Checked the boxes for me
I had a list going into the car shopping experience in summer of 2024:
Good gas mileage
Optional third row
Captains chairs second row
Car play
Room for two teen boys and a spouse all over 6’ tall
The Santa Fe Hybrid is the one I kept going back to after three months of looking and test driving.
I have had it now for 20 months and am 90% satisfied with my purchase.
The safety features that seem like a great idea are what keep giving me problems. I even had to schedule a service to have a software patch to work around the biggest annoyance, which is the camera that looks at the driver’s face.
I’ll explain my irritation.
I like to drive with my right hand at “noon”. But when the car can’t see your face it dings and has a fit. Buying the car in summer I also had the sunroof open frequently and sunglasses on. With the sun on your face and sunglasses covering your eyes, the car freaks out and won’t let you use cruise control because it can’t see the driver’s face. The only way to fix this is to remove your sunglasses or close the sunroof.
I found a place in the settings to turn this feature off and I activated it, but it doesn’t actually turn it off, so I took it in and had the tech guy drive with me so I could show him in action what I was talking about.
The car has been worked on but still is much too sensitive and I can’t use the sunroof much without losing the cruise control function.
I also noticed between me and my tall spouse and children, the camera sometimes thinks it can’t see their faces (which are much higher up than mine when driving), and it shuts off cruise control on them frequently - not even adding the sunroof to the problem.
We take long road trips frequently and these functions have made me want to trade the car in on multiple occasions, but I’m trying to hang in until my freshman son is finished with high school.
It’s comfortable, roomy, the CarPlay is great, and I can go over 500 miles before I need a fill up so it is serving the purpose I chose it for.
But until the driver’s camera is toned down or eliminated, I can’t say that I will be buying another one after this.
Verified Owner
