Like the New Mexico city from which it borrows its name, the Hyundai Santa Fe is hot.
The mid-size crossover, which has been produced over four distinct generations since its launch at the turn of the millennium, helped solidify Hyundai’s standing in the U.S. market. So far, the current fourth generation of the vehicle, launched for the 2019 model year, has been every bit as much a hit as its forebears.
Bucking the trend of vehicles growing ever more spacious as the years pass, the new fourth-generation Hyundai Santa Fe’s wheelbase is actually shorter than that of its direct predecessor, although admittedly, it’s more a replacement for the smaller Santa Fe Sport. Hyundai has done away with the long-wheelbase, three-row “Santa Fe XL” – the vehicle formerly known simply as “Santa Fe” – altogether, replacing that model with an all-new vehicle named “Palisade.” Yeah, it’s confusing. But in most other respects, the Santa Fe carries on in the same vane as past iterations, serving as a flagship crossover of sorts for the Korean automaker in the U.S. market.
Aesthetically, the fourth-generation Hyundai Santa Fe has been molded in much the same style as the new Kona subcompact utility vehicle, with more hard creases and dramatic lines than the outgoing version. The interior very much follows current industry trends in making the infotainment screen an upright “floating” unit mounted atop the center of the dash, and in separating out the HVAC controls. Like any good flagship model, the Santa Fe is loaded with high-tech features, including standard frontal collision prevention, lane-keeping assist, and even adaptive cruise control with stop & go, all fitted as standard.
The new fourth-generation Hyundai Santa Fe made its debut at the 2018 New York International Auto Show. For that market, assembly takes place in Montgomery, Alabama.