2014 Hyundai Santa Fe

2014 Hyundai Santa Fe

The 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe is a little schizophrenic, but we dig both of its personalities. Those with larger families will want to look at the V-6 Santa Fe, while smaller families will enjoy the turbo-powered Santa Fe Sport

• Interior / Exterior »

There’s something seemingly more mature about the Santa Fe’s design than the rest of the Hyundai lineup. If the Sonata was a little too curvaceous for your taste, the Santa Fe’s calmer lines will look a little less busy and a lot more cohesive–and we’d call that progress.

More conventional than the one in the Tucson, the cockpit in the Santa Fe siblings has grown up, too. It carries a shield of controls at its center, and flanks them with big air vents–a theme that’s recurring pretty often in compact-car design, and just happens to go well with the sheetmetal. The dash surface undulates, dipping low in front of passengers and bubbling up for gauges and the center stack, and large knobs control fan speed and audio volume. On crossovers with navigation, an 8-inch screen glows under a matte surface, and electroluminescent gauges toss in a few more subdued lumens.

Some Santa Fe crossovers sport woodgrain trim, while others have a gloss finish that’s more appealing and fits more easily with the control-pod theme. Hyundai’s found out how two-tone interior treatments can wake up a cabin, and the Santa Fe and Sport offer some earthy colors and trims that link them a little more directly to the crossover world than any of their lines or surfaces.The sides of the Santa Fe are heavily sculpted, as is Hyundai’s recent tradition, with an upward swing in the shoulder lending a stylish look that does impede a bit on the airiness of the cockpit.
Now there’s a clear family resemblance through the Hyundai crossover lineup, from the brash, bristly Tucson through the very streamlined long-wheelbase Santa Fe. The Sport’s the best-looking of the trio, with a right-sized hexagonal grille bracketed in place with coordinated fog lamps and headlamps trimmed with LED lighting. The side sills stand out in relief up and over the rear wheel wells, and the rear door handles sit well back of the rear wheel opening in a way Mazda’s now-defunct CX-7 would be proud of. It’s all summed up by a simple, balanced treatment of taillights and glass on the tailgate. We can’t help but pick out some vague likeness to the new Ford Escape in the rear end and the proportions around the headlights, but Ford’s almost-hatchback crossover doesn’t quite have the size to play out the curves you’ll find on the Santa Fe Sport.
It’s less distinctive about the Santa Fe–some Dodge Durango in the way its rear quarter windows are shaped. Hyundai says it’s essentially a minivan replacement, anyway, and we can’t think of one three-row crossover with outre styling that’s been a big hit.

• Performance »

The 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe is only offered with a V-6, while the Sport model is offered with a four-cylinder–and your choice of whether or not you want that engine turbocharged.

Both vehicles are connected with a six-speed automatic with a manual-shift mode available off the console-mounted lever. The shift quality’s well sorted and the manual mode answers the call quickly, though deep calls for power can catch the gearbox napping. Step into the gas fully from a light throttle, and after a brief pause, the automatic shifts down eagerly, with a mild rebound felt through the drivetrain. You don’t have to concentrate on being a smoother driver for the Santa Fe or the Sport to behave smoothly, though–an Active ECO mode will blur over shifts and throttle responses, saving very small amounts of gas at the same time.

Electric power steering has been a learning curve for all automakers, and Hyundai’s path has taken it from the Sonata to the Santa Fe and Santa Fe Sport with incremental improvements in feel and design. All these vehicles use a column-mounted motor, but the Santa Fe and Sport have the latest three-mode, driver-selectable steering that bowed on the Elantra GT. In that hatchback, we were happy to leave the heft-added steering in Normal mode all day. In the Sport, the “sport” setting’s increased effort and later onset of assistance helped the car track better on the highway stretches of our test drive, just as the AWD system likely soaked up some of the on-center vagueness we’ve felt on the Elantra and Sonata. It’s a good step forward; we’d leave Comfort’s slow, light feel to anyone who thinks the last Santa Fe was a little too daring and sporty.

Long-wheelbase Santa Fes get the only V-6 in the lineup, a 3.3-liter engine from the Azera sedan, with 290 horsepower, a six-speed automatic, front- or all-wheel drive, and a base curb weight of about 3900 pounds. Rolling on standard 18-inch wheels (19-inchers are an option), the Santa Fe comes out of the box, ready to tow 5000 pounds, its powertrain made more rugged and retuned for lower-powerband torque.

The base engine on the Santa Fe Sport is Hyundai’s 2.4-liter four, with 190 horsepower and 181 pound-feet of torque, straight from duty in the Sonata sedan. With direct injection and a hookup with Hyundai’s in-house six-speed automatic, the base Sport earns the best fuel economy ratings of the lineup, up to 33 miles per gallon on the EPA’s highway cycle. Our first drive offered only a brief exposure to the normally aspirated four at high altitudes–not an ideal driving experience–so we’re holding back those impressions until we can test this model over longer distances under more usual conditions.
The turbocharged 2.0-liter turbo four is another familiar piece, as it’s also shared with the Sonata. In this application it makes 264 horsepower and 259 lb-ft of torque, while topping out in front-drive form at 29 mpg highway. It smoothly conveys abundant power through a fairly wide swath of the powerband; we’d estimate a 0-60 mph time at 7.0 seconds on lighter front-wheel-drive models, which weigh in at a lean 3459 pounds.

Even with less displacement, the Santa Fe Sport outperforms its Hyundai’s old V-6 crossovers, while the longer Santa Fe equals that performance and tops it with better towing capability. Both versions outshine the last Santa Fe and the former Veracruz in ride comfort, too.

The 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe remains one crossover nameplate, but it’s not two flavors. There’s the Santa Fe Sport, a compact- to mid-size five-seat version, or the full, seven-seat Santa Fe, a family-size model meant to replace the Veracruz. The Sport model is built in Georgia, while the larger model is imported from Korea.

The two models compete with a tremendous variety of crossovers, ranging from compact vehicles like the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V, to mid-size vehicles like the Ford Edge and Toyota Venza, all the way out to three-row utes like the Toyota Highlander and Honda Pilot. The larger Santa Fe is 8.5 inches longer than the Sport, and in some cases, you might find it cross-shopped against minivans, too.

Hyundai’s betting that new styling, along with better performance and a more flexible interior, will vault the Santa Fe into the top tier of those ranks. It’s easy to see how its looks will go far. The Santa Fe’s a grown-up ute from the outside alone, and its new two-tone interior makes for one sophisticated crossover. The sharp edges and tight creases wrap around it in interesting new ways, and Hyundai’s hexagonal grille gets its best treatment thus far here, bracketed by headlamps and foglamps. The D-pillar’s upkick and stance remind us a little of the Escape, but the Santa Fe Sport’s shape is more faceted and studied than the Ford’s, no more or less handsome. The longer Santa Fe? It’s a little less distinctive, but as a minivan replacement, it doesn’t need to be flashy. The interior is another bar raised for Hyundai, with some faint GM cues penned in its shield of controls, surrounded by the usual swoops and fluid curves–and trimmed in two-tone materials, an upscale touch that looks better when it’s capped in glossy trim than in faux wood.

Crossovers are all about room and utility, and neither Santa Fe comes up short. The Santa Fe’s front seats are a step up from the most recent Hyundai vintage, with better support built into the bottom cushion. But the second row is where the action is: on some models, the second row slides on a 5.2-inch track for better flexibility, in the same way the seat in the Chevy Equinox moves. The seat also reclines and folds on a 40/20/40 split, making way for longer objects while preserving four seating positions. There’s even some storage space below the cargo floor and even some space for a handbag ahead of the shift lever, though that’ll block access to the audio ports. For three-row models, shoppers have a choice between the 40/20/40 layout or a six-passenger layout with cozy captain’s chairs—and all of these models get Yes Essentials soil-resistant upholstery.

The two-row Santa Fe Sport is offered with both a naturally aspirated 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine producing 190 horsepower, and a 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder producing 264 horsepower. The three-row Santa Fe model is powered by a 3.3-liter V-6 producing 290 horsepower–the same smooth new engine used in the Azera. All three engines feature direct-injection technology and six-speed automatic transmissions for better fuel economy and more power. Front- and all-wheel drive configurations will be offered with both engines. In the Sport, there’s no doubt which engine’s a more convincing trade-off of economy and performance: it’s the turbo by far, which drops only a couple of miles per gallon highway while turning in very capable acceleration. There’s no choice with the Santa Fe, but its V-6 is fairly muscular–strong enough to pull 5000 pounds behind it without add-ons. As for the rest of the Santa Fe driving experience, it’s mainly smoother and more effortless. The automatic sometimes gets caught napping between taps of the throttle, but the powertrains are muted well. The ride’s improved greatly and also grown more quiet–bigger bushings in the independent suspension are engineered for the bigger Santa Fe, but also used on the Sport–but we’d just as soon leave the three-mode electric steering in Normal or Sport, because Comfort’s just too slow for our comfort.
The Santa Fe and Sport have the usual airbags (including a driver knee airbag) and stability control, and the option of all-wheel drive. Bluetooth is standard and a rearview camera is an option on all but the base model. Blind-spot monitors and parking sensors are new options for 2014. The shorter-wheelbase Santa Fe Sport earned top ‘good’ scores in all categories, and the IIHS Top Safety Pick for 2013. It’s also a top five-star performer according to the federal government. But those agencies haven’t yet rated the three-row, longer-wheelbase Santa Fe.
With a base price of about $26,000 for the Sport or about $29,000 for the longer version, the Santa Fe Sport makes the usual Hyundai case for value. It gets power windows, locks, and mirrors; air conditioning; cruise control; tilt/telescoping steering; steering-wheel audio and phone controls; and 17-inch wheels. The standard audio system is an AM/FM/CD player with satellite radio, USB and auxiliary ports, Bluetooth and audio streaming, and six speakers. A panoramic sunroof, Infinity audio, and an improved navigation system lift the Santa Fe to a higher plateau. Push-button start, automatic climate control, and heated-and-cooled front seats are available on some models.
The Santa Fe duo also gets standard Hyundai’s BlueLink telematics system. This OnStar-like system incorporates turn-by-turn navigation and Bluetooth streaming for apps such as Pandora, and works in conjunction with your smartphone and an owner website to set up functions like speed limits and geofencing–setting up limits on where the car can be driven. A BlueLink app for the iPhone will be available, giving consumers the ability to lock and unlock and to start the Santa Fe by remote, too.
Photo Gallery: Hyundai Cars

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