What We Like
✓ Appealing boxy exterior
✓ Doesn't feel laboured despite the small 1.6-litre engine of its hybrid drivetrain
✓ Feature-packed cabin
✓ Full of nifty adventure-oriented touches
What We Dislike
✗ Ride quality can still be improved
There's plenty that suggests this Hyundai Santa Fe is the sort of adventure-ready vehicle that firms such as Land Rover have seen such great success manufacturing.
See, for example, the car's boxy shape and generous dimensions - necessary to deliver large volumes of interior space for all the equipment you'll need to spend a few days out in the wilderness. Aiding access to all this equipment is the Santa Fe's wide tailgate - a feature Hyundai has dedicated an entire page to point out in this car's brochure.
And if this boot space is not sufficient, there's even a nifty handle located along the car's C-pillar - so you can easily climb up, with one foot placed on the car's rear wheel, to grab any items you've secured atop its roof rails.
The Santa Fe's boxy exterior makes it every bit as visually imposing as its 4,830mm total length and 1,720mm total height suggests
Magnetic attraction
But consider, firstly, the fact that our example comes with gloss black panels all along the lower section of its body that are sure to pick up all sorts of scratches if you're not careful at cleanup after driving through dirt, even though the rest of this car gets an Earthy Brass matt finish. And add to this the fact that the pair of Kumho Ecsta PS71 tyres at the front do feel challenged when tasked to rein in the car's 367Nm of torque deployed and to propel it's not insubstantial 1,905kg total weight, and the message is clear: Keep to the well-paved road.
Does this hurt the car's appeal? I don't see it as such.
Test drive the Santa Fe here: https://hyundai.com.sg/test-drive/
The SUV makes use of H-shaped motifs throughout
At $277,999 for this 'Calligraphy' trim, this Santa Fe strikes as a significantly more affordable option for those who want to motor about in something with the rugged exterior design of say, for example, the $299,888 Land Rover Defender 110 when equipped with a 2.0-litre engine, or the $406,888 Range Rover Sport, which comes with a 3.0-litre engine. The latter two prices, bear in mind, are even before the necessary COE premium has been factored in.
There's little doubt in my mind that the Santa Fe doesn't have the off-road chops to match the other two products from Jaguar Land Rover. But it does trade one esoteric disadvantage to offer quite a few more benefits that I think a far wider audience here will appreciate.
Fold the third row down and there's a generous 628-litres of boot space available, but you also have easy access to items stored on the roof via this handle on the car's C-pillar
Drivetrain smarts
Take the fact that the 1.6-litre hybrid drivetrain in the Santa Fe got me an average fuel economy of 13.4km/L over the three days that I spent with the car. That's not only close to its official consumption figure of 14.5km/L, but a figure that even the smaller Range Rover Velar with its WLTP fuel economy of 10.1km/L, cannot beat even when equipped with a 246bhp 2.0-litre engine.
Test drive the Santa Fe here: https://hyundai.com.sg/test-drive/
And the Santa Fe is no slouch either despite its more modest thirst. The Hyundai comes with a total of 215bhp to deploy, and while throttle responsiveness (judging on the basis that the car comes with the added advantage of being assisted by an instantaneous electric motor) isn't impressive, the quiet manner in which it went about its business certainly is.
The Santa Fe is offered here with a 1.6-litre hybrid drivetrain that does a decent job hauling its 1,905kg weight
As did the fact that while the car's steering wheel paddles allow you to adjust the level of regenerative braking employed when it is in its default 'Eco' drive mode, they instead give you control over its six-speed gearbox once you switch over to the 'Sport' drive mode. Touches like this make the Santa Fe rewarding and intuitive to pilot, whether you're simply cruising along or pushing it down an engaging curvy road.
Drive at a reasonable pace and the Santa Fe will solely employ electric power for an impressive span of time, and the ride here is generally pliant and comfortable, although I must point out that it still is prone to transmitting a fair bit of road imperfections into the cabin. Products from more premium brands will still offer a more settled ride.
The 12.3-inch infotainment display offers pleasing colours
Calm and relaxed
Still, there's a good chance your passengers won't notice, thanks to the Santa Fe's brilliant cabin.
Opt for your own Santa Fe in this 'Calligraphy' trim and there's two wireless charging pads on the centre console, to complement the two USB ports already offered and another two on the backs of the front seats (on top of one for each third-row passenger), so all travelling with you can fiddle with their smartphones to their heart's content.
Test drive the Santa Fe here: https://hyundai.com.sg/test-drive/
There's also a dedicated panel, which houses the controls for both the air-conditioning and the ventilated front seats (the latter only available on Calligraphy trim cars), so you don't have to go through the hassle of digging into the infotainment system when the cabin gets too hot.
'Calligraphy' trim examples of the Santa Fe come with an ultraviolet sterilisation tray ahead of the front passenger
And speaking of which, the central 12.3-inch display is also a triumph. It utilises a beautiful colour scheme, and I found myself curiously favouring the various 'Sounds of Nature' ambient soundtracks even over the songs saved within my phone on the evening drives home. Overall intuitiveness of the system still could be raised if you didn't have to dig deep into the system to make adjustments to the ambient lighting and change the settings of the driver assistance features.
But no matter. The car's leather steering wheel is richly padded so that it's not only a pleasure to hold but also to squeeze, and passengers can relish the fact that there's enough knee room even for those in the third row once you slide the second row of seats forwards a fair bit.
Push the second row forwards and you should be able to seat seven in reasonable comfort in this Santa Fe
Wholly capable
At $277,999 for this 'Calligraphy' trim car, it's quite hard to recommend the available alternatives above this Santa Fe. It asks for a premium above popular seven-seater SUVs such as the $253,999 Honda CR-V or the $226,800 Nissan X-Trail, but its more generous exterior dimensions and greater materials used in its cabin set it apart as a substantially more premium product compared to these two. If you're looking for a seven-seater SUV, there's also the new Skoda Kodiaq to consider, which weighs in at just $222,900, but with only 148bhp to offer, it is somewhat outgunned in this pack. And in any case, we'll reserve judgment of the Skoda until we actually get our hands on one example.
If, however, you can do without features such as a heads-up display, panoramic sunroof, ventilated front seats, the UV sterilisation tray, and can make do with just one wireless smartphone charger, amongst others missing features, this Hyundai Santa Fe can also be had in a base trim that comes in at a more competitive $256,999 (all prices as of 19 July 2024).
But I think, given this Santa Fe's new and irresistible exterior, most here will see this new SUV as a cut-throat priced alternative that comes with all the road presence of any premium-branded SUV, albeit equipped with a more sensible and, shall we say, urban adventure-oriented drivetrain, while only making significant concessions when it comes to overall brand appeal and sheer power output. And seen this way, it is a near-impossible car to resist. Just be sure to set aside some of those savings for a better set of tyres.
Read the full article here: https://www.sgcarmart.com/articles/car-reviews/hyundai-santa-fe-hybrid-calligraphy-review-35485
Test drive the Santa Fe here: https://hyundai.com.sg/test-drive/
