2024 Santa Fe - Lot to be desired
I normally would not buy the first model year of a redesign; however, I bought the 2024 Santa Fe due to track record of the many different models I, my family or friends had owned over the years. I previously owned a 2016 Santa Fe; let's just say I miss that vehicle. The 2024 leaves a lot to be desired. Firstly, the driver compartment and seat are not nearly as comfortable as my previous vehicle. I do like the flat center counsel for storage; however, it could've been installed lower to give more knee/leg room.
The operation of the radio/entertainment system is foolish. No option for station presets, only favorites which requires you to take eyes off the road to scroll the screen to find a favorite channel if you have more than 5 saved. Using Carplay, if you're phone has any kind of sound playing, radio switches off to whatever is on phone, but when you end application on phone, you have to then hit the media button until you get back to the radio. The HVAC counsel is a touch screen and is hard to see in certain lighting conditions, not to mention you once again have to take eyes off road in order to know if you are pushing the right buttons. Don't get me started on the heads-up sensor on top of the steering wheel; found out I had to purchase new lenses for my sunglasses because I was not able to set the cruise control with the original lenses. And don't put your head back too far or take a drink or eat anything while driving because it will kick out of cruise control because it can't see your face. Even after the so-called update, still awful.
As far as the body design, while it looks different than a lot of vehicles, there are many things that disappoint. First of all, the taillights and reverse lights are too small and too low to the ground. Compared to my 2016 Santa Fe, the 2024 headlights are marginal at best. They ride high and do not illuminate the ditch areas along the road. This almost caused me to hit a deer the first time I drove it at night! As far as the body shape, the boxier style causes the vehicle to be affected by the wind more which then causes the vehicles monitoring system to send a "Need a Break" message more often than I care to see. Along with that, adding a third row did nothing but add weight to the vehicle. Both of which has cause a reduction in fuel mileage as compared to the 2016 model. While I understand having turbo will affect mileage, I'm seeing an average drop of 8-9 miles/gallon through approximately 33,000 miles of driving. Otherwise, the vehicle handles nicely and is a rather quiet ride.
Through the years, the Santa Fe has been fairly reliable; with that being said, my 2024 has been in the shop more in the first 30k miles than my 2016 was and I drove that over 200k miles. It will take a lot of design changes before I would decide to purchase a third Santa Fe at this point.