Finest Automobile To Purchase 2025

The Santa Fe features hybrid energy, 36 mpg mixed
It outdoes the Toyota Highlander Hybrid and Kia Sorento, and appears like a Land Rover
The Hybrid mannequin prices solely $500 greater than the gas-only Santa Fe

A 3-row crossover SUV with a hybrid powertrain could also be nothing new, however packaged with a blocky Land Rover look and an inside that places the utility in SUV, the redesigned 2025 Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid stands head and shoulders above the handfuls of different automobiles we thought-about for our Finest Automobile To Purchase 2025.

Every year at The Automobile Connection, we drive greater than 100 new automobiles and determine which of them set new benchmarks. We choose consolation, effectivity, refinement, efficiency, and elegance—and decide the winners and title the also-rans. It exceeds the expectations and the impressions of our 4 different finalists, together with the Chevy Equinox EV and Subaru Forester. New for the 2024 mannequin 12 months, it simply missed out on the due date for final 12 months’s competitors.

How did it rise to the highest this 12 months? For one, the dramatic styling took over the reins from the last-generation Santa Fe. That automobile had a lovely form and a few decidedly upscale inside appointments on the excessive finish. This one? Its raffish, angular appeal bears not a little bit in frequent with automobiles from Land Rover and Rivian, at tens of hundreds of {dollars} much less. It is boxy, prolonged, and attention-demanding the place most large SUVs quit pizzazz within the title of utility. Contained in the story’s even stronger: the Santa Fe Hybrid boasts twin 12.3-inch shows, one a touchscreen that delivers wi-fi Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It rests atop exhausting local weather controls that refuse to be buried alive in layers of digital interface.

The wrapper’s a delight, however the Santa Fe Hybrid’s powertrain perks up our curiosity much more strongly. The essential 277-hp turbo-4 within the Santa Fe cedes the fuel-economy wars to the 231-hp hybrid. It pairs a 1.6-liter turbo-4 and 6-speed automated transmission with a 47.7-kw electrical motor and a 1.5-kwh battery pack. In symphony, they put out 231 hp and 271 lb-ft of torque, granting the three-row SUV a faster step off the road and extra responsive energy on faucet than the turbo-4. The hybrid bits coordinate easily with the legacy fuel items, and may even be stoked into stronger responses with a Sport mode and paddle-controlled shifts. The Santa Fe additionally recaptures in any other case misplaced braking vitality with 4 regenerative-braking modes, which may recharge the battery or let the hybrid coast, with battery energy on faucet to maintain it rolling effectively.

2024 Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid

The Santa Fe Hybrid, so outfitted, can hit a peak of 36 mpg mixed in EPA scores. That is a giant nod in its favor—however so is the Santa Fe’s glowed-up cabin that seats as much as seven folks, with terrific house and luxury allotted to these in rows one and two. Inside trim’s on the common degree within the base mannequin, however the Calligraphy sports activities a very luxurious cabin, outfitted with leather-based upholstery, particularly good adaptive cruise management, and heating and cooling for the motive force and entrance passenger.

The Santa Fe has carried out effectively, thus far, in crash assessments. All fashions get automated emergency braking and blind-spot screens, whereas the higher trim ranges will be fitted with driver help that backs up an attentive driver with further assist for braking, steering, and cruising over lengthy distances.

Right here’s what actually will get us: the Hybrid mannequin prices solely $500 greater than a equally geared up gas-only mannequin. The really helpful $38,615 Santa Fe Hybrid SEL’s worth rises to $48,865 for the Calligraphy—however in any trim, the additional fuel mileage makes a proposal no driver ought to refuse. In fact, Hyundai has an upcoming electrical SUV, the Ioniq 9—a relative of the Kia EV9, which was Finest Automobile To Purchase 2024—however for many who aren’t fairly able to take the EV leap, the Santa Fe Hybrid makes eminent sense.

Learn the efficiency and inexperienced winners on our different web sites, Motor Authority and Inexperienced Automobile Stories.