The 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe brings a boxy design
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 The 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe got a complete makeover
00:10 and that includes a new design,
00:12 more passenger and cargo space, and a new third row.
00:16 We're here in beautiful Tennessee to get behind the wheel
00:18 and tell you all about it.
00:20 So of course, the big thing about the Santa Fe
00:22 is the new design language.
00:24 And besides how boxy it is and how different it looks
00:27 from the current generation Santa Fe,
00:29 it's this new H language, H design language.
00:32 You see kind of like this H here
00:35 on the daytime running lights.
00:36 You'll also see it across the grill.
00:38 You'll see like different H's all around the place.
00:41 That includes inside, in the front, and in the back too.
00:45 So coming along the profile,
00:46 besides looking at how extended the wheelbase is
00:49 compared to the current generation,
00:51 you can also see the roofline is much longer.
00:54 And then it also includes this grab handle here
00:56 on the C pillar.
00:57 You can either use it to get up here
00:59 with the doorstep like this,
01:02 or you can use it with the wheel itself
01:04 and help you climb to get up here
01:07 if you have a tent or any cargo or anything like that also.
01:11 And then coming up here to the back,
01:13 you'll see the Santa Fe name spelled out
01:15 across the tailgate, the H theme that we talked about
01:18 at the beginning.
01:20 You'll see it here also in the back.
01:21 So it looks indistinguishable.
01:23 You'll know this is a Santa Fe from any angle.
01:25 (upbeat music)
01:28 So right now we're behind the wheel of the XRT.
01:34 This is a new addition to the Santa Fe lineup,
01:37 and it's meant for those outdoorsy enthusiasts,
01:40 those who wanna get on a camping trip on the weekends
01:43 or every now and then go on a trail.
01:45 It is a new addition to the Santa Fe lineup
01:47 and it provides 1.3 inches of additional ground clearance
01:52 compared to the regular Santa Fe.
01:55 It's also only available in all-wheel drive.
01:58 And you do have this button
02:00 that's labeled four-wheel drive lock button
02:03 that locks the center differential for the Santa Fe.
02:06 And that provides basically all-wheel drive
02:09 during the entire time.
02:11 It also has a hill descent assist button,
02:14 and that helps you go down trails.
02:15 Like earlier, we were doing a drive here, a test drive,
02:19 going down a pretty steep hill.
02:21 And you just lightly, with the gas and the brake pedals,
02:24 you control the speed that you want to go down the hill.
02:26 It basically helps you go down the hill.
02:29 The suspension is much more cushier.
02:31 It feels much softer.
02:34 I think the additional ground clearance
02:37 or the additional suspension lift, plus the tires,
02:41 all of that provides a better, just a more comfortable,
02:45 a more cushier ride, if you will, on the trail here.
02:48 So this is not meant to be a rock crawler
02:51 or anything like that.
02:52 This is just going to be for exactly what kind of driving
02:57 we're doing right now, on the trail,
02:58 on dirt roads like this, that are easy to moderate
03:02 for cars like this.
03:03 And so it does the job really well.
03:05 (upbeat music)
03:07 So now we're behind the wheel of the Hyundai Santa Fe,
03:14 and right away, I can feel that this is a pretty good engine
03:19 for the car.
03:19 We're talking about a 2.4 liter turbo four cylinder
03:23 with 277 horsepower and 311 pound feet of torque.
03:28 That's actually a very good standard engine.
03:32 There will also be a hybrid later on
03:34 in about a month or so that will be coming out
03:37 of the same plant in Alabama where the Santa Fe is built.
03:41 But I'll tell you, from what I've experienced so far
03:44 all day today, this engine is very good.
03:47 It does have a little bit of a turbo lag at the beginning,
03:50 but other than that, it provides plenty of torque.
03:53 There's plenty of power.
03:54 It gets you going pretty quickly.
03:56 And for a big SUV like this one,
03:59 you don't need anything more than that.
04:01 And for that to be the standard engine,
04:03 it's also very good and speaks highly of the effort
04:06 that Hyundai is putting in this car.
04:08 The eight speed automatic transmission,
04:11 it's been very smooth.
04:12 It downshifts pretty quickly whenever it needs to.
04:15 You also have the paddle shifters
04:17 in case you want to do it manually.
04:19 But overall, it's pretty good.
04:20 And the ride is very quiet.
04:22 We've been driving on these Tennessee back roads
04:25 all day today.
04:26 We haven't had a chance to go on the freeway,
04:28 so haven't really tested it at freeway speeds.
04:32 But at 40 to 65 miles an hour,
04:37 the cabin is very quiet.
04:38 We'll have to wait until we have it in California
04:43 to get a full first test and tell you more
04:44 about how it is at freeway speeds.
04:47 Now, in terms of technology, there's a lot to like.
04:49 There's this dual screen setup
04:50 that we've seen in other Hyundais.
04:52 And it's a curved display that has one screen for the driver
04:56 and one screen for the infotainment system.
04:59 And it plays really well, really nicely.
05:01 Or right below that, there is another screen
05:04 only for the AC controls.
05:06 Now, what's cool about this is that you have a mix
05:08 of soft buttons and hard buttons.
05:10 So you still have a volume knob.
05:12 You still have a button for the infotainment system.
05:15 And you also have physical buttons for the AC controls.
05:19 So it's really the best of both worlds
05:21 because you have this very clean setup for the displays.
05:24 And then underneath that,
05:25 you have a lot of physical buttons
05:27 that's within easy reach of the driver.
05:29 All right, well, that's a 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe
05:34 that's out in dealerships now, starting at around $35,000
05:38 and maxing out at around $50,000
05:40 like this calligraphy model.
05:42 I'm Miguel Cortina.
05:43 Thank you for watching.
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