Hyundai Santa Fe review 2021 It's brand new, but looks similar
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TechTranscript
00:00G'day, I'm Paul. So if you haven't noticed, there is no shortage of
00:04seven-seat SUVs in Australia, and this is the latest. It is the new Santa Fe. Now when I say new,
00:10it looks kind of the way that it did previously, but it sits on a brand new platform for the Santa Fe.
00:15It's a platform that's shared with the Kia Sorento. This right here is the Santa Fe Highlander, and it's priced at around
00:22$65,000. That's a little bit too much. The range kicks off at about
00:26$45,000, but being the top-spec, this competes with things like the Mazda CX-9, the Toyota Kluger, and the Kia Sorento.
00:33Today, we're going to do a detailed review of this car. If you do want to skip ahead to other parts of this review,
00:38you can use the time codes that are up on the screen,
00:40or just use the chapters below if you're on YouTube. And if you haven't done so already,
00:43I'd love it if you could subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon as well,
00:46so you can find out every single time we drive one of these flash new SUVs.
00:50Let's talk exterior. You've got seven external colors to pick from, and everything but blue and white are about $700 extra.
00:58Now, let's quickly talk about the design, because Igor, cameraman, thinks it looks absolutely amazing.
01:03I'm not so convinced. I always thought the last one looked okay,
01:07but I think they've taken a step backwards with this. Let me know what you think down in the comments section.
01:12Okay, so let's start with the grille. It is a whopper. So, big grille down here,
01:16you've got a huge Hyundai logo, and that's finished in an interesting material.
01:20It's like a reflective, sort of glossy, chrome-style material.
01:24I think this actually looks good, this part of the car. Same with the chrome highlights down the bottom.
01:29It's like a brushed aluminium in terms of the design.
01:31So, I think that all looks good. Where I think it takes a little deviation, though, is with the headlight cluster.
01:36So, up the top you have LED daytime running lights. You also have an indicator built in, but this is the headlight cluster.
01:42So, full LED headlights. You can see those projectors just there.
01:45They're adaptive as well. It's just interesting.
01:48It's a different philosophy and a different way to do things.
01:50It kind of looks a bit like the Palisade as well, so you can see where they drew that inspiration from.
01:54But yeah, let me know what you think of the design. We'll whip around to the side here.
01:57Now, you've got 20-inch alloy wheels. They're whoppers. I quite like this wheel design.
02:01It's got that glossy chrome matte finish on the outside, and then a graphite finish on the inside.
02:08And they've got this sort of design that makes them look like they're moving. See how they sort of spin back a little bit.
02:13I'm going to refer to my VPSS Commodore here for Hyundai's design inspiration.
02:18Kind of a similar design where it spins back.
02:20So, yeah, interesting. Low profile-ish tyre. 45 profile along the side there.
02:25Given Hyundai does local ride and handling tuning, I'm hoping this actually rides well on Australian roads.
02:30Now, you can see here that they've been a little restrained in terms of the wheel arch flares.
02:34So, normally this would be like a black plastic cladding, but they've kept it body coloured,
02:38which I think is a better look because it blends in far more nicely with the rest of the package.
02:43Around here, you have an indicator built into that wing mirror with a camera there for the 360 camera.
02:47We have roof rails, privacy glass, and then around the back here, you have that spoiler built into the tailgate,
02:52a shark fin antenna, and while this looks fairly common to the last generation of the Santa Fe,
02:57you can see here that these LED taillights have been refined a bit.
03:01So, get a bit more definition to them.
03:03They kind of look like the Audi e-tron GT with that sort of wraparound styling.
03:08So, quite like that design.
03:09Then you have the engine designation there, 2.2 diesel H-Trac, because this is all-wheel drive,
03:13and then Santa Fe plus the spec, the Highlander.
03:16Okay, we are inside the Santa Fe.
03:18Let's start with the key.
03:19Here it is here.
03:20So, you have lock, unlock, boot.
03:23You have a remote parking feature that I'll show you later on, plus a remote start function,
03:27which will run the heater or the air conditioner if you need to.
03:30Hyundai logo on the back.
03:31Proximity sensing key.
03:32So, you just leave that in your pocket, grab the door handle,
03:34and then once you're inside, you have a push-button start.
03:37Also, I like the material on that.
03:38That's sort of cold to the touch.
03:39A bit of real metal, which is cool.
03:41Okay, design.
03:42Let's talk about that first.
03:44Sorry about the beeping.
03:45Kia Hyundai product.
03:46It means throughout the whole video it's going to be beeping.
03:48Yeah, design.
03:49I really like what they've done here.
03:51So, this is getting expensive now.
03:53It's about $70,000 on the road.
03:55So, you are spending a fair bit of money on this car,
03:57but I think they make you feel good about spending that kind of money.
04:01So, they've gone to a lot of effort to do soft-touch materials along the dashboard.
04:05You can see here with the contrast colours that it really makes the cabin pop.
04:09Then you've got this infotainment system that's lodged up the top there.
04:13A little bit of speaker branding for what's going on around the cabin,
04:15and you'll notice with the speaker covers,
04:17they also have a 3D effect similar to the Sorento.
04:20That continues down here where you've got this sort of,
04:23it's not metal, but it's made to look like a brushed metal material,
04:27and then the seats as well.
04:28They've got the diamond stitching on them.
04:30It is a really nice looking cabin, even to, sorry, I keep finding things here,
04:34even to the sort of suede headliner as well.
04:36So, it does feel high-end and premium, but I don't know,
04:39I just think it's let down by this.
04:42There are so many buttons there.
04:43It is really confusing to look at,
04:45and I wish they could just condense that a little bit
04:47instead of having a button explosion there.
04:49So, anyway.
04:51Now, touch points.
04:52They are soft on the centre console there, fairly soft on the door as well.
04:56How soft are they?
04:57Well, we've tested them with our durometer.
04:58If you want to see how this car compares to other cars we've tested before,
05:02follow the link in the description.
05:04Now, build quality.
05:05What's it like?
05:06That all feels really nice and solid, which is excellent.
05:10Okay, let's talk infotainment.
05:11So, it consists of a 10.25-inch colour touchscreen.
05:16Oh, by the way, if you want a detailed look at this infotainment system,
05:19click up here.
05:20Today, I'll just give you a quick overview.
05:22You do have shortcut buttons down here on this sub-menu,
05:25and then you can also use the buttons alongside the left-hand side of the screen.
05:29So, it has inbuilt satellite navigation.
05:31This is what that looks like.
05:33Unfortunately, like all Hyundai and Kia products,
05:35pressing the voice recognition button doesn't do anything
05:37unless you have smartphone mirroring paired.
05:39Now, speaking of which, smartphone mirroring comes in the form of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
05:44It is a cabled system.
05:45I'll show you what Apple CarPlay looks like first.
05:47So, it doesn't take up the entire screen, which is really interesting.
05:50It's sort of all boxed off to the corner there.
05:52What if I press that?
05:53No, it doesn't help.
05:54So, maybe there's a setting in there.
05:56If there is, let me know in the comments section, but I couldn't really find anything.
05:59And this is what Android Auto looks like.
06:02Also, not a full-screen integration, which is interesting,
06:05but, yep, nice and snappy there, no dramas.
06:07Audio comes in the form of AM, FM and DAB plus digital radio.
06:12There's also a Harman Kardon branded sound system.
06:15Now, ahead of the driver is another digital display.
06:18I'll show you what that looks like.
06:19On the left, you have your speedometer.
06:21On the right, you have warnings plus a tachometer.
06:24The display also changes when you flick through different drive modes.
06:27I'll show you that when we go out for a drive.
06:29You can also change the centre of the display, too, to show you other things.
06:33So, really nice integration and very quick and snappy.
06:36It's quite sharp and fast, which I love.
06:38OK, moving on to safety.
06:39I'll run you through the main safety highlights.
06:41So, you have autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection.
06:44You have a lane keeping assistant, a lane departure warning.
06:47You also have a semi-autonomous steering function, radar cruise control,
06:51blind spot monitoring, not only in your wing mirrors, but also in the display over here.
06:55And I'll show you that when we go out for a drive.
06:57You also have a safe exit assistant and a reminder to check for people inside the car,
07:03using ultrasonic sensors up the back there.
07:06On the parking front, there is an interesting feature here,
07:09and that is the ability to pull the car in and out of parking spaces
07:12without you being in the car.
07:14And that's just using the key here.
07:15Quite a clever system, and maybe one day will come in handy.
07:18And then when you're done with that, you also have front and rear parking sensors and a 360 camera.
07:22I'll show you what that looks like.
07:23There it is there.
07:24So, that's the rear view.
07:25Looks pretty good.
07:26And that's your top-down view.
07:27You can also then adjust the views over here on the left-hand side as well.
07:31So, pretty clever setup and nicely integrated.
07:35Okay, I'm going to interrupt the video just for one second.
07:37I've got a question for you.
07:39This stuff here, the self-parking business, have you ever used it?
07:42If you've got it, don't you reckon it's a bit of a gimmick?
07:45Let me know what you think.
07:46Oh, by the way, we actually shot a video explaining how all this parking technology works,
07:50and we demoed this in a bit more detail.
07:52You can watch that by clicking up here.
07:54Talking about practicality, we'll start with connectivity.
07:57You have one USB port here.
07:59You have a 12-volt outlet down here, and then another USB port there.
08:03You can also charge your phone wirelessly, and it's quite a clever system.
08:07I haven't seen something like this before.
08:08So, the charging pad sits like that, and then you slide your phone in behind a set of teeth.
08:13So, really cool setup.
08:15Now, in terms of storage for your phone, it can live in the cup holders in that wireless
08:19charging slot down here on that storage tray.
08:22Your coffee cup has a rightful place over here with plenty of clearance for the lid.
08:27Bottle storage, without the tape.
08:30Down here, you can store a bottle.
08:32You've got more storage up the top there.
08:33There's also teeth in that one.
08:35You've got storage for a bottle, plus odds and ends inside the door.
08:38Center console is huge.
08:39It's nice and deep, so you can see how big that is.
08:42We also have a glove box down here with pretty decent storage, and then another trinket tray
08:48just above it.
08:48Moving on to comfort.
08:50You have tri-zone automatic climate control.
08:53You have heated and cooled seats for the front row.
08:55Heated steering wheel.
08:56The seats are electrically adjustable in the front row.
08:59You also have memory for the driver's seat.
09:02Steering is tilt and reach adjustable as well, and your million buttons are easy to reach
09:08while you're driving.
09:08And finally, you have a panoramic glass sunroof.
09:12Okay, we're in the second row of the Santa Fe.
09:14Let's start off with room.
09:16We've got a decent amount of knee room, heaps of toe room, and headroom is reasonable despite
09:22this giant roof here.
09:24It's actually massive.
09:24It looks really good.
09:25It goes all the way back behind your head, so you get some nice visibility out of the
09:29roof.
09:29Let's talk about our bottle and where we can store that.
09:32So you have a center armrest here with two cup holders, plus a little mini cup holder.
09:37You can easily fit your bottle in there.
09:39Then you also have storage inside the door for a bottle.
09:42You've got map pockets.
09:43You have two USB points down here.
09:46You have air vents, plus the ability to move the passenger seat forwards and backwards.
09:51If you own one of these, tell me if that gets annoying with the kids.
09:54You also have heated seats on the two outboard seats.
09:58There's blinds that pop up here to give you a bit of privacy.
10:01You've got ISOFIX points on the two outboard seats, and then three top tether points.
10:05And what you can do as well, it's a 60-40 split folding seat.
10:09You can actually give your third row of passengers a little bit more room by shifting this
10:13forwards and backwards.
10:14Now to access the third row, it's pretty straightforward.
10:17There is a button on top of the seat.
10:19You can actually either fold this flat or by pushing the button, it tumbles and then
10:24slides forward.
10:26Now I have to caveat this by saying this is obviously a spot for kids, but let's see how
10:30it goes with adults anyway.
10:31So I'll climb in.
10:35Gee, I think I'm too old for this.
10:37Okay, there we go.
10:38So what I'll do now is bring this seat back and then lock that into position.
10:43I can actually move that back if I need to.
10:45So this gives you an idea of how much room I have here.
10:47This is the standard position, and there I'm sort of wedged up against it.
10:51But because the second row can slide forwards, I actually have a reasonable amount of room
10:55here.
10:56I've got decent toe room, knee room's fine.
10:58My head is sort of wedged up against the roof.
11:00But I think if you had to travel back here as an adult, it'd be perfectly fine.
11:04You have storage slots off to the sides with cup holders on each side.
11:08There's one USB port over here, and your right-hand side passenger also controls the
11:12third row AC, and there's air vents for both sides as well.
11:16So Igor, do you want to just show us how much leg room there is behind the passenger seat
11:20there?
11:20So that gives you an idea of just how much room there is when you have an adult back
11:24here.
11:24I don't hate it, to be honest.
11:26Let's talk cargo space.
11:28Crack this open.
11:29So being a three-row SUV, you don't really have a great deal of space behind the third
11:33row.
11:33Here you have around 100 litres of cargo space, and you'll see that it's not really
11:38enough to actually store anything meaningful, because that won't close with the boot in
11:44that position.
11:45Under the cargo floor, you have a cargo blind.
11:49The actual spare tyre is underneath the vehicle.
11:52Now, let's drop this third row, because there's a couple of configuration options in terms
11:56of space that's available.
11:58So to do that, you just pull these tabs.
12:00That drops out of the way.
12:02There we go.
12:03Now, with this space here, you can configure it two ways.
12:06In its current form, it's around 600 litres, but if you slide the second row forward, it
12:10can go up to 800 litres, and I'll show you what it looks like with our bags in there.
12:16There you go.
12:17So you can see there's plenty of storage space there.
12:19There is one other party trick, and that is to drop the second row, which you can do from
12:23back here by pushing these two buttons.
12:25That increases the space to around 1700 litres, so it is a whopper.
12:30All right, we're on the road now in the Santa Fe, and powering this is a 2.2-litre turbocharged
12:36four-cylinder diesel engine.
12:38It makes 148 kilowatts of power and 440 newton metres of torque, and that's made it to an
12:44eight-speed dual-clutch transmission.
12:47Now, what's the gearbox like?
12:48You know, I'm not a huge fan of dual-clutch transmissions.
12:51This one's not terrible.
12:53Let me just have a little look-see here from standing start.
12:57Yeah, it's okay.
12:58Feels very much like the Sorento, where it's just fairly, I don't know, fuss-free and not
13:03too sort of laggy or not too sort of elastic like a lot of dual-clutch gearboxes are.
13:09This one's actually quite good.
13:10If we give it a punch, yeah, it's quite responsive there.
13:14It's ready to sort of get up and go, and it's never really in a dead spot.
13:18It's leaning on that torque band.
13:19In fact, this engine is super eager.
13:21I find that it's always just ready to punch you in the back, and in fact, it feels a little
13:25more eager than the Sorento.
13:26So, I'd be interested to see whether they have a different tune on this compared to
13:29the Sorento.
13:30Let's talk fuel economy.
13:31So, Hyundai claims a combined 6.1 litres per 100 km.
13:35We're currently consuming 8.4, which is near enough, and that's pretty decent given that
13:42we've been doing low-speed driving.
13:44So, I think that's a commendable figure for a car this size.
13:47You've got to remember that these are getting bigger and bigger with all the systems they're
13:50putting into them, so that's a good number to have for a seven-seat SUV.
13:54You can get the Santa Fe in both all-wheel drive and front-wheel drive.
13:58This one here is the all-wheel drive model, and it uses a system called H-Track, which
14:02is effectively a permanent all-wheel drive setup.
14:04So, I'll flick over to our all-wheel drive menu here.
14:07You can see right now in Smart mode, it's sending torque to both the front and the rear.
14:11So, depending on which setting you have it in and what the computer thinks it should
14:15be doing, it will then shuffle torque between the front and rear axles.
14:18Now, speaking of drive modes, I've got a few to pick from here.
14:20So, Smart, Sport, Eco and Comfort.
14:23Each of those will vary the amount of torque split between the front and rear axle and
14:26how it deals with that.
14:27And then, as you flick between them, you can see the menus change there ahead of the driver,
14:32which I think is pretty cool.
14:33Very sharp-looking setup.
14:35I quite like the Sport mode.
14:36So, it adds weight to the steering, and it makes the gearbox really sharp and quick.
14:42It's surprisingly sort of punchy when you sort of get stuck into the throttle, so that's
14:47really impressive.
14:48You're not going to be doing any real off-roading in this.
14:51You do have a couple of off-road drive modes to choose from, Snow, Mud and Sand, but with
14:56a ground clearance of 176mm, it's not really enough to get you anywhere.
15:00Hyundai doesn't offer an official 0-100km time, but we thought we'd put it up against
15:05our stopwatch anyway.
15:16Okay, we'll go back to Smart mode here.
15:18Let's talk about the ride.
15:19So, this has an Australian ride and handling tune, and I've got to say, it is really impressive.
15:24We're out here on a country road doing, you know, 80km an hour, and it just soaks up everything
15:28really nicely.
15:29So, it's just on the sportier side of comfortable.
15:32So, you do feel it sort of moving around as you hit bumps and that kind of thing, but
15:35it's incredibly compliant, and just the way that it soaks everything up on 20-inch alloy
15:40wheels, I think just shows you how much effort they've put into tuning it for Australian
15:44road conditions.
15:45Let's talk handling.
15:46Slot this over to Sport mode.
15:49I really do like how sharp that throttle becomes.
15:52Okay, yes, I know this is no sports car, but I thought we'd punch it through here.
15:58That's actually pretty fun.
16:00Yeah, it's got some urge.
16:01Like, it sits fairly flat, the steering's nice and responsive, you get a bit of feel
16:05through the wheel as well, and then you can just punch it out of a corner.
16:08So, yeah, thumbs up for handling.
16:10In terms of cabin noise and wind noise, there isn't a great deal of wind noise that I'm
16:14noticing here on this country road, and there isn't a great deal of tyre noise coming into
16:19the cabin.
16:19You do hear it roaring a little bit over coarse chip sections, but for the most part, it's
16:23a pretty quiet place to be seated.
16:25Now, let's talk visibility.
16:26So, out the front there, it's excellent.
16:28At the rear, it's pretty good.
16:29The wing mirrors are big as well, and you have the blind spot monitor built into them
16:33too, and then when you put the indicator on, you get the little blind spot camera come
16:37on on either side of that cluster, which I think is just such a fantastic feature.
16:41It really helps you when it comes to driving in and around the city around cyclists, and
16:45also with parking.
16:46Finally, turning circle, 11.4 metres.
16:49So, it's not a terrible turning circle, but it's not the tightest in the world either,
16:54but it should be okay for driving in and around the city and doing U-turns and that kind of
16:58thing.
17:00Righto, the Hyundai Santa Fe.
17:02So, this has always been a pretty outstanding performer.
17:05It offers good value for money, a punchy diesel engine and stacks of features, especially
17:09in this highlander trim.
17:10None of that's changed, but the thing I think that probably lets it down slightly is that
17:15the design doesn't look different enough for people to realise it's a brand new model,
17:18whereas you look at something like a Sorento, and the Sorento looks totally overhauled.
17:22So, I think that's probably going to hurt them in comparison to the Sorento, and then
17:26also in comparison to the Sorento, I think that the interior is better in the Sorento.
17:29It feels more premium, it's better laid out, and it doesn't look as complicated as this
17:33does with all of its buttons.
17:34So, if those things aren't too much of a big deal for you, this is actually a really
17:39impressive SUV that gives you seven seats when you need them, a decent boot and all
17:44the latest technology as well.
17:45So, let me know what you think.
17:46Do you think it's different enough from the last one?
17:48Have you bought one, and why would you buy this over a Sorento?
17:51I'm really keen to get your feedback.
17:52So, if you did enjoy this video, make sure you like it and share it with your mates,
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17:59you can find out every single time we drive something different.
18:01But, until next time, drive safely.