2024 Hyundai Santa Fe -- Open for More

by Tim Healey

Published: November 16th, 2023

LOS ANGELES -- No, we haven't turned into a late-night infomercial, saying "but wait, there's more!"

We're quoting the tagline from the press release for the 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe: "Open for More." So tagged because the liftgate opening is larger.

And, well, there's more. Read on.

Wait, you ask, didn't we already cover the Santa Fe? Didn't this author travel to New Mexico a few months back to see it up close?

Yes, we/I did. But we also didn't know all the details at the time -- especially since Hyundai builds different versions for different global markets.

Now we know that the Santa Fe -- which has a longer wheelbase than before and offers standard three-row seating -- will come standard with a 2.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that makes 277 horsepower and 311 lb-ft of torque. A hybrid powertrain will be available.

I poke some gentle fun at the larger liftgate above, but Hyundai has a reason to highlight it -- it offers a "terrace-like" space. Which we take to mean that it will not only swallow a lot of cargo but also be able to be used for socializing at tailgates or while gazing at a sunset. Or camping.

We've talked already about the use of "H" themes in the exterior and interior design as well as the available 21-inch wheels and enlarged size.

We've also touched on its available comfort and convenience features. We won't bore you by repeating ourselves -- this isn't an adult-beverage-enhanced story session at Jake's Pub -- though we now know that Bose audio will be available.

The news to us -- the news we couldn't confirm earlier this year -- involves the powertrain choice. If the aforementioned four-banger isn't for you, you can go hybrid. That powertrain mates a 1.6-liter turbo four to an electric motor for system numbers of 232 horsepower and 271 lb-ft of torque. The ICE Santa Fe gets an eight-speed, dual-clutch automatic while the hybrid has a six-speed slushbox.

The XRT concept we saw in Santa Fe the place will be part of Santa Fe the vehicle. This off-road-oriented trim adds 1.5 inches of ground clearance, different styling elements, and all-terrain rubber. Pop for a towing package and you can haul up to 4,500 pounds.

The gasser goes on sale in March 2024 and the hybrid sometime in the spring.

[Images: Hyundai]

Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.

#NewsBlog #Newcars #Hyundai #2024HyundaiSantaFe #SantaFe #HyundaiSantaFe #FutureCars #Laas #2023LosAngelesAutoShow #LAAutoShow #LosAngelesAutoShow #2023LAAutoShow #2023LAAS #LosAngeles

Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

More by Tim Healey

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 23 comments

Vvk on Nov 18, 2023

That great Niva styling! Everything old is new again.

Like Reply
Dan on Dec 28, 2023

I hate that they added 3rd row seats. I bought my 2021 Santa Fe instead of a Kia Sorento because the Santa Fe did not have a third row seat. You lose storage space with third seat. We never even use our backseat. So it looks Iike Hyundai will loose customers with that worthless seat. Heck if i wanted a third row, i would gave just bought a Pallisades. Goodbye Hyundai.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

3-On-The-Tree Old news if it is even true. But from m my time as Firefighter/EMT fighting vehicle fires when it catches fire it is very toxic.
Akear Chinese cars simply do not have the quality of their Japanese and Korean counterparts. Remember, there are also tariffs on Chinese cars.
3-On-The-Tree My experience with turbos is that they don’t give good mpg.
GregLocock They will unless you don't let them. Every car manufacturing country around the world protects their local manufacturers by a mixture of legal and quasi legal measures. The exception was Australia which used to be able to design and manufacture every component in a car (slight exaggeration) and did so for many years protected by local design rules and enormous tariffs. In a fit of ideological purity the tariffs were removed and the industry went down the plughole, as predicted. This was followed by the precision machine shops who made the tooling, and then the aircraft maintenance business went because the machine shops were closed. Also of course many of the other suppliers closed.The Chinese have the following advantagesSlave laborCheap electricityZero respect for IPLong term planning
MaintenanceCosts Yes, and our response is making it worse.In the rest of the world, all legacy brands are soon going to be what Volvo is today: a friendly Western name on products built more cheaply in China or in companies that are competing with China from the bottom on the cost side (Vietnam, India, etc.) This is already more or less the case in the Chinese market, will soon be the case in other Asian markets, and is eventually coming to the EU market.We are going to try to resist in the US market with politicians' crack - that is, tariffs. Economists don't really disagree on tariffs anymore. Their effect is to depress overall economic activity while sharply raising consumer prices in the tariff-imposing jurisdiction.The effect will be that we will mostly drive U.S.-built cars, but they will be inferior to those built in the rest of the world and will cost 3x-4x as much. Are you ready for your BMW X5 to be three versions old and cost $200k? Because on the current path that is what's coming. It may be overpriced crap that can't be sold in any other world market, but, hey, it was built in South Carolina.The right way to resist would be to try to form our own alliances with the low-cost producers, in which we open our markets to them while requiring adherence to basic labor and environmental standards. But Uncle Joe isn't quite ready to sign that kind of trade agreement, while the orange guy just wants to tell those countries to GFY and hitch up with China if they want a friend.