The New 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe CUV Overview

The Hyundai Santa Fe has been around since 2000 and has always been a hit with the American public, so the 2017 refresh was always going to be an interesting proposition. With cleaner lines and tons of features for your money, it seems that the company are heading in the right direction, but there are still some aspects to address, so not is all perfect.

Being an CUV you do get your three rows of seats, but cargo space is limited and you will need to fold down the second row seats for that extra room, but the interior doesn't seem as claustrophobic as many other CUVs out there. One of the areas where the Santa Fe and the rest of the Hyundai lineup differ from the rest is in the wealth of features. You get plenty of technology bundled with the vehicle, which include Hyundai’s BlueLink infotainment system, along with staples such as rearview cameras, 7 inch touchscreen displays and CarPlay and Android Auto. You can find the full specifications here.

You have four trim levels for the full Santa Fe range which include the SE, Limited, SE Ultimate, and Ultimate Limited, with premium packages including things like heated seats, leather upholstery, extra USB ports and additional safety upgrades like rear cross traffic alerts, blind spot detection and lane change assist. Other packages which come with the SE, Ultimate and Limited Ultimate include Lane departure warning, emergency braking with pedestrian detection, 8 inch touchscreen option, dynamic bending light and power liftgate.

The 2017 model has across all the range a 3.3-Liter V6 engine with 290 hp. This will serve you up 17mpg in the city and 23mpg on the highway. You're not going to break any 0-60 times here, but there is enough power for a comfortable ride and the fuel economy can be seen as reasonable for the range. Reports have said that the suspension maybe a little hard in places, but handling comes in very reasonably and it's not an effort to drive on long journeys. In other words, the engine is in groundbreaking, but for the price it gives reasonable power and economy.

The 2017 Santa Fe starts at $30,800 for the front wheel drive SE model and $32,550 for all wheel drive, moving up to $41,150 for an all wheel drive Limited Ultimate Edition. There's plenty of room in the vehicle with the biggest benefit of all the standard equipment, but suspension and slightly weak acceleration are the only drawbacks on the 2017 model. For a solid daily use vehicle with plenty of extras for the price, it seems that the 2017 Santa Fe is a solid contender as a reasonably priced family CUV.