The 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe Feels Bigger And Boxier

Hyundai's latest rendition of the midsize crossover wants to be your "everything" vehicle and if it happens to look like a Land Rover, it's just a coincidence.

Hyundai is going big on change with the 2024 Santa Fe. Gone are the curved lines and soft edges of the previous crossover. In their place are hard lines, right angles, boxes and some pretty convincing off-roading cosplay. What we've got here is a crossover for the adventurous crowd, the weekend warrior, the dirt-road traveler.

2024 Hyundai Santa Fe Exterior

The biggest and most obvious changes to the Santa Fe are to the exterior -- not only in styling - but in size as well. It's a little bit longer, wider and taller than the outgoing vehicle, which places it more squarely in the midsize crossover segment. It's nearly the same size as the Palisade, but it seems Hyundai isn't worried about that.

Hyundai's Design Chief SangYup Lee told us that the design process for the new Santa Fe started back with an incredibly wide tailgate designed for you to fit absolutely everything you've ever owned into. If you're thinking the taillights are sort of low, well, you're not wrong. They are, but it serves a purpose. With the taillights lower on the body, it allows for a thinner tailgate strut - this makes the housing for the tailgate thinner as well. All that allowed designers and engineers to make that huge rear hatch opening. It's also meant, sort of, to harken back to SUVs of years gone by that had low taillights. Love it or hate it, it's certainly distinctive.

Up front, the overall theme of the Santa Fe is "H." We've Got little H's in the headlights. H's making up the light bar and running light assembly, and finally a somewhat hidden "H" running along the front fascia below the headlights and grille. Together it makes for a very serious look - something you wouldn't necessarily want to see in your rearview mirror.

I suppose the floating roof design is a neat touch - reminds me of Land Rovers. Oh, now might likely be a good time to say that Hyundai designers say that if the Santa Fe looks like the Defender, it's pure coincidence. I was told that the vehicle's design was penned well before the Defender went on sale. I think it looks really neat, so I'll believe them.

2024 Hyundai Santa Fe Interior

If you were in fact wondering, Hyundai is offering five interior colors to choose from. The only interesting color options are Pecan Brown and Forest Green. That's right, you can spec an orange Santa Fe with a green interior, just as God intended.

The inside of the 2024 Santa Fe carries on a lot of the same elements as the crossover's exterior. There are tons of crisp and clean lines - while certainly not at all fussy. Honestly, the cabin space is more reminiscent of Hyundai's Ioniq offerings than its ICE vehicle. That includes Hyundai's trick "Relaxation Seat" with a leg rest for front-row occupants. I just always assumed they were just for EV drivers waiting for their vehicles to charge.

The "H" theme continues through the cabin with the dashboard air vents. But take notice that there isn't any lettering on the steering wheel. Instead, there are just four dots that designers noted represent the letter "H" in Morse code. How cute

Hyundai also moved the gear shifter from the center console to the steering wheel column, which freed up a ton of space for Hyundai to fill with a lot of other things. For example, there are now two wireless charging pads, so if both you and your passenger feel that your phones aren't hot enough, there's a spot now to fix that. Underneath that area is a huge cubby hole for whatever other things (useless or not) you might need to stuff somewhere.

Above that center console is a 6.6-inch touchscreen climate control display that does include some physical buttons. It's always nice to see in a new car with buttons when the loss of buttons is becoming the norm.

Hyundai shares that it now offers class-leading interior space thanks to Santa Fe's longer wheelbase. I'll admit, I forgot my tape measure in New York so I don't have those numbers, but I can tell you this: it certainly feels roomy inside. With the second and third rows folded (completely flat, I may add) the Santa Fe is downright cavernous in size. If you can't get all your shit in this car, then you need less shit.

Santa Fe also has class-leading second- and third-row legroom, according to the Korean manufacturer. Second-row citizens in the gas-powered crossover are treated to 41.5 inches of legroom. If you're piloting a hybrid, though, second-row passengers will have to make do with just 30 inches. Those stuck in the third row, don't worry. You've got plenty of room, and can even recline the seats by 10 degrees.

2024 Hyundai Santa Fe's Power And Technology

Right now, there are two engines confirmed for the U.S.: a 2.5-liter turbo four putting out about 280 horsepower, mated to an 8-speed automatic that's a tried and true powerplant. Also available will be a 1.6-liter hybrid turbo that Hyundai says is going to produce about 180 horsepower. All engines are going to be available with front and all-wheel drive. Other engines at launch include a 2.5-liter naturally aspirated four-popper and a 1.6-liter turbocharged plug-in hybrid. Hyundai has not yet confirmed whether those two engines will make it to our shores.

On the tech side of things, Hyundai was very proud to share that designers and engineers included a UV sanitizing tray in the interior. It was apparently a decision brought on by the pandemic. It's definitely unique and not something I've come across in a car before.

The dash is graced with dual 12.3-inch curved displays that serve as the gauge cluster and infotainment system. Above those screens is a rear-view mirror camera to better aid drivers, especially when there is too much junk in the trunk.

It will not come as too much of a surprise to learn that the Santa Fe comes with every driver assistance and safety feature currently on the market - lane keeping, forward collision avoidance, and radar cruiser are all here and accounted for.

Also, as is a growing trend in the industry, you can use your phone as a car key in the new Santa Fe. Hyundai will also provide over-the-air updates to make sure the car is up to snuff for buyers.

Little Touches Worth Mentioning

Hyundai put a very interesting touch to the center console where it's double-hinged, but not side to side. No, no dear reader -- it's hinged at the front and back. That means you can either grab something you need when it opens to the front, or it can open to the rear so rear passengers can also dig through the endless cubby for whatever anyone may want or need.

You may have also noticed that little weird square on the C-pillar and wondered what it is. Well, that's a handle, which Hyundai explains is to make it easy for folks to climb up onto the roof to access their active lifestyle equipment strapped upon it.