2014 Hyundai Santa Fe review: Driver-friendly tech sets it apart

• By Bill Howard on February 3, 2014 at 12:59 pm
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  • • The yearlong rollout of the redesigned Hyundai Santa Fe SUV is now complete, including the addition of three useful tech-based driver aids. Parking sonar, blind spot detection, and xenon headlamps are available on the 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe, which now comes in a two-row version called the Santa Fe Sport and a longer three-row Santa Fe.
      Hyundai is adding the kinds of tech that buyers have on their wishlists. These are features that would make the company late to the game if added a year from now but that are nice to see today. And they come in addition to the existing backup camera option, which has been made standard on some trim lines and cheaper on others. That’s important on a first-class SUV that cries out for better rear vision.
      The Santa Fe is one of the best midsize SUVs, more for its mainstream features and cockpit fit-and-finish than fuel economy or smothering levels of tech. Leaders in the mainstream price class offer what Hyundai just added, plus lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, city safety and pedestrian safety emergency stopping at low speeds. The best SUVs today are the Subaru Forester, our Editors’ Choice among compact SUVs and one of the 10 best tech cars of 2013; the Volvo XC60; and the Ford Escape. Now the Santa Fe is a more serious competitor among tech-savvy buyers. In a few years, it will be rare midsize vehicle that doesn’t offer blind spot detection, lane departure warning, and parking sonar. The rear camera appears likely to be mandated the Department of Transportation.
      

      2012 Santa Fe and Veracruz becomes 2014 Santa Fe, Santa Fe Sport

      Two years ago, Hyundai’s compact and midsize part of its SUV line comprised the popular two-row Santa Fe and the lesser-known three-row Hyundai Veracuz (which struggled to sell 10,000 units a year). For the 2013 model year — when the redesign kicked in — the Veracruz nameplate went away, succeeded by a stretched Hyundai Santa Fe of 193 inches with three rows of seats and a V6 engine. The two-row Santa Fe became the Santa Fe Sport (rhymes with short), 185 inches long, with four cylinder or turbo-four engines. All can be had with front-drive or, for $1750, all-wheel-drive. The Santa Fe and Santa Fe Sport last year sold about 80,000 units, putting it around 10th among midsize SUVs last year.
      Step inside either Santa Fe and you’ll appreciate the quality of materials in a mid-price vehicle. There’s reasonable room in the second row of both models but adults will still prefer sitting in front. If you read other reviews saying middle row room is “good” or “reasonable,” it isn’t. The phrase you’d use is “just OK.” The Santa Fe is not a Ford Flex with business class second row legroom — the third row on the Santa Fe is strictly kids-only. Only when you get past 200 inches length in the Chevrolet Suburban class does the third row work and then only for small adults. The middle row Santa Fe occupants will, however, appreciate the integrated sunshades that come with the premium package.
      

      Want tech? You’ll need to get leather and a moonroof too

      Many Asian automakers deal with the long trans-Pacific shipping times and dealer inventory complexities by offering a mere handful of options packages rather than as many as two dozen individual options. That mindset carries over to the Santa Fe, which is manufactured in a Hyundai factory town called Montgomery, Alabama. This is despite the fact that a vehicle built there can reach its dealership a week later.
      When Hyundai introduced the third-generation Santa Fe, it talked about the base models’ “price walk,” or step-ups in price, being reasonable each at every level from the entry Santa Fe Sport to the high-end Santa Fe Limited. That ignores the price cliff you scale going from the stripped base model through the options packages you need (all three of them) to get the tech you want.
      Say you want the two-row Santa Fe Sport with backup camera, blind spot detection, parking sonar, and navigation but you don’t care about leather seats or a big sunroof. For those tech essentials (essentials to some buyers) you need the popular equipment package ($1150) for the backup camera; the $3200 premium package for blind spot detection; and the $3200 technology package for navigation and rear sonar. Premium requires Popular Equipment; Tech requires Premium and Popular Equipment.
      All this means that your $26,000 (base with shipping) Santa Fe Sport becomes a $33,000 tech-heavy gem with heated, ventilated leather seats in front, heated rears, and a panorama sunroof, among added optional features. If you want xenon headlamps, that’s only on the turbocharged Sport 2.0T, so you’re looking at $36,000.