2023 Hyundai Santa Fe PHEV Review: Save Some Money, Just Buy the Hybrid

The PHEV has a bigger battery than the hybrid. But is that worth an extra $6,000?

Published August 16, 2023

I’m a car journalist by trade. I spend a lot of time driving fancy, high-performance vehicles for work. But when it comes to owning a vehicle, I’m a parent. My wife and I chose the best vehicle that met our needs with two kids within our budget, the Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid. It drives well. It feels fancy. It’s efficient. And it has a ton of space.

I’ve been intrigued by the Santa Fe Plug-in Hybrid ever since it came out, however. It offers all of the same qualities we enjoy from our Santa Fe Hybrid. And it adds a larger battery without enough juice for my wife to commute to work on electric power. But it’s also $6,000 more expensive.

Hyundai loaned me a Santa Fe PHEV for a week to pit against what may be its ultimate competitor — our Santa Fe Hybrid — at home in Michigan. Here’s what I found.

The 2023 Hyundai Santa Fe PHEV: What We Think

Hyundai isn’t bringing the PHEV option back to North America with the all-new 2024 model. It’s not hard to see why. The PHEV brings a lot of the Santa Fe’s family-friendly virtues. It’s spacious, comfortable and efficient. I think you could argue the ample electric range serves up the closest thing to a family EV for less than $50,000.

But the conventional Santa Fe Hybrid is just a better deal. It’s super-efficient in city driving, delivering 36 mpg. You don’t have to remember to plug it in. And, again … it’s $6,000 cheaper.

You can go a long time without putting gas in the Santa Fe PHEV

How long will the Santa Fe PHEV last between fuel stops? If you’re diligent about charging and travel locally, pretty much indefinitely. I drove like a normal human, rather than actively trying to exhaust the EV range. I charged overnight on a Level 1 charger (a bit of a pain, because I had to back into my driveway and orient the rear of the car toward my outlet).

The only time I had to lean heavily on the gas engine for an extended period was heading to the airport. I did make it there and back on EV power, for the most part. But I forgot my wallet on the first attempt … and ended up having to change my flight and make two trips. So that’s on me.

The Santa Fe PHEV is spacious and comfortable

The Santa Fe is a low-effort car (perfect for parents who put effort in everywhere else). It’s not sporty. It’s not trying to be. The suspending gives a soft, floaty ride over bumps while maintaining enough composure in corners. Steering is reasonably heavy without being too hard. It’s fairly nimble and maneuverable in tight spaces. It gets you from A to B, without giving you a lot to think about.

It’s also spacious. There’s a huge 36.4 cubic foot trunk behind the second row. It’s optimally sized for strapping two kids in their car seats and tossing in strollers, pool bags and other assorted gear without needing to play Tetris.

You don’t have the flexibility to add another two to three friends in booster seats with a third row (the 2024 model will have one, however). But I’d consider that more of a feature than bug.

But the interior needs some modernization

The 2023 Santa Fe isn’t ancient. But it entered production in 2018, and, unlike the Tucson, it did not benefit from the latest wave of chic Hyundai styling. There’s a lot of rounding, chrome and a big chunky array of buttons. The screen protrudes from rather than integrating into the dash. It’s not surprising Hyundai went with a cleaner, more streamlined look for the 2024 model.

It’s also worth noting that there’s only so much Hyundai can charge for a Santa Fe. So the PHEV model tops out with the Limited trim. There’s no upscale Calligraphy model like the pure combustion version has.

What are the Hyundai Santa Fe PHEV alternatives?

The Santa Fe itself is a bit of a tweener between the Tucson and Palisade. Most decent-sized midsized crossovers have two rows. For sheer space, the closest two-row parallels may be the Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport and the Toyota 4Runner. And neither of those comes with any hybrid, let alone a plug-in offering 31 miles of EV range.

The most commonly cross-shopped vehicle may be the Santa Fe Hybrid, which, again, is $6,000 cheaper.