The IT Nerd

So I’ve come to the end of my week long review of the 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe and I think Hyundai has a serious competitor in this space that stands out in more ways than just looks. It drives well, has a very good interior and a fair amount of tech in it.

It’s main competitors are going to be the Ford Edge, Nissan Murano, maybe the Kia Sorrento as that comes in five and seven passenger versions, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the upcoming Honda Passport. But I think that the Santa Fe which is already one of the leaders in this segment is going to keep the status quo, if not increase their share of this segment.

My final fuel economy was 11.7 L/100KM’s which is pretty good considering that I drove in a mix of city roads and highways in rush hour. The majority of that driving was city driving in rush hour or stop and go traffic. Given those conditions, I’m fine with this number.

The 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe starts at $28,999 CDN before freight, taxes, etc. The 2.0T Ultimate AWD trim level that I drove this week goes for $44,999 CDN with a number of trim levels in between. Hyundai really has a vehicle in this mid size SUV space where if you look around you will see a lot of Santa Fe’s on the road. I expect that continue based on my week with this 2019 model.

The 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe is a SUV packed with healthy amount of technology in it. Let’s start with the safety aspects of the vehicle:

• You get autonomous emergency braking which will bring the Santa Fe to a stop if it detects an object in front of it, and you take no action to avoid said object.
• Blind spot monitoring is included. Not only does it warn you when you are about to do an ill advised lane change, but it also alerts you based on distance and relative speed.
• Rear cross traffic alerts as well as rear parking sensors present to make either parking or reversing out of a parking space easier.
• One real highlight is that lane departure warning and assist functionality is included. It is one of the better systems that I have tested lately and I say that because any steering corrections that it makes are gentle and don’t freak you out. Plus if it has to make an audible warning, it does so in a way that doesn’t freak out you or your passengers.
• There’s an attention assist feature which monitors your driving and will suggest that you should take a break if it thinks you are getting tired.
• You get automatic headlights so that you never forget to turn the headlights on or off. You also get automatic windshield wipers as well.

Now, the cool tech starts with this:

You get a heads up display that is in color and displays speed, speed limits, blind spots info, and a host of other info that allows you to better focus on driving.

Another piece of cool tech is the cruise control. It’s radar based which allows the car to slow down and speed up based on what the car in front of you is doing. On top of that, it has the ability to deal with stop and go traffic by itself. I will note that in stop and go conditions if the car comes to a complete stop for a few seconds, you have to get it going  again by tapping the accelerator.

Next up is this:

There’s a top view 360 degree camera that is very very good. Everything from the various cameras that feed images into this system is very well stitched together and it made me easy to park in any situation. The only catch is that cameras are exposed which means that dirt or water can obscure the view as I discovered when it rained late in my test of the Santa Fe. For bonus points, there’s a button on the center console that allows you to activate this view at any time.

A ground breaking piece of tech is that the Santa Fe has the ability to detect cyclists who are rolling up to you when you are parked and are about to exit the car. In short, the Santa Fe will alert you if you try to open a door and a cyclist is approaching. This is a feature that really matters to me because about 20 years ago I was hit by a door that was opened from a parked car while I was riding my bike, which resulted in a trip to the hospital and three weeks to recover from the accident. I tested this in downtown Toronto and it worked flawlessly. Actually it worked better than I expected as it also detected a jogger that decided to run up on the drivers side of the Santa Fe for reasons that I don’t fully understand. Quite simply, this is tech that should be in every single car.

One final piece of tech that I want to speak to:

You get an alert if someone is in the back seat of the Santa Fe. That will hopefully keep you from leaving a child in the back seat on a hot day. That’s very cool. But it doesn’t stop there. If you have Hyundai BlueLink, which this vehicle has, it will generate an alert on your smartphone as well as honk the horns if it continues to detect something in the back seats. That’s pretty clever.

Other tech includes:

• Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are included. It gets served up on an 8″ screen which is extremely sharp, has great contrast and is viewable in all lighting conditions. The infotainment system user interface was easy to navigate and didn’t display any lag whatsoever. That was completely in line with other Hyundai products that I’ve tried recently.
• There’s a 12 speaker Infinity audio system that sounds good as I had no complaints when I was listening to radio or tunes from my iPhone. You can serve up AM,FM, audio from your phone via USB (which will also charge your phone) or Bluetooth, or SirusXM Radio. It was very good at playing my current audio torture playlist which needs updating.

The final part of this review will tie up some loose ends and I’ll give you my closing thoughts on the Hyundai Santa Fe. Stay tuned for that tomorrow.

The interior of the Hyundai Santa Fe 2.0T Ultimate AWD has a very compelling interior that Hyundai mostly got right. To be clear, it’s a very, very good interior. But there are areas where Hyundai could have taken this from very, very good to perfect. Let me walk you through the interior.

Normally I start with the drivers seat. However this caught my eye. You get an extra window between the A pillar and the side mirror to improve your vision. And it does make a difference when driving.

The door has all the controls for the windows, mirrors, and on the top right there are the buttons for the custom seat settings.

The drivers seat is made of leather and is heated, vented, and extremely comfortable. You get all sort of customization including thigh extensions which will be welcomed by taller drivers such as yours truly. Once you dial it in, it is a great seat to spend your driving time in. One interesting trick is that if the car detects that the outside temperature is cold, it will turn on the seat warmer for you and leave it on for about five minutes so that you’re not sitting on cold leather. That’s a nice touch!

On the top left you see the buttons for the electronic overseers and the panel lighting. You can also see the pedals which are pretty plain and I think that Hyundai could have put some sport pedals in to make things a bit cooler.

The gauge cluster is impressive. The gauges on the left and right are real. However, everything else is a large and very customizable LCD screen that is bright and sharp.

The steering wheel is leather wrapped, heated and feels good in your hands. It also has controls for the infotainment system as well as the cruise control system.One interesting trick is that if the car detects that the outside temperature is cold, it will turn on the steering wheel heater for you and leave it on for about five minutes so that you’re not sitting on cold leather. That’s a nice touch!

You get a tablet style 8″ screen for the infotainment system and below that are the HVAC controls. I should also note that most of the top of the dash is hard plastic. But closer to the front seats there is soft touch material.

Below the HVAC controls is this cubby with a pair of USB ports. The one of the left is the one for the infotainment system. The right is simply for someone to charge a phone. An audio jack as well as a 12v outlet is present as well. There is also a QI compatible wireless charger that fit my iPhone XS with room to spare.

The shifter is leather wrapped, and below it, you get the parking brake as well as buttons that controls for various functions. You also get two very serviceable cupholders.

They passed the Starbucks Venti coffee test with ease.

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The arm rest which is topped with leather has a deep storage area that has a small tray inside it.

You get a useful glove box. My wife pointed out that it wasn’t lit while the one in our Tucson is lit. Thus she felt that Hyundai could have made this lit as well. I think that she might have a point here.

My wife really liked this shelf on the passenger’s side as you can drop small items in there. For example, my iPhone XS fit in their easily.

There is a massive dual panel sunroof that seriously adds style to the Santa Fe.

Plus for the back seat occupants, there are sunscreens for the windows.

Beneath the HVAC vents is a cubby big enough for a phone and a pair of USB ports for charging said phone.

If you don’t need to seat three people (Which when I tried that with three adults it was very tight. Two adults or three children would work though), you an use these handy cupholders.

The Santa Fe has a ton of space if you fold down the second row seats (which move forwards and backwards to create extra legroom by the way). One thing that I should note is that most of the interior is covered by nice white LED lighting. Except for the cargo area which is covered by yellow incandescent lighting. Ditto for the lights in the vanity mirrors. Hyundai might want to consider making all the lights LED to make the look more consistent and to ensure that the bulbs outlast the life of the car.

But with the seats up there’s a ton of space for my groceries.

To help to flip down the seats, there’s a pair a buttons in the back on the right hand side to allow that to happen easily. You do have to flip them up manually though. There’s also a 12V outlet back here as well.

I was able to flip down the “40” portion of the 60/40 seats to facilitate picking up our cross country skis from being prepped for the upcoming ski season.

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There’s also underfloor storage that did come in handy during the week that I had the Santa Fe.

There’s another storage area to the right as well.

Overall this is a nicely executed interior. I do think that Hyundai could have done some little things to take this from great to perfect. But I doubt that you’d have any problems spending time in this vehicle. The next part of this review will cover the technology in the vehicle. It has a fair amount of it. Tune in tomorrow to find out what the Santa Fe has to offer from a tech perspective.