any owner surveys, but the brand as a whole came a very healthy seventh out of 32 brands in the latest What Car? Reliability Survey (which factors in used cars of up to five years old).