2021 Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid review: Feelin’ fancy

Becoming the middle little one is never exciting, but the 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid would make the most of it. Hanging out amongst the three-row Palisade and its ever-so-a bit lesser Tucson sibling, the Santa Fe depends on a fancier tactic to household-friendliness in buy to justify its existence, and a new hybrid powertrain gives individuals an additional reason to test out this midsizer, as effectively.

Posh getup

The Santa Fe and Palisade depend on a lot of of the similar design and style staples, which is pretty a lot a superior point. The Santa Fe is a handsome midsize SUV. Its maw may be a tiny major for some people’s preferences, but I assume it integrates effectively with break up-degree headlights and different parts of silver trim on the lessen component of the body. It truly is handsome more than enough to make a compliment or two without going way too tricky in the styling paint, which is additional of the Tucson’s arena. And now that hybrids are supplied across approximately all of Hyundai’s lineup, you are not going to discover any garish brightwork signaling electrification it is really as usual as any other crossover out there.

The Santa Fe Hybrid’s inside definitely ramps up the plushness. My Limited-trim tester rings in at $forty one,290 which includes $one,185 for spot, and in spite of hovering all over the regular new-automobile transaction value in 2021, it should make households sense like they’ve moved up a course. The leather-based seats are comfortable and supportive, and they are the two heated and cooled. Smooth products go over all the relevant touch factors, and create top quality is superior all-all over. The textured end of the front door speaker grilles may be my most loved component.

An digital force-button shifter hangs out on a centre console that rides type of superior, but it would make area for a positively cavernous storage cubby beneath. If which is not more than enough, there is certainly a sizable pocket less than the centre armrest, and the door playing cards are deep more than enough for extra bottles, masks, snacks, you name it. A different clever touch in this article is the wireless cellphone charger, which you slot your cellphone into vertically, blocking it from sliding all over and dropping link even though driving. Out back again, there is certainly an ample 36.4 cubic feet of cargo house, which is on par with the outgoing Jeep Grand Cherokee, and it is really gentle years in advance of the Chevy Blazer and Toyota Venza, but the Honda Passport has it beat with a shade in excess of 50 cubes guiding the second row.

Plush driving at a price tag

The 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid does not just look fancy, it feels it, way too. The 1st point I observe is how dang silent the inside is at speed. Even in excess of some of Michigan’s gnarlier roads, the Santa Fe Hybrid permits pretty several aural annoyances into the cabin, and those that do make it within come mostly from the powertrain on the other facet of the firewall. The journey top quality is superb, with mounted dampers mitigating all but the harshest highway surfaces, trying to keep up that luxurious-adjacent emotion.

Less than the Santa Fe Hybrid’s hood is the similar hybrid-electric powered powertrain that can be observed in the a bit lesser Tucson Hybrid. A one.six-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine combines with an electric powered motor to make a web 226 horsepower, which is fed to all four wheels (normal!) by a 6-speed computerized transmission. This powertrain is just not going to earn any awards for seem top quality, coming off a tiny tractor-ish for my taste, but there is certainly a ample amount of money of forward motion on faucet. Off-the-line acceleration feels strong thanks to that electric powered motor, and I can hardly sense the transfer from electric powered to ICE propulsion. It only definitely visits up when I consider to leave a prevent indication way too speedily, as the powertrain usually takes an extra few of ticks to determine out what it would like to do. The Santa Fe Hybrid does come with a manner swap, but I discover the automobile at its best when all the things is still left in its default state.

The powertrain will do a wonderful occupation acclimating households to the hybrid lifestyle, but gasoline economic climate leaves a bit to be desired. The EPA estimates the 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid’s hydrocarbon thrift at 33 mpg metropolis, 30 mpg freeway and 32 mpg combined. That’s better than gas-only competition will muster, but it pales in comparison to the crossover’s major competitor, the Toyota Venza, which can reach forty mpg in the metropolis and 37 on the freeway.   

Outstanding tech

Hyundai has long supplied a single of my most loved infotainment techniques, and its most recent iteration in the 2021 Santa Fe Hybrid only would make it better. A ten.3-inch display rises from the centre of the dashboard, carrying the most recent model of Hyundai’s telematics, which has been reskinned to match the most recent from sister manufacturer Genesis. The consequence is additional visually interesting, with a minimalist home screen and a menu web site that places all the essential stuff inside reach. Apple CarPlay and Android Automobile are, as you may hope, normal across the lineup. A second screen resides in the gauge cluster, supplying the regular speedometer and hybrid ability meter, in addition to a configurable part that lets me monitor gasoline economic climate, hybrid program procedure, what is actually taking part in on the radio, the regular.

Korean automakers have standardized a long checklist of energetic and passive security techniques, and the Santa Fe Hybrid keeps that going. Standard kit contains forward-collision warning, computerized unexpected emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, lane-trying to keep assist and full-speed adaptive cruise management. Highway Travel Aid combines some of these functions to hold the auto in its lane at the tempo of visitors, and as far as fingers-on techniques go, it is really a superior a single, managing its place effectively without swaying or bouncing about.

Down to brass tacks

At $forty one,290 out the door, the 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid is really darn very affordable for some thing this fancy, even additional so when you take into consideration the foundation model can be experienced for a hair less than $35,000. While gas-run competition abound, from the Chevy Blazer to the Honda Passport, its major electrified competitor is the Toyota Venza, which has the Hyundai beat on gasoline economic climate and all round luxuriousness, and the two are really evenly matched on value. It is, on the other hand, styled like a glass of area-temperature milk. There is certainly also the issue of the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid, which gives up a little bit of house within and out, but it has additional evocative styling, presenting a situation where by a car’s most important competitor may be calling from within the residence.

The 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid is absolutely worth your time. While the efficiency could be better, a sleek powertrain and a posh stature have the makings for pretty the value participate in in its value selection, featuring households a wonderful way to relieve into electrification.