The 2025 Santa Fe Hybrid Is The Santa Fe To Buy

Hey guys, today I'm down in Southern California finally getting hands-on with the 36 miles per gallon boxy practical Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid. Let's take a look. If you're looking for something with a lot of style and more practicality than a Toyota Highlander, definitely look no further than the Santa Fe. This looks almost exactly the same as the non-hybrid Santa Fe because this model was designed from the ground up to be hybrid and plug-in hybrid. Rather unfortunately, in North America, we aren't going to be getting the plug-in hybrid model, at least not for the moment. We don't know what the future will hold, but let's take a look around the design first. Hyundai went all in on the H design theme and the pixel design theme with this model, so obviously H-shaped daytime running lights there, that light bar that runs all the way across the front, and definitely again a very square and boxy style to just about everything when it comes to the Santa Fe. I don't know if everybody notices this, but there's also an H kind of in this body colored insert right there. Let me know what you think about this copper colored paint job. It is a matte paint job, so it's going to be a little bit more difficult to keep clean long term, but I think it does look pretty good on the Santa Fe. Now working our way around the side, it's really obvious that the Santa Fe is very upright and boxy, but what's less obvious is the general size of the Santa Fe. This may look big, but it's definitely more regular Highlander sized than Grand Highlander sized. In many ways, the Hyundai Palisade is actually the more direct competitor to the Grand Highlander, whereas this is really tackling that smaller Highlander in the lineup. Lots of glass going on, visibility is excellent in this design thanks to its upright shape, and then Hyundai has given us some nods to increase sort of off-road capability and handy features. For instance, if you frequently find yourself putting things like bicycles or kayaks on the top, this handle is kind of a handy touch. You can lock it, so there's actually a lock mechanism right in here. You just twist this little knob and it's going to lock, so that way you can't pop it out. That's going to allow easier access to the roof, because the roof line is significantly higher than the previous generation Santa Fe. This model is a fully loaded trim, so of course we have the black wheels. Those aren't exactly my preference, and if we come around to the back, you'll notice the definitely controversial design of the new Santa Fe, and that is certainly the really low placed parking lights and taillights in the back. These also have kind of an h-pixel theme to them. It's a little bit difficult to see in the strong sunlight here, but there we go. There's the h-theme there, h-track hybrid logo right there, and Santa Fe spelled out nice and big across the back. They really wanted this to be a very style-forward vehicle, and that's really obvious with not just the boxy proportions, but also the definitely style-forward design that we have here. The really high-waisted look is kind of an optical illusion, because versus something like this Santa Cruz right over here, you'll notice that the taillights really aren't that much lower in the Santa Fe. They are unquestionably lower, but they're not as low as they would otherwise be, because the top of the Santa Fe is so high that it really gives it that kind of, you know, optical illusion going on there. Let's take a look while we're back here at the cargo area. This is one big difference between this and the Palisade. Even though the Palisade has more cargo room, interestingly it's not going to be as upright as this. You can fit about two of these 22-inch roller bags back here. You can see there's a 22-inch roller bag and just this box right over there, but we don't have as much room between the seat back and the hatch. Certainly not as much room back here as we find in a Palisade. On the other hand, we have a really big square cargo opening. Significantly bigger than average for this particular segment, and definitely bigger also than the Kia Sorento. Now I mentioned the Sorento because within the Hyundai conglomerate, we do have that other three-row model. It's kind of sort of related to the Santa Fe. It's actually, I guess, technically related to the previous generation Santa Fe, but you can get the same hybrid and, of course, the plug-in hybrid system in that model. And it is a three-row vehicle as well, but it's not as boxy as this. So visually, it looks a little bit smaller. On the inside, it is a little bit smaller, but actually that mainly has to do with the squareness of the profile all the way to the back, giving us more third-row room. Now let's check out what's going on under the hood. This hybrid system is what we're here to talk about. If you don't choose the hybrid option, you get a 277 horsepower, two-and-a-half-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine. That's not controversial. What is controversial is the dual-clutch transmission that you find mated to that 2.5-liter turbo. If you'd rather have a traditional automatic and you'd rather save fuel, of course, you get this drivetrain here. It's a 1.6-liter four-cylinder turbo. Coupled with the electric motor, you get 231 horsepower and 36 miles per gallon if you choose front-wheel drive, 35 if you choose all-wheel drive. What's interesting about this hybrid system is, again, that it uses a mechanical all-wheel drive system. So all-wheel drive performance in this is going to be exactly the same as the regular model, although you actually get a torque converter here. That's something that, of course, you don't get with the 2.5-liter turbo. So depending on the kind of off-roading you're doing, especially low-speed crawl situations, this may actually be better than that 2.5-liter turbo. Logically, on the inside, we find a design that is very similar to the non-hybrid model, with, again, a very upright theme and lots of hidden H-designs, like the hidden H-designs and little pixel elements in the dashboard. We have an interior that I think is certainly more practical than the Sorento and actually, in many ways, more practical than the Hyundai Palisade as well, with, for instance, this storage compartment right there above, this larger glove compartment below, and even another storage pocket right there where you can certainly store some of those larger smartphones without a problem. It also has a rubbery mat in there to help keep them from rolling around. I also like the interior color options. It's a bit difficult to tell in here, but this is kind of a medium to dark olive green, something along those lines, and then kind of a off-white, I guess, ivory kind of insert right there in the middle. We then get the two big screens in the dashboard that we see in a lot of different Hyundai models. Some combination touch and physical controls for the climate control system down here, so it's a little bit difficult to see in this lighting because it's pretty strong, but we actually get temperature over with a little LED display inside, touchscreen LCD right there in the middle of everything, lots of buttons and switches going on on the dashboard. It's a big storage area here, so under here there's a large storage area, Qi wireless charging mats on top. Yes, mats, plural. There are two of them there. Big cup holders right there, and definitely a very upright theme in here. Here's the steering wheel over here with some chunky button modules on the side. This is actually one of the more attractive Hyundai steering wheels, I think, with paddles on the back. These are regenerative braking paddles, though, not shift paddles. Let's go ahead and hop into the back seat so you can see what's going on back here. We have plenty of room inside. The second row seats slide forward and backward. This one has captain's chairs, as you can see right there, and of course we have a two-pane moonroof setup, so one pane there and one pane just in front. The back seats, they are surprisingly accommodating, actually, but only two people fit in the way back. We have four sets of lanch anchors inside, which I suppose makes sense due to the size and the squareness of these seats. I'll go ahead and hop back here in the rear so you can see what's going on. I can sort of squeeze myself back here behind that seat, but more rationally, I would fit comfortably behind this seat, and this second row seat's adjusted for me at six feet tall. I fit up front and in the middle and back here in the rear, so definitely not the biggest vehicle for three rows, but check out the headroom back here. There is significantly more headroom back here than something like the Sorento and even the Toyota Highlander, actually, versus a reasonable number of even larger three-row SUVs don't have the kind of headroom that we find in the Santa Fe, so you do have to choose. Do you want the headroom or do you want the legroom? Bearing in mind, of course, if I grab the camera here and you take a look at this, that your legs are definitely going to be kind of in your chest because the seat bottom cushion is fairly low to the ground. That's how we get to this really amazing headroom number, but I think these seats are pretty usable for kids in child seats, booster seats, etc., and there are also some other nice touches. For instance, like over here, we find controls for the third climate control zone, I guess you could say. You can adjust the fan back here, but the temperature of the air coming out of these vents, that's dictated by what's going on up front. Of course, I suspect most folks are going to leave the third row folded flat most of the time, and it does fold completely flat with the cargo area in the back. Going in for a closer look at the second row, we have a storage bin that comes out of the center console. That's kind of a nice touch. You can slide the front seat forward with these buttons right here. That's something that I would definitely love to play with as a kid. There's also USB-C charge ports on the back of the front seats. One thing I'm not the biggest fan of is that we have cup holders on the doors, and if you have kids with takeout drinks, you'll know that they'll probably end up splashing those on the interior as they close the doors. On the other hand, I love the placement of these air vents. They're over here on the side rather than down there in the center console. I think that's actually much easier to get cool in the summer because you can have the air blowing a little bit closer to your face. This model, as the top-end trim, has the partially powered second row seats. Kind of an interesting touch. You can actually adjust the tilt of the seat bottom cushion. That really makes it more comfortable on longer journeys for taller drivers. On the other hand, though, power tilting and sliding this seat to get back into the third row takes more time because of that powered mechanism. Now, I say partially powered because the actual sliding forward and backward, that's manual. There's a lever right under there, but to get into the third row, we press that button. You can see it slides forward really quickly, but then it takes a while for that to tilt forward. All right, let's get the Santa Fe Hybrid out on the road. You are going to notice a few things right away. The first thing is a little bit of a delay in acceleration versus the Highlander Hybrid because of the design of this hybrid system. It is a two-motor hybrid system, but remember, it's using those motors very differently than in the Highlander Hybrid. In this drivetrain, we have a traditional six-speed automatic transmission, a motor that's primarily used to generate power and start the engine, and then one that assists the vehicle going down the road. So when you're starting from a stop, I'll just go ahead and stop here, you'll notice that the engine will turn off. Okay, we are completely stopped. Engine's off. If I floor it, it takes a moment, then the engine kicks on. That smaller motor starts the engine, meanwhile the bigger motor starts moving the vehicle forward. So there's just gonna be a little bit of a moment until you get all 231 horsepower on the boil. Then you'll notice we have that traditional stepped automatic transmission. So if you don't like that CVT-like feel that you get in a Toyota or a Honda Hybrid system, you might want to check out this because this has a very traditional feel to it. If you floor it, wait for it, transmission downshifts. It feels very normal, and those shifts feel very traditional because they are. It's a regular six-speed automatic. Of course, it's not going to be quite as efficient in every driving situation as the Toyota Hybrid system. This model is rated for 35 miles per gallon as equipped here. Over our day of relatively mixed driving, I've been averaging about 33 mpg. That is still fantastic given the boxiness of this vehicle, however, and it's a significant improvement over something like a Honda Pilot or really anything else in the three-row segment outside of that Highlander or the closely related Kia Sorento. Bearing in mind that we haven't been able to test this on our usual test surfaces, my preliminary six to zero stopping distance comes in at 128 feet. That was fairly repeatable out here even though it is a little bit hot out here. It's actually 92 degrees outside right now, so that likely has some effect on the stopping distance. Handling and ride quality are also very well done in the Santa Fe. This suspension has not become upset over the broken pavement that we've been driving on today. This road surface looks okay at first glance, but there are actually quite a few small potholes, and this actually rides a little bit better than the Tucson I was driving in earlier. I hadn't exactly suspected that because this is, of course, the top-end Santa Fe model and has relatively low profile tires for something in this segment. Of course, if you want something with a little bit more cushion, you could get the XRT trim, but you're not going to get the Hybrid system in that model. And the Hybrid system is definitely the way I would go, I think, if I were shopping for a Santa Fe. It's smooth, it's quiet, it's unobtrusive, and the performance is still very good. No, it's not as fast as that two and a half liter turbo, but if you're out here on a road like this, there's still plenty of hustle to be found. It's actually a little bit quieter than that two and a half liter turbo, and it's really well mannered. It just feels very, very normal. And the 2.5 liter turbo, it's going to feel different, especially if you find yourself in slow and go and stop and go traffic. It's just not going to be as well sorted as this 1.6 liter turbo and the traditional 6-speed auto. Another thing to keep in mind is that we have a traditional mechanical all-wheel drive system in the Santa Fe Hybrid. So you don't have to worry about those awkward situations in the snow that you can get into in a Toyota Hybrid system with the e-axle on the back. The e-axle is just fine in most conditions, but it's going to feel different. You'll notice that you're really going to have to spin up the front tires to get power to go back to the back, and we don't find that in here. In fact, we have very much the same kind of controls for the all-wheel drive system that we find in the non-Hybrid model. So we can choose auto brake hold. We can choose various different all-wheel drive modes, including snow, which is going to send more power to the back. And we have the four-wheel drive lock button, which is going to try and command more of a lock of the center coupling to get more power sent to the rear. Again, bearing in mind that I have not driven this on our usual test surface, it does appear that the cabin is a little bit quieter than the Highlander. I measured 70.5 decibels in here at 50 miles an hour, easily making this among the quietest of the mainstream three-row vehicles. Even something like a Grand Cherokee L, which is considerably more expensive than this, isn't really that much quieter than this. And of course, that has an adaptive air suspension, which generally seems to quiet things down a little bit as they tend to transmit a little bit less sound in the cabin than the steel spring suspensions that we find here. And some of those models also have wider tires, so it's another thing to keep in mind. Now as far as fuel economy goes, obviously your driving style, the elevation near you, etc., that's all going to factor into your fuel economy numbers. I have found that generally speaking, Hyundai's six-speed hybrid system tends to perform a little bit lower than the Toyota hybrid system if you're doing a lot of hill climbing, like in this region here. So if you live in a hilly area, you should probably expect the Highlander to be a little bit more fuel efficient, but I think this system is a little bit more civilized and a little bit more my preference, mainly because I live in a hilly climate like this. You will notice that if the battery is at lower states of charge, you actually get more oomph out of the hybrid system is probably the best way to describe it. Actual horsepower numbers are a little bit lower in this 1.6 liter turbo versus the naturally aspirated engine that we find in the Highlander, but we get more torque at lower rpms thanks to the turbo here. And at higher altitudes, you'll notice that this helps compensate for that. The turbocharger helps compensate for the lower oxygen levels at those higher altitudes. So if you're driving your plug-in hybrid or your hybrid to Tahoe or you're driving up the Continental Divide, you'll definitely notice the difference between this and Toyota's naturally aspirated hybrid system. At least for the moment, bottom lining the Santa Fe is pretty easy. This is going to start at $36,950 plus destination tax, title, license, etc, which should get you a little over $40,000 all in. That's pretty similar to most of the competition, whether we're talking about the Highlander or the Sorrento or, well, really nothing else because there isn't anything else like the Santa Fe or the Highlander hybrid or the Sorrento hybrid in North America. Oddly enough, no other car company seems to be giving us anything with this kind of room and three doors and a practical hybrid system for some reason, let alone a hybrid system that gets 35 to 36 miles per gallon. You can't really compare this with something like the Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid. It does have a third row, but it's really, really tiny. And this third row is actually quite usable given the overall size of the Santa Fe. And again, that's kind of the weird thing here. This looks big, but it's actually easier to park than the Hyundai Palisade. So if you're looking for something easy to park, has lots of room and is definitely very style forward with a hybrid system, this is kind of one of the few options in North America. And even though I really like that Toyota hybrid system in the Highlander, I have to admit, I probably would lean towards the Santa Fe, not simply because of the hybrid system, because I really love that hybrid synergy drive system in the Toyota, but because of the rest of the vehicle, the fact that we still have that boxy and practical backend, the bigger and more accommodating cargo area when the third row is folded. Those are some pretty significant advantages, at least for me. And if you want a hybrid that drives more like a regular car, then you certainly want to take a look at this or the Sorento over the Toyota. It drives kind of like a CVT, even though it's not a traditional CVT, whereas the Santa Fe and the Sorento drive just like a regular car with a regular automatic transmission that happens to turn its engine off now and then when you're not really paying attention. That's the big advantage to this particular hybrid system. And if you live in a hilly area, you should also know that you are going to get more power out of this hybrid system when the battery has been depleted than the Toyota hybrid system, especially if you're going up to Tahoe or you're climbing the Continental Divide, you'll really notice the turbocharged engine difference in here when the battery is at low states of charge versus the Highlander. Let me know what you think about all that down there in the comment section below. And would you get the Santa Fe hybrid or would you get the more powerful twin clutch transmission and 2.5 liter turbo combination in the regular Santa Fe? Yes, that's going to be quicker out on the road, but this is certainly my preference. It's obviously more efficient. It's also smoother, which is definitely an interesting thing to keep in mind. I'll see all of you later.