2017 Santa Fe Sport "Things that could be better"

just_focus

Hello: 2 months ago I bought a 2017 Santa Fe Sport with the premium package. I now have close to 5000 miles on it now. Hyundai sent me an email shortly after I bought and asked me what I did not love about the car and what they could improve on. Well I did not have a lot to say back then but I do have a few things now. My hope is Hyundai R&D is looking at this website. First off I want to say this thing is built great. The SUV does exactly what we wanted and gets great gas mileage. Here are my observations so far.
1. Rides kind of harsh. I noticed this on test drive but we found it 40 psi in the tires so I thought that was why.
2. Power I have the 2.4 and while driving on hills in the suburb it always seems to be in 1 gear higher than it should.
3. Rear drink holder is a complete joke. You have to pull it out of the arm rest and it rattles like crazy
4. Depending on the gas station I can not fill the tank all the way. If the flow is too strong it will kick out 3 gallons short and I can not get the gas in there.
I Know for problem 2 I could put it in sport mode but I choose just to throw it over to manual and shift my self on hills. For problem 4 I can baby the pump trigger to get all gas in but its a pain that I did not on last car.I do not have a work around for the other 2 problems. I still love the car and for the price I could not touch any other similar SUV and this is our 2nd Hyundai and after 90,000 miles on our other Hyundai we have had no problems

stever

So, you've dialed back the psi in the tires to the amount recommended on the placard on the door pillar? (Tires are often over-inflated on new cars so they won't flatspot during shipping).

Feel free to cut and paste your impressions in a Consumer Review too - there's one other owner commenting about the rough ride over there. Thanks - and congrats!

just_focus

Yes I set the tires at 32psi and still a pretty rough ride. I told the service manager that he had better be careful letting cars out of his parking lot with more than the manufactures maximum air pressure in the tires because if someone gets in a wreck and the lawyers get involved I could see where they might be liable. He thanked me and said it was a miss on the prep department and went back to see who checked that box on delivery.

stever

That step is commonly missed on the delivery check-list.

It sounds like your Interstate has been torn up for a while - maybe it's partly your roads there. This is from our review:

"On the road, the 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport doesn't feel as sporty as its name might lead you to believe, but its firm suspension is a step in that direction. On the flip side, while ride and handling characteristics are fine on smooth pavement, that suspension tends to transmit rough patches directly to the cabin, with little apparent absorption."

Check TireRack for reviews when it's time to replace the tires. Yours may be a bit on the hard side to help Hyundai meet the EPA numbers.

spidpooy

Stever, Is there any metric to measure how rough a car might ride ? I don't have a luxury to test drive every car and find out how rough it is. I wish if I can use a metric for comparison and estimate in advance.

andres3

My Metric is this:

Super Soft = Toyota & Buick
Soft = American Cars
Medium = Normal/Comfort Suspension German Cars & Honda/Nissan/Mazda
Hard = Sport Suspension German Cars

Not sure about Korean...... Thinking they used to be soft but are now more like Medium.

stever

There's a lot of factors at play.

Bigger wheels with low profile tires tend to ride rough (but that's debatable, and cars with big OEM wheels will be tweaked to account for the ride of the tire).

Sport suspensions (like your current one) tend to ride rougher since they are designed to return more road feedback to the driver.

Wheelbase is a factor with longer wheelbase cars tending to have a smoother ride. The Kia Soul gets demerits from some people for example, since it's a relatively short car.

It's hard to put a finger on the rest - engineering choices will dictate what kind of dampening a suspension will have, and more expensive cars will have better mounting material, better body construction (thicker, more rigid), more sound insulation. More weight can make a difference too.

spidpooy

So I should do this in my homework to get into an smooth car?
- avoid sport cars
- look for larger wheelbase
- look for heavier car
- look for smaller wheel option

stever

Yeah, but the jury is still out on the bigger wheels. I think the trick is more sidewall rather than tire size by itself. I look for smaller wheels/tires mostly because I'm cheap and smaller tires cost less.

just_focus

So now I am at 11,000 miles and have taken the Santa fe on 2 road trips for my sons soccer (reason for purchase) Well we live in Cincinnati and the first tourney was in North Carolina. This was a very tough drive for us. This SUV would down shift from 6th down to 5th (for 1 second) then down to 4th on every little grade. When you are going 75 to 80 the RPMs jump to 4200. Then to make things worse it would also down shift going down a hill as well. I am not sure if the engine is just really under powered or there is a problem with the cruise control. I ended up not using the cruise control for this 1000 mile round trip. The second trip was to Memphis Tennessee and I had same result. If Hyundai can not fix this situation I am not sure how much longer I will keep this SUV. I hope its a problem with Cruise.

stever

Not being able to use the cruise would really bug me. I use mine in town all the time, not just on the highway.

Thanks for the update, sorry that the ride isn't working out all that well for you.

Mr_Shiftright

The engine is I think 190HP which should be quite adequate unless they have geared the vehicle so high in overdrive in order to get good MPG numbers. Overdrive doesn't work very well on grades unless you have a pretty high torque motor. For one thing, it waits until the engine is practically bogged down. If you shifted manually, you'd get a good jump on the hill and keep the revs up.

just_focus

The thing that puzzles me is it only shifts into 5th for 2 seconds then drops down to 4th (Going 75MPH) I believe if it stayed in 5th it would not be a problem. Anyway I called the dealer and of course they have had no complaints about this problem.

m_jonis

I've got the 2017 SFS 2.0 T Ultimate w/tech package. It has the 19" wheels. I agree that the ride isn't as smooth (but I knew this as I test drove the vehicle 3 times along with my other two competitors). Ironically the "base" model (17" wheels) and the Ford Edge (SEL with I think 18" wheels) seemed much softer of a ride vs. the top trim 19" wheels (including the Edge Titanium). I'm seriously thinking of re-test driving the base model with the 17" wheels and then looking at maybe switching out the wheels from the stock 19's to the 17's. Only other option is maybe check out Koni performance struts/shocks (they supposedly have one that gives you a smoother ride) but am not sure if it's compatible with the 2017 SFS. However, the cheapest of the 2 options would be wheels. I could probably sell my old wheels/tires for $700 and recoup some of the approx. $1200 for 17" wheels/rims. Vs. the Koni shocks that are like $200 each plus install (labor is expensive for struts if I recall). I cannot imagine driving anything with a 20" rim. To be honest, it drives like most Toyota's I've been in where you get a stiffer suspension for corners, but man you feel those bumps and potholes.

I opted for the Turbo due to the "power" like you mention but then again I came from a v6, so I was used to "oomph". Not to say that the 4 cylinder non-turbo is bad, just not as gutsy as I wanted.

andres3

m_jonis said:

I've got the 2017 SFS 2.0 T Ultimate w/tech package. It has the 19" wheels. I agree that the ride isn't as smooth (but I knew this as I test drove the vehicle 3 times along with my other two competitors). Ironically the "base" model (17" wheels) and the Ford Edge (SEL with I think 18" wheels) seemed much softer of a ride vs. the top trim 19" wheels (including the Edge Titanium). I'm seriously thinking of re-test driving the base model with the 17" wheels and then looking at maybe switching out the wheels from the stock 19's to the 17's. Only other option is maybe check out Koni performance struts/shocks (they supposedly have one that gives you a smoother ride) but am not sure if it's compatible with the 2017 SFS. However, the cheapest of the 2 options would be wheels. I could probably sell my old wheels/tires for $700 and recoup some of the approx. $1200 for 17" wheels/rims. Vs. the Koni shocks that are like $200 each plus install (labor is expensive for struts if I recall). I cannot imagine driving anything with a 20" rim. To be honest, it drives like most Toyota's I've been in where you get a stiffer suspension for corners, but man you feel those bumps and potholes.

I opted for the Turbo due to the "power" like you mention but then again I came from a v6, so I was used to "oomph". Not to say that the 4 cylinder non-turbo is bad, just not as gutsy as I wanted.

Well, I'm a guy who likes his sporty cars with sporty suspensions, and let me tell you that the 20" wheel upgrade option on my latest Audi it didn't feel all that comfy even in comfort mode. Most of the reviews say Audi made the TTS a comfortable every day drive-able sporty car, and with 19" wheels I'd be more likely to agree, but with 20" wheels, I preferred the ride in the S4 with 18" wheels. I think the B8.5 S4 nailed it in terms of balancing sport and comfort, and mine didn't even have the adjustable suspension.

A regular TT with 18" wheels should be comfy enough.

Nana_Rox2

I have a 2017 Santa Fe Sport, before that a 2012 Santa Fe. My complaint is the USB. Why cannot I not use a USB for music? is there a certain format? It's frustrating. All my friends just drag the music onto the stick and it plays.