The Hyundai Santa Fe Sport – not to be confused with the larger Santa Fe – is a five-passenger SUV that comes in two trim levels: base and ultimate. The base model is equipped with a 2.4-liter engine that develops 185 horsepower while the ultimate model has a 2.0-liter 240-horsepower turbocharged engine. My road test was in the Santa Fe Sport 2.0 liter turbocharged ultimate edition with all-wheel drive.
The engine had no trouble merging with fast-moving traffic, and the six-speed automatic transmission shifted smoothly. Fuel economy is rated at 19 mpg in the city and 24 mpg on the highway. I averaged 22.8 mpg.
The ride was smooth and comfortable, and handling was as expected for a SUV, with a certain amount of body roll on fast turns. The steering was light to the touch and felt better than previous models I’ve driven. The all-wheel-drive system has a differential lock for handling deep snow or moderate off-road travels.
The SUV had plenty of luxury touches: heated and cooled leather seats with memory settings, heated steering wheel, dual-zone climate control, hands-free lift gate, multi-view camera system and a huge panoramic sunroof. The instrument panel was a nice mix of touch-screen display and useful knobs and buttons.
My test vehicle also had smart cruise control and automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection. Add these features to the adaptive headlights with automatic high beams you couldn’t ask for much more.
This latest Santa Fe Sport seems well sorted out and the fit and finish is certainly as good as any vehicle on the market today. Add in a generous cargo area, extensive list of standard and optional features and a great warranty, and the Santa Fe Sport is sure to please.
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