Yahoo Autos 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe First Drive Review: Rover of paved lands
SEOUL — South Korea is many things; a driver’s paradise is not one of them. The roads are mostly flat and straight, and their level of speed regulation is borderline draconian – like, to the point where a multi-hour drive on a freeway becomes a neverending slog to appease what feels like a billion speed cameras. On top of that, traffic is always congested. Always. Hoot and a half, let me tell ya.
But behind the wheel of a 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe, none of this stuff matters. Hyundai’s redesigned midsize SUV is a quiet, comfortable and surprisingly luxurious steed that makes freeway crawls a non-issue. It’s not half bad on a backroad, too.
The new Santa Fe’s basic checklist hasn’t changed for this latest generation – seating for seven, all-wheel drive, loads of tech, optional hybrid power – but its overall shape is quite different. Hyundai really butched this one up, to the point where Land Rover comparisons are not unwarranted. Seriously, it looks more like a Land Rover Discovery than the actual Land Rover Discovery.
By the tape measure, the 2024 Santa Fe isn’t that much larger than its predecessor, only growing 1.8 inches in length and 1.4 inches in height (their widths are identical). But goodness does the new Santa Fe have a whole lot more curb appeal. You definitely need the larger 21-inch wheels to really fill out those generous wells, as the standard 18s can look a little puny.
Don’t worry, U.S.-spec Santa Fes will have tinted rear windows, unlike the Korean-market tester pictured here – another upgrade that not only improves things cosmetically but helps to keep the cabin cool. Once inside, you’ll find generous accommodations for first- and second-row passengers, with that boxy design lending itself to mega headroom. Getting into the third row is kind of a hassle, since the seats don’t slide forward enough, but once you manage to wedge yourself back there, the amount of space available seems comparable to what you’d find in the considerably larger Palisade (196.7 inches long versus the Santa Fe at 190.2). The remaining cargo space behind it is another story – it’s tiny with all seats raised, much like the mechanically related Kia Sorento that has similar exterior dimensions. If that's a problem, loading extra stuff on the raised roof rails is uniquely aided by grab handles in the C pillars that help you hoist yourself up while standing on the rear tire.
If you thought the Santa Fe’s exterior looked a little Defender-y, the cockpit will give you the same impression. The steering wheel looks like it was ripped right out of a Land Rover, as do the squared-off air vents and angled climate control screen flanked by temperature dials for the driver and passenger. The large center console area has two dedicated wireless charging pads for a pair of smartphones (an extreme rarity, in fact we’re struggling to think of another), and the cubby under the armrest opens from either the front or back, which sounds cool and functional, but you have to give the lid a good hard pull to get it to unlatch. This isn’t a weird pre-production quirk, either.
A curved display houses a pair of 12.3-inch screens, one for the gauges and another for the Hyundai Group’s latest multimedia system that gets wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto among other upgrades and updates. To the right, there are two gloveboxes: a top one behind the dash panel and a more traditional one by the passenger’s knees. This is in addition to deep door pockets that’ll hold huge water bottles and storage space under the center console, as well.
