2022 Hyundai Santa Fe PHEV Limited new car reviews

A bigger-size SUV experience in a more mid-size footprint?

Other staff views

David S. Wallens
Editorial Director

I couldn’t see where I was going. Like, where did the road go? It was just there a minute ago.

Snow? Blinding rain? Wicked-bad reflection?

I blame the headlights.

Let me explain.

I was driving a Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid Limited. Pretty plush vehicle but the low-beams have a sharp, sharp cutoff.

And the springs are a bit on the soft side.

So, I was braking for a left-hand turn onto an on-ramp–and I was braking, not threshold braking into Sebring’s Tower Turn.

But it was enough to place the low beam’s cut-off beneath my turn-in point–basically, the road went dark as the lights were now aimed at the pavement directly in front of me rather than down the road, where they would do some good.

So what did I do? I stopped the car. I just wasn’t feeling frisky enough to attack a corner that I couldn’t see–something about apexes and whatnot.

Around town–basically at speeds and loads that didn’t cause the chassis to pitch–everything was fine. Just don’t rock the boat. And the high beams were fine. Maybe it’s a wide-spread issue, maybe I happened to unlock and unknown issue.

Otherwise, the vehicle is pretty deluxe.

The seats are firm and comfortable.

The vehicle itself is a good size. It seems bigger than it is.

It looks terrific.

And, fine, I’ll accept the shifter buttons.

The wide center console is busy with lots of buttons and knobs yet it all works. The touch points feel upper end. Did the radio knobs come from the Genesis parts bin?

Good, meaty steering wheel. Is that some fake carbon fiber? Well, it works fine here.

I like the floating gauge pod. The center screen is just the right size.

And it drives as expected: quiet and quick enough for the class.

Just that issue with the soft suspension and the low-beams ….

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