10 Things To Know Before Buying The 2022 Hyundai Santa Fe XRT

The 2022 Hyundai Santa Fe XRT is an excellent choice if you're in the market for a compact SUV.

Being debuted in the fourth generation avatar back in 2018, the Hyundai Santa Fe has always been a compelling proposition in the compact SUV segment. The value-for-money price tag, supremely comfortable ride quality, and classy interior and exterior design made sure that the family buyers took this new generation Santa Fe seriously. However, with the launch of the XRT trim for the current 2022 model year, Hyundai is here with quite a lot of upgrades to the exterior, making it look more off-road-ready than the other trims.

Coming with a base selling price of $32,750, the 2022 Hyundai Santa Fe XRT has a more pronounced exterior design with quite a lot of features like skid plates, side steps, and a new alloy wheel design. The exterior bits are blacked out as well. Apart from that, it still retains the same powertrain and gets all the much-needed interior, infotainment, and safety features as standard. Competing with the Honda CR-V, Mazda CX-5, and Toyota RAV4, here are 10 things you need to know before buying the 2022 Hyundai Santa Fe XRT.

RELATED: Why The Kia Telluride Is More Popular Than Its Sibling The Hyundai Palisade

The 2022 Santa Fe XRT is powered by the 2.5-liter naturally aspirated inline-4 motor, producing 191 hp and 181 lb-ft of torque. It's connected to an 8-speed automatic transmission, and this SUV can be had with either a FWD or an AWD drivetrain. The 0-60 mph is dealt with in 8.9 seconds, and it has a maximum towing capacity of 2,000 lbs.

Even though the acceleration is not going to excite the hardcore gearheads out there, it is more than capable of doing highway speed limits all day long. There is enough pep to overtake the fast-moving traffic on the highway, and the engine sounds smooth and fuss-free at these mid-range RPMs. The steering weights up decently, and the suspension absorbs everything on the road with ease.

Coming with the same 2.5-liter naturally aspirated inline-4 motor mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission, the fuel efficiency sees no changes from the other gasoline trim configurations of the Santa Fe. With the FWD variant, it could do 25 MPG in the city and 28 MPG on the highway, equating to 26 MPG of combined gas mileage.

However, the fuel efficiency sees a minor dip if you go with the AWD variant, managing 22 MPG city and 24 MPG highway. With an 18.8-gallon fuel tank capacity, this SUV could do about 470 miles on the highway on a full tank of gas. In comparison, both the RAV4 and the CR-V offered a superior combined gas mileage of 30 MPG.

RELATED: This Heritage Series Grandeur EV Celebrates Hyundai's 1986 Flagship Sedan

Getting into the front seat of the 2022 Hyundai Santa Fe XRT is an easy affair with the addition of the sidestep for this trim. The doors also open wide. When inside, you would appreciate the soft and well-padded cloth seat and the generous amount of headroom and legroom on offer. The massive storage space under the center console and the front armrest is a big selling point too.

We also loved the ergonomic cabin design and the airy feeling it offers, even with a black cabin, even the rear seat is not bad. Though the headroom isn't as good as the rivals like the RAV4 and CR-V, it could accommodate three adults in excellent comfort. The cargo capacity of 36.4" is superb for the segment as well.

Once inside the cabin of the 2022 Hyundai Santa Fe XRT, you won't see any major differences from the other models. The materials and design of the cabin turned out to be superb for the segment. We love the supportive cloth seats with top-notch bolstering and under-thigh support, and the dashboard and door cards look elegant too.

The door cards come with a leatherette insert on the armrest, faux carbon-fiber accents, and soft-touch injection molded plastic. The dashboard also gets the same leatherette inserts with contrast stitching for the most part. However, there were some hard-touch plastics higher up the dashboard. The beautiful digital gauge cluster with multiple themes and the infotainment make the cabin more futuristic.

Being a family crossover SUV, Hyundai hasn't skimped on the safety and driver-assistance features on offer. As a result, all the much-needed driver-assistance techs like automated emergency braking, forward collision warning, adaptive cruise control with stop and go, lane departure warning, lane-keeping assist, and blindspot monitoring are standard.

All the basic safety features like airbags, ABS, traction control, stability control, reverse camera, and tire pressure monitoring system are standard for the XRT trim too. The Santa Fe XRT managed to get an overall crash safety rating of 5-stars in the NHTSA crash test and the 2022 top safety pick + title in the IIHS crash test.

RELATED: Why We Love The 2022 Hyundai Elantra N

Like the outgoing model of the Santa Fe, the 2022 Santa Fe XRT comes with an identical braking setup. As a result, the braking behavior is fantastic, with sharp initial bite and excellent braking progression. It doesn't feel twitchy under hard braking, and the front-end dive is on the lower side.

The brake pedal offers more than adequate feedback to the driver, which is not the case with the Ford Escape Hybrid. The automatic transmission does aggressive engine braking too. All of these helps this SUV to give out a 70-0 mph braking distance of 175 feet, which is superior to many of its rivals.

Being the more adventurous trim of the lineup, the 2022 Santa Fe XRT manages to come with quite a few changes, making it more rugged and butch. The front end is highlighted by the blacked-out grille, beautiful LED headlights with LED DRLs, and a silver skid plate. The width and height are some of the highest of the segment, and that is a plus point while doing off-road trails as well.

The seven exterior colors suit well with the overall outdoorsy appearance of this compact SUV, and we also loved the clean body lines and subtle chrome accents on the side profile. The 18" exclusive dark tone wheels and the black cladding round off the side profile well. The rear end retains the striking full-length taillights, shark fin antenna, and integrated roof spoiler.

All the cars that are manufactured in the Hyundai Kia N3 platform turned out to be excellent in terms of build quality, and we are happy to report that the 2022 Hyundai Santa Fe XRT is not going to disappoint you either. Being constructed from high-tensile steel and aluminum, the exterior feels solidly put together. The paint quality is top-notch, too.

There are no uneven panel gaps anywhere to be spotted on the exterior, and the same goes for the interior. Even though there are a few hard plastics, the cabin feels like it is built to last. There is no creaking and all the panels are flush-fitting unlike the rivals from GMC, Chevrolet, and Ford.

RELATED: The 2022 Hyundai Elantra N DCT Is Surprisingly Fast Against The 2022 Kia Stinger GT

All the modern offerings from the Hyundai and Kia stable have been acing in terms of the powertrain refinement, and the 2.5-liter naturally aspirated inline-4 under the hood of the Santa Fe XRT could easily hold the candle against all the rivals. Even though it is not good as the Honda CR-V in terms of NVH level, it is much better than most of the other rivals.

The engine sound doesn't come into the cabin too much, even when driving on the highways. The wind noise and tire noise are on the lower side too. The gearshifts are super smooth, and we couldn't identify any major vibrations creeping into the cabin. However, the motor does get vocal at the higher rev range, and it's not sweet-sounding like that of the Honda.

The 8" touchscreen infotainment system is fully loaded with many connectivity and entertainment features like wireless Android Auto, wireless Apple CarPlay, SiriusXM radio, navigation, Bluetooth, and wireless charging. The touch sensitivity is top-notch, and the system is very user-friendly with no major learning curve to report.

The display quality is excellent too. The same qualities also hold true for the digital gauge cluster display that comes as standard. It offers all the relevant information and the animations are super smooth. The standard audio system is pretty decent for the price, and buyers won't be left wanting for more.

Mohith is our in-house motorcycle mechanic and automotive geek. He loves riding and driving at the limits, and you would frequently notice him on racetracks at the weekends. Mohith is someone who would redline anything that comes with a motor - even our office lawnmower. He often does cross-country road trips in his trusted 300ZX and you could find him riding his CB750 quite often through the streets of Pasadena as well as on the Moore Motorsports racetrack.