The 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe Calligraphy 2.5T AWD combines style with a lot of luxury equipment in a $50,000 package. Power comes from a turbocharged, 2.5-liter inline-four.
| What’s Good Fantastic styling. Plenty of clever comfort features. Love the relaxation comfort seats. Heated second row seats a nice touch, too. | What Could Improve The dual-clutch transmission makes moving around in tight spaces tough. The ride feels stiffer than most families would want. | My Conclusion It looks good. And that’s plenty for most. All the luxuries only sweeten the deal. But I wish for a bit more refinement in Hyundai’s latest crossover. |
OVERVIEW
Traditionally, the Hyundai Santa Fe blended in with the crossover SUV masses. You got soft curves, a gently sloping shape, and a generally innocuous two-box shape. No more.
Hyundai went bold for the fifth-generation Santa Fe: Hard edges, sharp cuts, and ninety degree bends make up the latest shape. It Looks cool. It looks like a Land Rover Defender, at least a little.
Practically speaking, it’s also bigger, stretching more than 190-inches long. And you get a wider tailgate to fit more stuff. Unless you load it up with people, as the Santa Fe is now a standard three-row SUV.
Powertrain
A turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-four-cylinder engine powers the Santa Fe. It makes 277 horsepower at 5800 rpm and 311 lb.-ft of torque between 1700-4000 rpm. That’s plenty of muscle to overcome the Santa Fe’s nearly 4500 lbs. of mass.
For most trims, you choose between front- or all-wheel-drive. But, with the 2.5-liter, you get an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, not an automatic. And, unfortunately, that does hurt smoothness when starting from a complete stop, or when trying to get inch perfect in a tight garage space, as an example.
Hyundai offers an optional, more efficient powertrain, a 1.6-liter hybrid. You get less power and torque, 231 horsepower and 271 lb.-ft, respectively. But you still choose between front- or all-wheel-drive. And, in the hybrid, you get a six-speed automatic. Not to mention, much better fuel economy.
But the 2.5-liter delivers strong pull on the open road and smooth shifts, once you’re moving. As long as you do not constantly deal with tight spaces, you’ll likely find the dual-clutch transmission a non-issue.
Chassis
You get a solid chassis and stable feel thanks to a four-wheel independent suspension: struts up front and a multilink setup in the rear. But I’m surprised Hyundai tuned it quite so stiffly. On smooth roads, it feels aces, but expansion joints on the highway or sharp bumps on two-lane roads do jostle around passengers more than say, a Honda CR-V.
I also found brake travel higher than usual. Pedal feel and modulation feels fine in normal driving circumstances, but if you need brake a bit more suddenly, you’ll find your foot heading strikingly close to the firewall. The stopping power is there, but this much travel diminishes confidence a little bit.
On the other hand, Hyundai isolated the cabin quite well. Even at highway speeds, the Santa Fe keeps out most road and wind noise. That makes it easy to carry a conversation or enjoy all the tech inside with ease. As long as you pick smooth roads, the Santa Fe makes a great road trip car.
Details and Inside
And that holds for adults in the first and second rows. For the Calligraphy, the second row captain’s chairs provide, plenty of let and knee room, as well as seat bottoms high enough off the floor for generous thigh support as well. The second row also gets sunshades, usb type-c ports, and heated seats.
The third row is for kids.
Up front, you get heated and ventilated seats, more usb ports, and two wireless smartphone chargers. And the driver gets what I consider the perfect gift for a beleaguered parent waiting in the school pick-up line: relaxation comfort seats. Put the Santa Fe in park and with the press of a button, the seat back reclines, the seat front tilts back, and a recliner style leg rest unfolds to give you perfect spot to sneak five minutes of shut eye. It’s glorious.
Once you wake up and get moving, you look at two 12.3-inch screens, one for the digital instrument cluster, the other for the center display. The latter does connect wirelessly to your smartphone via Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and, of course Bluetooth. It’s all very lovely.
in conclusion
Hyundai built something to stand out rather than blend-in. The Korean brand also stuffed the crossover SUV full of amenities for a reasonable price. Most families will also put the increased size to good use.
But, unlike the latest Hyundai Sonata, as an example. The Santa Fe still falls a bit short in driving refinement. Driving enthusiasts, like me, will struggle to get past that. But the rest of you will get a lot of SUV for the money and a mighty comfortable place to sit while you wait for the school bell to ring.
COMPETITORS
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV
Mazda CX-50
Toyota Highlander
SPECIFICATIONS
2024 Hyundai Santa Fe Calligraphy 2.5T AWD: 5-door, 6-seat, crossover SUV
Base price: $49,695
Price as Tested: $50,905
Powertrain:
Turbocharged 2.5-liter I-4
Power: 277 horsepower at 5800 rpm
Torque: 311 lb.-ft between 1700-4000 rpm
Transmissions: eight-speed dual-clutch transmission
Drive: all-wheel-drive
Fuel Economy in MPG and range
20 city
28 highway
23 combined
All electric range: 407 miles
Dimensions
Length: 190.2 inches
Width: 74.8 inches
Height: 67.7 inches (69.7-in with roof rails)
Wheelbase: 110.8 inches
Weights and Capacities
Curb weight: 4486 lbs.
Interior volume: 167 cu ft
Cargo Volume (behind 3rd/2nd/1st rows): 15/41/80 cu ft
Calculated weight to power (lbs./HP): 16.2:1
Mfr’s claimed 0-60 mph: NA seconds
Mfr’s claimed Top Speed: NA mph
Government classified size: Small Sport Utility Vehicle 4WD
Options: Earthy brass matte paint, $1000; carpeted floor mats, $210
Need just two rows, the Mazda CX-50 now also offers a hybrid powertrain
