Feb. 12--This month the refreshed Santa Fe and Santa Fe Sport crossovers arrive in showrooms with both front and rear styling changes along with a number of upgrades inside and under the skin, including infotainment, convenience and safety upgrades and the drive mode selection with Sport, Eco and Normal settings now comes standard.
Redesigned for model year 2013, the Santa Fe body changes are minor. The fascia gets a broader grille with another slat, and a wide, catfish-mouth lower vent with a slight splitter. Around back, the taillights are more rectangular than angular. Rocker panels on the doors get a flash of silver, and the alloy wheels come in 17-, 18-, and 19-inch designs.
Santa Fe continues to offer front- or all-wheel drive and seating for five (Santa Fe Sport) or up to seven in the three-row Santa Fe. Santa Fe Sport is powered by a 185-horsepower, 2.4-liter four-cylinder or a more potent 240-horsepower 2-liter turbo four. Santa Fe gets a 290-horsepower 3.3-liter V-6 engine. A six-speed automatic is standard on all models. Active Cornering Control is also standard on the AWD Santa Fe.
Standard features in all models includes remote keyless entry, heated outside power mirrors with blind-spot detection, steering-wheel-mounted audio and cruise control and a Bluetooth hands-free smartphone system. A larger 8-inch touchscreen is available over the 7-inch that comes standard. Panoramic sunroof, navigation and 12-speaker Infinity Logic 7 surround sound audio system are optional, as is Hyundai's power hands-free liftgate, which automatically opens the gate when getting within a few feet of the rear bumper key fob in pocket, purse or hands.
Prices increase by $400 to $450.
