After 4 months and 10k miles quiet, comfortable and mildly annoying.
Gas mileage sucks, keys and Apple car play don't work as well as our 2017 Kia Niro.
EPA rating is 34 overall. After 10,000+ miles we're averaging 30. Granted some of that is at 70 and 75 MPG, however our Kia was above the EPA ratings on the exact same roads and trips.
Back hatch auto open is very finicky with my wife's purse. It’s frequently annoying and does not impress anyone.
The button on the door to my Kia works like a champ. The door handle proximity sensors are confusing at best and annoying at worst.
Apple car play connects about 96% of the time. The manual and tech support are useless for help. We’ve figured a couple of workarounds, but sometimes even shutting the car off and restarting it don’t work. Do not pull the iPhone software update/app update/reboot phone bull crap. My wife had her own software company that taught people how to use computers and software. Your tech response was exceptionally slow and useless.
Voice commands stopped working after the last software update.
Did I mention this works flawlessly in my 2017 Kia Niro?
You’ve got a problem.
On the bright side, the self-driving features work flawlessly with one very minor issue. Illinois marks the truck speed with the same signs as cars with a big sign above it truck speed limit. The car does not differentiate the speed limits. The flashing red warnings are a very minor distraction.
GPS speed limits are more and more unreliable. The car is almost always right. That is a wonderful tool when we’re in unfamiliar spaces, which has been a routine occurrence with our travels.
I love the adaptive cruise control. The lane maintenance is good, but not flawless. Some states have put dashed lines on exit ramps which keeps the Sante Fe on the road.
There is a sharp curve on the interstate in either northern Missouri or southern Illinois that the car automatically slows down for. The first time took me by surprise as I didn’t think it would engage with Apple play GPS navigating. Not a bad feature, just unexpected after reading the manual. Rereading the manual clearly indicated that’s why the car slowed down. I’m still not sure it was explained it would work with Apple car play engaged. I expected it with the onboard navigation. It is also the ONLY time it functioned between Texas/Chicago/Trenton and back along the same route.
Long days in the car are SO MUCH EASIER than they used to be.
The system that monitors the driver for attentiveness could be a life saver. We actually lost a friend due to that several months earlier. It was second on the list of features we wanted.
The 2 hot pads for the phones are the envy of everyone.
The seats are wonderful. The seat cooling function is AMAZING! We have it in the Niro. Cooled seats were a requirement for a new car.
My wife has had issues with the seats in the Niro. Her Hyundai Elantra was much better. Upon further review, it’s the seat shape. That became the critical element in a new car. The Santa Fe seats are flatter. It was the deciding factor in buying the car.
The third row seats are actually big enough for a human adult.
However, a daughter inadvertently pushed the button in the back to lower the passenger side middle row seat with our grandson in the car seat. We were able to stop it and reverse the action. Our grandson didn’t even know there was a problem. Didn’t expect the seat to move. Not sure of the combined weight, but it might have been under 40 lbs.
The middle row seats are powered, but not powered. They have to be forward or backward with a poorly placed manual bar. Very annoying and seems to be a mistake in design.
Overall, a really nice vehicle. I am disappointed with the gas mileage. I’m pulling the roof rack cross bars off for our next trip. Maybe that helps, but I doubt we’re going to get 4 mpg from that.
The middle row seat lowering on a car seat with a child in it was a shock. Gotta be a better way to prevent that.
In summary, really nice car with actual gas mileage at 88% of advertised.
Not sure we’d buy another one.
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