2010 Honda Pilot Touring vs 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited

hate_car_shopg

I hate car shopping!!
Can you guys give some constructive thoughts? We have 2 sons, 6ft each, so the Pilot's legroom is so much more accommodating. The Santa Fe navigation systems seems more advanced on the 2010. Also, Pilot has zero rebates. Pros and cons? If you own both tell us the good and bad of both.
We currently have a 2002 Santa Fe LTD AWD, and we are keeping it, cuz we love it.
But since we do like the new Pilot.... it complicates things, although we have never owned a Honda. Want an AWD. Which will have a better resale value? And SAFERCAR.gov... what the heck do all of those numbers mean? What do the actual numbers mean? Got a price on the internet for the Touring (no DVD) for $34900 + tax, title and lic. Santa Fe price on the internet was told to be (OTD, w/tax, title and lic) $31400. Got a price for the navi Santa Fe for
Thoughts?? Assistance? Thanks!

rick2456

I have an 07 SF SE AWD that I love (wife drives mostly). But as I wanted something with a bit more leg and cargo room like the Honda Pilot, I ended up buying a Kia Borrego EX V6 AWD which is very similar and about 10k less than the Pilot. Not to mention a vastly superior warranty. 8200 miles thus far and this truck is awesome. Check it out,,,,, if you can find one. No 2010s are being shipped to the US (rest of the world only), thus you have to settle for an 09.

hate_car_shopg

Thanks, Rick2456. We were actually 4 time Hyundai buyers from the same dealer. We went there on Saturday, and were treated poorly, in our opinion. THey were very busy, so they did not want to try to find us a car elsewhere. So, we are now done with Hyundai. We sat in the Borrego last week. Our dealer has 1 or 2 of the 2009's. The 2nd row legroom seemed quite small. hmmmm

We are thinking the Acadia or the Pilot now. We love ONSTAR, but gotta say, the PIlot is my favorite of the cars. Outside of ONSTAR the Acadia does not do much for me. Wish Honda had an emergency SOS system.

jeffinva

We got a 2009 EXL 2WD Pilot in Aug 2009. It now has 28k miles and the entire family loves it! (as well as their friends). I never compared to the Santa Fe because we wanted a 7/8 seater. My son is 16, 6' 1" and even sits in the far back on trips and has no complaint at all, he's totally comfortable. Also have teenage daughter and we sometimes need to drive aging parents so we carry 6 adults which is nice. Everyone is very comfortable. It feels like I'm driving while sitting in our family room! We also needed the versatility for carting things around and the ability to bring along his football team (driver + 7 guys- no problem). We were also looking forward to hauling stuff for college in our near future. The room is tremendous. We have fit in 8 adults numerous times and everyone was very pleased with comfort and ride.

MPG seems best in warm weather, we get overall 18/19 around town (no heavy city driving) and 23/24 HWY. I have had ZERO experience with pulling to the right, weak breaks or low power as I have seen some write about. I simply needed time to learn the car and how to drive it. We had compared with the Highlander but we were able to get the Pilot with more features and it had more room and flexibility (space behind 3rd seat and split 3rd seat).

I imagine the smaller 5 seater Sante Fe would have more of a car like drive and better MPG so it seems you need to decide on how much you actually need/would like the extra space vs the way it handles/drives. They're 2 totally different cars to me. Drive one right after the other (with kids) and see. We did this a couple times on different days before we reached our decision. We tend to keeps cars forever (12+ years) and Hondas have always worked very well for us.

kingfans1

hello hate car shopq,

I have 2010 pilot ex-l 4wd. the car is about 4400 miles. it handle very well on the dry road, as well as in snow. I am currently get 21- 22 mpg , 90 % Highway driving at 60-65 mph. don't get fooled by hyundai 276 hp.. pilot have 250 hp, 253 torque.. plenty of power and torque for regular driving. pilot have excellent safety rating too.I believe honda will have better resale value.

The only CON I have with the pilot is paint job.. I can see 3 or 4 very tiny paint peeled out.. but you can't see with the naked eye. I can live with it..

bugplay

I own a 2009 Pilot EX-L AWD and I just purchased a 2010 Santa Fe AWD GLS with the 4 cyl engine. I have only driven the Hyundai about 100 miles; however, I am pleased. In comparison, the rear leg room seems pretty much the same. The Pilot, though, seems like a much better built car - but that should be expected for the price difference. The doors, rear lid and hood are heavier when closing. The hardware, such as door hinges, hydraulic struts and other fasteners are definitely better in the Pilot. The ride is smoother in the Pilot and the handling much more refined. The materials such as the carpeting, seat covers and floor mats are superior in the Pilot. The fit and finish and styling of the Hyundai beats the Pilot hands down! All in all, I would purchase another Hyundai in a minute...but don't expect it to be a Honda.