2025 Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid Review: Boxy, Not Basic

In one important way, the 2025 Hyundai Santa Fe competes with sports cars and luxury cruisers.

During our week together, the boxy mid-sized SUV drew more inquiries from family and friends than the likes of a droptop 911 or the best SUV BMW currently makes. Not because it’s flashy—quite the opposite, in fact. The Santa Fe is an exceedingly practical and sensible family hauler and, in this lower trim, represents something of a value. In a time of continued cost-of-living concerns not to mention the topsy-turvy tariff talks, affordability can’t be ignored. Thankfully, after spending a week with this hybrid-powered Hyundai, I found (a lot) more to like than just a low sticker price.

If Minecraft were a car, it’d be the Santa Fe. The squared-off shape is an admittedly huge departure from what came before, but take a look around. Boxy. Is. In. This lower trim keeps things looking humble with the flat black plastic wheel arches instead of fancy-shmancy gloss black, so you’ll be less annoyed when the inevitable scratches surface. Straight-line five-spoke alloys stick to the bit, too. I appreciate all the H shapes across the exterior design, and while it’s a very different shape from the new Ioniq 9, there are shared elements—lower trim that wraps all around the vehicle, roof rail supports that align with window trim—that give a familial feel.

No, I still haven’t grown to like that flat rear-end treatment with the low-set taillights, but there’s a reason for it: the huge liftgate opening necessitated the light migration.

Hyundai’s familiar 1.6-liter turbocharged engine sits under that flat hood, hooked up to a six-speed dual-clutch transmission with an integrated electric motor. With a 1.49-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery to pull charge from, the motor can do short bursts as the sole source of power. Hyundai quotes it at just 60 horsepower, so drivers will need to exercise serious restraint pulling away from a light if they don’t want to wake the gas engine. Should they, however, the setup is perfectly well-mannered, handling the blend well.

Maximum combined output is a healthy 231 horsepower, while torque peaks at 271 pound-feet, making the hybrid nearly as real-world quick as the much thirstier 2.5-liter turbo option. On paper, we’re talking almost 50-percent better fuel economy. In the real world, the Hyundai did slightly worse than its official 34 mpg (6.9 L/100 km) combined rating.

With a commendably low drag coefficient, the Santa Fe keeps wind (and road) noise to a minimum. There’s a fluid, well-damped feel to its ride, ensuring unexpected bumps don’t upset the cabin equilibrium.

The front seats are inviting and well-bolstered, ensuring road trip comfort is high. The faux-leather material feels proper—and easy to clean.

This tester has the middle-row bench; it too offers proper adult-friendly room, and that flat window line means folks won’t feel like they’re in a cave. Neither will they in the third row; it’s not the most spacious, but it’s also better than the one you’ll find in larger competitors. One nice touch: even this lower trim features power-folding buttons for the third row in the liftgate area, and also the second row. Smart!

Hyundai didn’t stop with the design-by-rulers exterior: the inside has plenty of right angles too. There are some round edges employed to give the Santa Fe a more inviting, humanist feel. The theme might as well be “mirroring”: the pinstripes on door trim echoing the texture of the shift stalk, the H-shape vent design looking like the headlights, the I-swear-it’s-not-a-Range-Rover steering wheel. Hyundai might be a bit scattershot with landing on a brand-wide interior design language, yet the Santa Fe strikes an agreeable balance between modern day minimalism and upright sense of adventure.

It’s always refreshing to get in a trim that isn’t at the top of the pecking order. This Can-spec tester roughly aligns with America’s Limited trim; it’s known as Preferred with Trend Package in the Great White North. It doesn’t have the fancy trim and features of the top Calligraphy, but the ‘Fe’s largely black interior nonetheless has good quality materials and feels properly screwed together.

There’s also just plenty of storage. The large pass-through up front can easily hold a purse, while the main console storage can be accessed by both the first and second rows.

Hyundai’s latest infotainment is happily simple to use, keeping most functions to just one or three taps of the 12.3-inch screen. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are finally part of the equation right from the go, and the former works without issue. The wireless charger isn’t only large, to accommodate the not-so-baby computers we now haul everywhere, but raised to better disperse heat.

Yes, this tester misses out on some of the fancier bits from the top trim, like the trick UV cleaning compartment, second wireless charger, or the upgraded sound system. I don’t miss those, nor do I even really miss the available head-up display, as the Hyundai’s digital instrument cluster is plenty crisp and informative. The two misses are a 360-degree camera and Hyundai’s always-useful blind-spot view monitor.

Hyundai bundles most of its driver assists on all Santa Fe models. Buyers will have to move up if they want niceties such as broader collision avoidance, remote smart park, and Highway Drive Assist 2. Oddly, only the top trim has a driver alertness monitor.

This Canadian-spec tester keeps things simple: on top of its destination-included starting point of $44,549 CAD are the Trend package ($4,000 CAD) and premium paint ($250 CAD). Dropping the former would mean skipping out on the 20-inch alloys, dual-pane moonroof, wireless charger, and power-folding seats.

The tester falls about in the middle of the Sante Fe SEL and Limited: more kit than SEL ($39,295) in most ways, but lacking the actual-leather innards of the Limited ($46,195).

It’s very hard not to like the 2025 Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid. It is a master at reducing daily friction, blending comfort with serious cargo- or people-carrying capability. That it’s priced about in line with the top-trim Rogues and CR-Vs makes it a seriously good deal, too. It has quickly become my default suggestion to those asking about three-row SUVs—and of the many who asked during the week, at least one already owns a new Santa Fe. You can rarely say that about a 911.

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