Hyundai Santa Fe v Kia Sorento 2021 Comparison
Kia’s carsales Car of the Year winner goes head-to-head against the closely-related new Hyundai Santa Fe
Family comes first
The stage of life that involves ferrying children (and their friends) around often requires a three-row wagon, and large SUVs – rather than large passenger cars – are now the vehicle of choice for Australian families.
The market segment is overflowing with seven-seat wagons, but the freshest arrivals in this busy segment are the 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe and 2021 Kia Sorento.
The new-generation Sorento had been on the market for barely four months before its close relative and new challenger, the Santa Fe, rolled into dealerships.
Despite Hyundai describing the Santa Fe as an upgraded model rather than a new generation, the new Santa Fe shares the same driveline and much of the platform and in-cabin tech as the award-winning fourth-generation Sorento.
While much under the skin is shared, does the Hyundai have enough of a point of difference in on-road refinement and overall execution to put the Kia, the 2020 carsales Car of the Year and now the benchmark vehicle in this category, in the shade?
Lap of luxury
Both of these vehicles are available in top-level trim with a 3.5-litre V6 petrol that drives the front wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission. But here we’ve chosen the more sophisticated and efficient – and pricier – turbo-diesel variants with all-wheel drive and an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.
Later this year, there will be hybrid alternatives in both the Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento ranges.
Just $1130 separates the 2021 Kia Sorento GT-Line 2.2 AWD ($64,070 plus on-road costs) and the 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe Highlander 2.2 AWD ($65,200, plus ORCs), and with these premium models comes an almost identical high level of equipment once the reserve of much more expensive vehicles.
Indeed, the Hyundai and Kia are both so laden with features it’s hard to know where to start. We’ll focus on the highlights here.
Inclusions for both vehicles run to Nappa leather upholstery, heated and ventilated front seats, heating for outer seats in the second row, a heated steering wheel, high-end sound systems (12-speaker Bose in the Kia, 10-speaker Harman Kardon in the Hyundai), 20-inch wheels and a panoramic sunroof.
Both also have clever convenience features such as a power switch accessible by the driver to move the front passenger seat, power-operated second-row seats to access the third row, passenger talk speaker system for the driver to communicate with rear occupants, hands-free ‘smart’ power tailgate and even remote start and a remote park assist mode where you can park the vehicle standing outside of it, using the key fob.
There are multiple USB charging points throughout both vehicles – eight in the Kia, five in the Hyundai – as well as air-vents and air-conditioning fan controls in the third row.
Both SUVs share a selection of four on-road and three off-road driving modes and an electric parking brake with hold function.
There’s barely any spec separation between these two. Standard only in the Santa Fe is a cargo area carpet mat, while only the Sorento has child seat top-tether mounts for its third-row seats.
The Sorento is slightly longer, taller and sits on a slightly longer wheelbase than the Hyundai. Even so, the Hyundai is 35kg heavier, and both share a 2610kg maximum laden weight (Gross Vehicle Mass).
At 2500kg, the Hyundai can tow 500kg more than the Kia, but they both can take a maximum of 200kg on the tow ball.
The Kia has a seven-year warranty over the Hyundai’s five years, as well as a more generous and consistent roadside assist scheme.
For servicing over five years, the Hyundai is $2295, the Kia $2393.
Buffer zone
As with their luxury and convenience features, these top-shelf versions of the 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe and 2021 Kia Sorento are filled to the brim with safety and tech features.
Both have autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with cyclist and pedestrian protection and oncoming vehicle detection that applies the brakes when making a turn at a junction if oncoming traffic is detected.
Other tech includes adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go, head-up display, rear cross traffic alert, lane following assist, lane keeping assist, safe exit assist, driver attention warning and blind spot view monitors within the instrument cluster that display the vehicle’s blind spots when the indicator is activated.
This last feature is great in principle but is a little distracting in use and its field of vision seems to be directed a little too low and towards the vehicle.
Lane keeping assist in both vehicles also feels a bit disconcerting in action. In some situations, such as when driving through a series of corners, the lane keeping assist tugs at the wheel to correct your line, even though it may not seem apparent that you’re about to wander out of your lane.
These are not the only vehicles with this tech to do this, and it is a potentially life-saving aid. Perhaps it’s a matter of getting used to it.
A safety feature both these vehicles lack is side curtain airbags that fully extend to the third row.
Unlike the Kia, the Hyundai does not have a centre airbag up front and, as previously mentioned, it also goes without top-tether child seat mounts in the third row.
Because Hyundai is calling the Santa Fe an update rather than a new-generation model, the range retains a five-star ANCAP safety rating from 2018. The Kia has a 2020 five-star ANCAP rating, which was achieved under a much tougher testing regime.
Both offer a comprehensive suite of infotainment tech, including (wired) Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, digital radio, native sat-nav and wireless phone charging. They even have a microphone speaker system to speak to rear seat occupants. Shouting at the kids back in the third row is no longer required.
The Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento both have a 12.3-inch TFT colour LCD centre display augmented by an LCD instrument cluster. The Kia’s dash looks more modern, while the Hyundai’s – while sharing identical features – appears more traditional.
However, the Hyundai has a slightly more luxurious feel to it with its flocked headlining material (over the open-weave cloth in the Sorento) and the ‘Camel Beige’ interior trim as featured in the test vehicle. While Hyundai offers a black interior as well, the Sorento’s cabin comes only in black.
While there isn’t much in it, the Kia’s screen seems more intuitive to use. If you need to resort to the infotainment’s physical buttons rather than the touch-screen, the Kia’s are higher up and more in the driver’s field of view.
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The Hyundai’s infotainment buttons, below the screen on the centre console, have a conservative, early 2000s Lexus look and feel to them.
While the Hyundai’s push-button gear selectors on the centre console don’t exactly shout 1962 Valiant S-series (which had dash-mounted push-button auto gear selection), it does look more old-school than the more modern and intuitive rotary dial gear selector in the Kia.
Engine room
The 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe and 2021 Kia Sorento share an identical powertrain – that is, a 148kW 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel linked to an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic and an on-demand all-wheel drive system.
No surprise, then, that these two have very similar performance on the road. This shared engine is very smooth and quiet and eager to rev hard if full acceleration is needed.
Beyond the slight hesitation off-idle – something that you have to be prepared to work around when requiring a quick, assertive launch in city intersections – this engine delivers strong, willing performance.
It does not exactly launch these vehicles forward with vigour, especially at highway speeds, but once rolling this engine allows unobtrusive, linear performance.
On our test loop very little separated the pair for fuel consumption – the Hyundai returned 6.5L/100km and the Kia achieved 6.7L/100km, both close to their claimed average of 6.1L/100km.
The eight-speed dual-clutch auto in both vehicles is one of the better ones around, although slow manoeuvring on a steep incline is still not as progressive as a traditional auto.
Yet on the move the transmission certainly shifts gears seamlessly up or down, and at 100km/h both vehicles were able to lope along in top gear with the tacho showing just 1500rpm.
Road time
As with all Kia models sold here for some time now, the 2021 Kia Sorento has its own Australian suspension tune, while the 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe instead has a global suspension tune, with input from local engineers.
The Sorento is more of a driver’s choice in terms of its on-road polish. The steering feels a little more direct and provides more feedback. The suspension feels less fussy over low-amplitude bumps than the Hyundai.
You seem to sit lower in the Kia, and despite flatter front seats than in the Hyundai, Kia delivers a slightly more rewarding, satisfying driver’s experience.
That’s not to say the Santa Fe is unimpressive on the road, as it also does a remarkably good job of maintaining body control while blotting out the worst of road imperfections.
While it has slightly less initial suspension compliance and is not quite as responsive as the Kia, the Hyundai does still allow an enjoyable driver’s experience.
The Sorento’s slightly longer wheelbase affords second-row passengers about 20mm more legroom. The installation of secondary cup holders set in each door armrest is another bonus, and the Sorento also offers a slightly wider walk-through space into the third row.
Unlike the Hyundai, the Kia’s 60/40-split folding seat in the second row has the narrower seat portion on the traffic (right) side of the vehicle, rather than the kerb side.
In practice, what that means is that if you pull up on the side of the road and want to allow passengers to get in or out of the third row while the second row is occupied, two of them rather than just one have to get out, if using the kerbside door.
If you have even one child seat and, like most, secure it in the centre second-row position, it gets even more tricky.
However, the advantage falls back to the Sorento if you need to put child seats in the third row, with its two top-tether securing points absent on the Hyundai.
While it’s a tight fit getting a typical child seat into the third row, at least it can be secured easily and is not especially difficult to secure a child in the seat once it is in situ.
The final say
In an automotive world where for some time now ever-rising design and manufacturing costs have forced widespread collaboration, it is not the least surprising that the 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe and 2021 Kia Sorento share so much hardware and software.
Given all the similarities, it’s a tight contest. Both are excellent large seven-seat SUVs in their own right, and look, feel and drive much like vehicles that sit at a much higher price point.
But in the end those superior safety credentials, aftersales provisions, driving characteristics and slightly more practical interior give the Kia Sorento an edge, reaffirming its status as our carsales Car of the Year champion.
How much does the 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe Highlander diesel cost?
Price: $65,200 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 148kW/440Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 6.1L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 160g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2018)
How much does the 2021 Kia Sorento GT-Line diesel cost?
Price: $64,070 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 148kW/440Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 6.1L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 159g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2020)