There are plenty of new car buyers out there, but I’ve never been one of them. I don’t love how complicated new cars have become, I’m not especially interested in giving up all the data they request, and the value proposition seems worse and worse all the time. Very few would make my short list.
The 2027 Hyundai Santa Fe XRT certainly wasn’t an obvious candidate. I daily-drive a twin-turbo Ford Flex, so I can appreciate a spacious box on wheels. The Flex also scratches my itch for a car that’s reasonably quick and fun to drive. Off-roading is clearly a different priority.
To see what Hyundai’s take on that looked like, I drove the XRT from Bentonville, Arkansas, to Rush Springs Ranch in Pineville, Missouri, and took it on a course considerably gnarlier than I expected. The question was whether its off-road upgrades could give a family SUV the sort of appeal that keeps me driving an old Ford Flex.
[Full disclosure: Hyundai provided the Santa Fe XRT for on-road and off-road driving at a media event in Arkansas and Missouri and put me up in a hotel for two nights.]
The Basics
- Engine: 2.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder
- Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
- Drive: HTRAC all-wheel drive
- Output: 277 hp (207 kW), 311 lb-ft (422 Nm)
- EPA fuel economy: 19 mpg city, 25 highway, 21 combined
- Ground clearance: 8.3 inches (211 mm)
- Tires: 245/60R18 Continental Terrain Contact A/T
- Maximum towing capacity: 4,500 pounds (2,041 kg), with trailer brakes and appropriate equipment
- XRT starting MSRP: $42,290 before destination
- Price as tested: $45,180
Why Does This Car Exist?
Shamelessly circling back to my Ford Flex, I own it because I can’t justify owning a sports car or sports sedan. The Flex scratches enough of that itch thanks to its powertrain and low ride height while being wildly practical the rest of the time. The Santa Fe XRT makes sense to me in much the same way.
The heart of the recipe is a tech-heavy and spacious three-row SUV. It aims for everyday comfort and practicality. This version adds some real capability for those who enjoy going off-road, but does so while keeping the ride enjoyable for everyone else on board.
Hyundai gives the XRT standard all-wheel drive, all-terrain tires, and 1.3 inches of additional ground clearance over the standard Santa Fe. The SUV also gets six total driving modes, including three for dedicated off-road situations, including sand, mud, and snow. That all said, plenty of buyers will simply like the way it looks.
How Does It Look?
Ye olde publisher Matt Hardigree once texted me simply to comment on how much the Santa Fe looks kinda like a Ford Flex. He’s not wrong, but Ford never did an off-road version of that SUV, so I was surprised at how cohesive the Santa Fe XRT appears in person. Hyundai openly admits that its first version of the XRT badge was little more than a styling package. It contained no meaningful hardware changes.
That’s different here, as we’ve already mentioned. But the brand does a good job of backing up the new hardware assets with styling that’s upright, squared-off, and appropriately rugged. The dark trim and wheels add to that outdoorsy vibe, and the tires are both practical and attractive. That said, it’s still a bit longer than the conventional off-roader and doesn’t have as big of wheels and tires as some might prefer. On the flip side, some folks, present company included, appreciate a vehicle that’s just a little bit different.
There are some really clever little details too. For example, the C-pillar hides a little grab handle. When it’s time to load or unload the roof, it allows owners to slide their hand in, hold on, and step onto the tire to get access up top. When it’s not in use, owners can use the physical key blade to lock it and keep others from using the same handhold. It’s tiny, but it’s an example of Hyundai actively looking for ways to show that hardware changes are a big part of XRT moving forward.
What’s the Cabin Like?
Really nice, especially when you consider that my test car cost $45,180 after destination. Up front, the dashboard uses simple horizontal lines that remind me of what Honda has been doing in recent years. I think that sort of design will look good decades from now. There’s very little about a straight line that ever feels especially dated.
I’d love a little more color inside, but the overall impression is premium. The center console is useful, and Hyundai has kept a good amount of physical switchgear. There are still touch-sensitive controls for functions such as the air conditioning, fan speed, and heated seats. I’d prefer actual buttons for those too, but the layout is easy to understand.
The second row gets some of the same zhuzh as the front seats, which helps it feel like part of the same cabin. More significantly, I can sit straight up or slouch behind my own driving position. I’m six-foot-six. That’s impressive. Things get a little less fancy in the third row. The seats look somewhat like the back seat of a police car, though they’re considerably more comfortable than that comparison suggests.
They also get their own vents and controls for the rear fan. Yes, really. Passengers back there can switch it on and off and adjust the speed. They don’t get their own temperature zone, but having control over the airflow is welcome. That matters in a vehicle like this. If you’re buying a three-row SUV because you have people to carry, the people in the back ought to get some consideration too.
Cargo space is ample as well, with 14.6 cubic feet behind the third row, 40.5 behind the second, and almost 80 with both rows folded down. Speaking of folding those seats, everything is manual. No power controls for up or down. Between the space, the simple layout, and the overall comfort, there was a lot here that reminded me of my Flex. Apparently, I have a type.
How Does It Drive?
On the road, the Santa Fe XRT was breezy – smooth, quick enough, and predictable. The turbocharged four-cylinder has enough power for the job. I never came away thinking it needed another hundred horsepower, even if that’s generally an easy way to get my attention.
The brakes and throttle were linear and easy to modulate. The ride was comfortable, and the vehicle was easy to place on the road. We did some shooting with Alanis King that involved close passes for the cameras, and managing those felt like second nature.
Sight lines were good too. With the mirrors adjusted outward in the SAE position, I could get very good coverage alongside the vehicle with little overlap. It’s a straightforward car to get comfortable driving. Then we got to Rush Springs Ranch.
Underneath the XRT is a fully independent suspension with MacPherson struts up front and a multi-link setup at the rear. Both ends get gas-filled dampers and stabilizer bars. It’s a very conventional setup, and frankly, it made me wonder just how tricky the off-road trail prepared by Hyundai would actually be.
Having been to several off-road press events, the course difficulty can vary quite a bit. Some offer a very simple demonstration. Others have you looking at the next obstacle and thinking, “We’re going up that?” Hyundai’s course was much closer to the latter. Frankly, it might be the most demanding off-road course I’ve driven at a press event. Despite that, Hyundai didn’t even bother with spotters.
The surface was almost entirely loose gravel, dirt, and dust. There were steep climbs, off-camber sections, slippery spots, and jagged rocks that most people would make a point of avoiding in their daily driver. We routinely saw around 20 degrees of pitch or roll. Thankfully, those weren’t happening at the same time.
Toyota and Ram have let me jump trucks and SUVs. That’s exciting, but some of these slow climbs and off-kilter sections required more attention. There’s plenty of time to think about where each wheel is going when you’re crawling along. The Santa Fe just kept going.
At one point, a wheel ended up roughly a foot in the air. It didn’t become a production. There was no prolonged struggle to find traction, and I never felt as though I had to bully the car over an obstacle. The downhill brake control was steady and predictable too. On loose descents, it managed the speed in a way that was easy to trust. Steering inputs were equally straightforward.
Noticeable wheelspin and brake intervention were rare. When I could feel the systems working, the moment was brief enough that a passenger might have missed it. I can’t tell you how much unseen work the electronics were doing, but from the driver’s seat, it all felt remarkably calm.
That’s particularly interesting because the Santa Fe doesn’t have the rear electronic limited-slip differential fitted to the larger Palisade XRT Pro. I’d driven that too, and on these trails, the Santa Fe felt about 95 percent as capable. The Palisade has more serious underbody protection, its suspension feels more supple off-road, and its limited-slip rear differential gives it an additional tool for finding traction.
Still, the Santa Fe completed what I asked of it without making the missing hardware feel like a problem. I suspect the vast majority of drivers in the U.S. will never take their own vehicle on a trail this challenging. The Santa Fe was climbing, leaning, lifting wheels, and dealing with loose surfaces, all while remaining easy to manage.
Though I didn’t find the ultimate limits of the XRT, my time behind the wheel did establish the XRT can do considerably more than its family-car basis might suggest – though I’d want more protection underneath before making a habit of tackling jagged rocks.
How Is All The Tech?
If you’ve used a recent Hyundai infotainment system, this one will feel familiar. It’s straightforward, reasonably quick, and easy enough to get along with. The XRT has a 12.3-inch central touchscreen with navigation, along with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. A pair of wireless charging pads sits in the center console, and there are USB-C connections too. Having two places to charge phones wirelessly is handy when two people up front both want to use one.
The driver display is much more basic. The XRT gets a small 4.2-inch information screen in the middle of a larger digital instrument cluster. Some of its graphics reminded me of the very simple displays you find in rental cars. They’re usable. They just feel a little dated alongside the rest of the cabin.
I’m fine with simple controls and clear information, but this is one area where the presentation could use some attention. The central infotainment system feels more polished. Of course, if you spend most of your time using CarPlay or Android Auto, you’ll have less reason to interact with Hyundai’s own infotainment menus anyway. In practice, the system did what I needed it to do without much fuss.
If there’s anything to complain about, it’s that Hyundai doesn’t include off-road-centric cameras in the Santa Fe XRT. There are three different angles of the backup camera and zero forward-facing ones.
Does It Fulfill Its Purpose?
Absolutely. In fact, I think the XRT makes more sense after driving it than it does from simply looking at the spec sheet. You have to be a somewhat specific customer to want this particular combination of styling, space, and capability. You probably have to be a considerably quirkier one to take your new family SUV over the sort of trail we drove.
But if you’re like me, with a love for off-roading in place of an interest in driving fast on a track, hot dang. I understand the appeal. My Flex isn’t going to dominate a drag strip or crush it at a track day. It does give me enough speed, character, and practicality to feel good about the compromise.
The Santa Fe XRT hits a similar note on the off-road side. It can do quite a lot, the price isn’t crazy for the equipment and space, and the ride quality is good. There’s a reason to buy a dedicated off-roader if you’re regularly tackling terrain that demands one. For the trails we drove, though, the Santa Fe made a convincing case for bringing a comfortable family SUV.
Think about who else is going to be in the car. If it’s your family, don’t you want them to be comfortable while you’re enjoying your hobby? Don’t you also want them to be comfortable getting to the trail and coming home? The Santa Fe does that. I still don’t have much of a short list for new cars, but if I had a family and spent my weekends looking for trails, this would be on it.
Top graphic image: Stephen Rivers
These look good, and the idea of being able to do more is always appealing.
The thing I’m most curious about is how much more capability this gets you over an AWD hybrid. Leaving 10 MPG on the table for this feels like a big ask if it’s about tire tread and a small lift.
If you lifted a hybrid Rav 4 2″ you would probably be equivalent to this or better. You will probably lose an mpg from the lift hovever
Yeah, I was surprised how eager to play my FWD CR-V with CVT and street tires felt on well maintained trails and crossing shallow creeks.
Oh absolutely, I’ve taken some FWD cars in some sketchy places. Tire grip never really* was an issue and an AWD should be even better.
Ground clearance and geometry has been an issue more times than I can count. I’ve had to hop out and shovel or shove rocks under the car a bunch of times now.
*I did get a fwd stuck going up some sand dunes once, but it wasn’t its fault.
Nice looking vehicle. But it’s too big and the fuel economy too crappy for my purposes.
Semi-related: I sort of like the way the Santa Fe looks. The headlights and taillights? Look like bones. My family and I call them “hustle bones”. Upon seeing said hustle bones, I break out into Death Grips and yell “hustle bones comin’ out my mouth”.
I’ve been yelling this a lot lately, as it seems to Santa Fe is officially everywhere now.
I think I agree with you about too much tech in the vehicles.
Yesterday, I got in a new car, put it in reverse and all it did was show me a movie of some guy getting run over.
I’m slightly embarrassed I chuckled at this.
Was there a problem with engine start stop while driving off road? Seems like it would be a bit of a bother.
Didn’t happen even one time.
Thanks for reading!
Hey, welcome back.
Thank you thank you thank you!!! It’s an honor.
And thanks for reading!
There’s a guy local to me who has a lifted Mini with mud tires.
Neat, yes.
Much like this, there’s a limited audience willing to put money to it.
Best selling feature, I guess, is that it’s not a Jeep. And, as such, should be more modern and refined, so why ia fuel consumption so poor?
Haha Thanks for reading…
You have no idea how close I am to biting the bullet and lifitng my R60 Countryman S All4.
Because it’s a lifted brick with massive tires, an AWD drivetrain, and a transmission that is probably tuned for low-end torque?
In the same off the wall vibe: https://offroadium.com/a-honda-fit-like-no-other-battlewagon-for-off-road-adventures.html
“so why is fuel consumption so poor?”
H/K powertrains rarely lead in efficiency for any format, but this is a 4300-lb brick with no electric assist to get it off the line. Not much you can do to make it efficient.
Pilot, Passport, Pathfinder, Outback turbo, almost any ICE-only vehicle this size uses a lot of fuel to get moving.
I recently did the Bronco Off-Roadeo and this article brought me back to it. There’s one thing to have a $50k+ vehicle that you can daily, handle bad conditions on road and can take off road a bit, it’s another to have a $50k vehicle that you trail climb/rock crawl with. I was OK with the Off-Roadeo in one of their vehicles (and paying for damage insurance), I would not be OK listening to the rear differential grind over a rock in something that was brand new and I was still paying for (for the record, I didn’t do this, btw). Maybe I’m the outlier and others have no problem doing this.
Love the Flex Ecoboost. Those things are deceptively fast. Good sleeper.
Thanks for reading and for the kind words!!!
Yeah… off-roading your own 50k SUV elicits very different feelings if you can just manage to pay for it vs. it’s the tenth car on your balance sheet that you never worry about…
Did the Moab Off-Roadeo this year and it was such a great time! Luckily I live in Utah so getting out and doing this stuff is pretty easy. And well… am going to use this Bronco for what it was intended for and hope for the best. haha
Fun fact… one of Hyundai’s spokespersons has a Bronco Sasquatch manual that they love and use off-road regularly.
Thanks for reading!
I did Tennessee. It was great. I took my daughter, who is the primary driver for the Bronco, primarily to show her what one could do. She now wants to do Moab when she turns 18. Since ours is a Big Bend non-Sasquatch, it’ll likely never be more than a pavement princess while she’s driving it, but I can see her using it for beach and light trail work. I’m sure I’ll reclaim it in a few years to make it impersonate the Off Roadeo Broncos.
I’ve got a Big Bend non-Sasquatch as well. Other than upgrading the tires, it is bone stock and wildly capable. The guides in Moab gave me a Bronco with similar capability so I could see how my Bronco could do everything the fancy ones could do. Was a blast!
While it wasn’t a $50k vehicle when new, one of the first things I did with my ZR2 once everything was broken in at 3000 miles was lean it against a tree in a way that I had no option but to drive forward. Made some crazy pop-can noises but the slider saved me from the worst of it. Ended up with some rub marks on the paint and a slight dent on the rear passenger fender flare.
Why buy the offroad package if you’re not gonna use it?
This is the exact attitude I wish Every Single Off-road package buyer had. It irks me hear owners of such vehicles talk about “oh, I don’t go off-road, I just like the way it looks.”
Thanks for reading!
And they look even better covered in dirt, dust, and mud! 🙂
It may come as a surprise to some, but offroad packages are often purchased as solely an appearance package or “just in case” they find themselves on a gravel road.
Hyundai pretty much openly admitted this. Super sad IMO. Buy the car for the way you actually use it IMO.
Thanks for reading!
Oh, I’m well aware. Roads around here a filled with squeaky clean Raptors / TRXs / Rubicons / Braptors etc.
When I was 10 (2003), my dad’s friend took us out on a Hummer off roading event in his H2. It was incredibly dull. Everyone was so worried about scratching their cars that we didn’t do much off roading at all. More just driving really, really, really slowly on the easy (and widest) parts of the trail.
The most exciting thing that happened was when the Hummer dealership owner got an H1 stuck in a ditch, and spent probably 20 minutes trying to un-stick it. My dad’s friend winched it out…and promptly told the dude to pay up, since the job damaged the winch.
“Maybe I’m the outlier and others have no problem doing this”
I put branch scratches down the clearcoat on both sides of my bought-new 4Runner by the time it was only 2 years old, but I we bought it specifically so we could use it out in the boonies. It hurt a bit, but 8 years later all I’ve done is add more scratches and I don’t regret it a bit.
But yes, I think you are correct that most people are not willing to do this.
I could not tell from the picts, front tow points?
I would high center the hell out of this on trails.
Too bad I hate the styling of the current model. Plus, no hybrid?
I’d be very curious to read about an in depth comparison between this and the smaller Passport Trailsport, which seems like a similar sort of off-road-lite truck that’s better at everything in exchange for being less good at the off-road part.
Passport’s likely far more capable off pavement than this. But it’s a torqueless dog on the road and gets terrible fuel economy.
Doesn’t this and the Passport Trailsport get the same MPG?
Close on the EPA scale, the Hyundai is 1-2mpg ahead. But it’s a bit quicker in testing and with a turbo engine is bound to feel quicker in the real world than the high-strung Honda V6.
I don’t see break over angle, but I doubt it’s good. 8.3″ of clearance could be fine but you will absolutely scrape on anything but graded roads around here with that.
I just quickly looked up the engine that Hyundai replaced the Theta class engines- the “Slipstream” 4 bangers. Guess what? Lots of issues popping up with these using excessive amounts of oil, Rod bearing failures, piston rings that aren’t sealing properly, gas getting into the oil, and other completely ridiculous problems that were supposed to have been fixed when they replaced the Theta class engines. There is no way in hell I’m buying anything with even these “improved” engines. I’m sure they will sell a lot of them. And I’m sure a lot of people will wind up getting the workaround like my former boss, who’s Santa Fe was using a quart of oil in between fillups.
This is a great point – Hyundai/Kia/Genesis absolutely have to overcome the stigma out there about their long-term reliability and warranty coverage headaches. I can’t personally speak to either but for sure I hear/read about both complaints regularly.
Thanks for reading!
It is unfortunate. They already had a older stigma from their “old” brand from the 80’s and 90’s when they really did make some awful cars. They have been more recently on a roll and are IMHO making some of the more interesting looking vehicles. But they can easily ruin all of that newfound respect if they keep churning out problematic drivetrains. They now cost about the same as everyone else now and so there’s no more ” Oh well- its a cheap car so it’ll have cheap car problems” as a slight excuse. Both ex-bosses I had who drive Hyundais have major oil consumption problems and so far Hyundai has refused to do anything about it. And so they drive around with quarts of oil in the rear so they can top off the engines at every gas fillup, which is insane and ridiculous for a NEW car.
It’s really a bummer, and you’d think given their hard climb out of being a laughing stock that if anything their stuff would be bulletproof now, it’s like they got to the level of just acceptable enough and called it a day on improving.
At one point I thought I could see buying a Hyundai/Kia because as you point out they have been rolling out some really interesting products-turbo engined hybrid CUV for instance but at this point I wouldn’t touch anything they make. A buddy of mine told me recently his wife’s Kia Soul has less than 100K and is consuming enough oil that it’s not a matter of if but when the engine goes kablooie and they’re just riding it out at this point to see how long they can run it into the ground.
Sounds exactly like the two other people I know with their Hyundais. The worst part is its not a matter of poor maintenance. Its the actual design of the engines themselves. Both of them were getting them serviced regularly, oil changes ever 5k, full synthetic, etc. The bearings in these eventually eat themselves and then its all over.
Hyundai has the worst logo. I’d prefer they just go with the 4 dots H morse code. Debate me.
The Hyundai stylized H sucks. It sucks even worse when they turn it into a giant ass keyfob that looks like a sex toy.
Most every 4-dot execution I’ve seen also sucks. They look unfinished and odd.
Its because it looks cheap.
Can’t debate the truth.
Hyundai is NOT going to set up a curated off road course that embarrasses their vehicle for the press. So of course it did well on it. Auto writers love to get that wheel-in-the-air shot for their reviews, but real world performance on a road that hasn’t been carefully prepared to fit within the vehicle’s capability is not something that was tested here.
The XRT is a usable but very limited upgrade over the regular setup. A 20-degree approach angle and 8 inches of ground clearance isn’t terrible but it doesn’t take much to stop that out on a two-track.
I’m not going to bitch about this being a poseur mobile and make another “joke” about conquering the Starbucks drive-thru (so clever and original!) because if it scratches the look-tough itch for people enough that they’re not buying 18mpg 4Runners and Broncos then we’re probably better off.
Thanks for reading!
The reality is, and I could’ve done a better job mentioning this… that none of the OEMs ever set up a course where they think there’s a serious chance that their vehicle won’t manage it well. So Toyota, Jeep, etc all get the same grade there.
Having been on several off-road events like this, I sincerely think that this one was about as extreme as I’ve seen – and to not have spotters out there was a surprising choice.
As you said, though, it’s for sure curated. We’ll have to get it out on some ungroomed trails to learn more.
18mpg 4Runners vs 21mpg SantaFe isn’t a massive win here.
But, as you said, if conquering the Walmart parking lot is the goal, then I’m sure the Hyundai will handle the roads better.
You could do quite a bit more than the Walmart parking lot with this.
Everything’s on a spectrum. This is far more capable off pavement than a minivan and no less efficient than a V6 FWD Odyssey. It has better road manners than my 4Runner. If I didn’t need as much off road capacity but wanted, say, a Subaru’s worth, this looks like a decent way of getting some road civility and mpgs back.
Great way of describing where this thing lives.