Hyundai Forums banner

Looking for a used Santa Fe Sport

1K views 5 replies 6 participants last post by  Barn01 
#1 ·
We’re a family of four with two teenage boys looking for a new midsized 2 row SUV. I’m new to the Hyundai nameplate but it looks like the Santa Fe Sport would be a good fit for us.

We currently have a three row 2009 Chevy Traverse that’s falling apart. We’re looking to downsize a bit to a two row SUV.

I’m looking for reliability, value for money, updated tech from 2009 Traverse, and a comfortable ride.

As a family we toured the local CarMax and had a chance to see and sit in a couple of the Santa Fe Sport models. I was mainly interested in which cars would be the right size and we we’re a bit pressed for time and didn’t get a chance to drive one yet.

With that in mind, I was hoping you all could help answer a few basic questions about a 2015- 2017 model:
1. Is there anything you did or didn’t get feature wise that you would change?
2. Any surprises or concerns after you’ve had it for a while?
3. How has the reliability been?
4. While each dealer is different, generally how was the experience working with your local Hyundai dealer?
5. How is the base 4 cylinder engine? Almost all the models on CarMax have the base 2.4L 190 HP model.

Thanks for any feedback. As I said earlier I’m new to the brand but hear good things from Consumer Reports and other sources.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
While I can't answer your question about 2015-2017, I'll tell you that I searched far and wide for a fully loaded 2.0T sport within my price range (I had $18k cash to spend) after driving one at a family friends dealership with 60k miles (that he wanted $17,995 + tags, tax, title).. I ended up buying from a dealership in North Carolina for $18,005 out the door with tags, taxes, and title--and this one only had 45k miles. Leather, navigation, pano roof, 19" wheels, premium audio, and a pretty powerful little 2.0T. Exactly what I wanted!

I don't think I'd go for white if I could do it all over again because it really attracts every insect and piece of debris on the road possible, but it's beautiful in the sun!

I'm happy with my Santa Fe purchase! I've been driving for Uber a little bit in my free time and all of my passengers say they can't believe it's a Hyundai and how nice they think it is. Two of them say they're going to check them out to possibly buy one for themselves. Haha! The pano sunroof is really the highlight for me, but the build quality and overall finish feels better than most of the mid-class American vehicles I've driven and/or owned in the same type of retail price range. That's up for debate, but that's just my opinion. I think you get quite a bit of car for the money with the Santa Fe. Not sure if I'd buy one brand new though.
 
#4 ·
Last month purchased a used former rental 2016 SFS AWD with 26K miles. It has the 2.4 and has plenty of power with good MPG. Very comfortable riding car.

My 4 thoughts: 1) go for the lowest vehicle odometer mileage possible. I set a "not more than 30K" limit on what I was looking at. 2) look the vehicle over COMPLETELY. I failed to look underneath. A couple of days after the sale, as I was checking it out more closely, I noticed a "dented and scraped" engine splash guard. Someone had taken this off-road and had hit something. But whatever occurred it didn't affect handling. I was kind of ticked at myself for not doing such. I'm usually pretty microscopic but failed to get down on all fours and do a complete inspection. 3) I've heard some chatter about the 2017 SFS's having some power/hesitation issues. Glad I got a 2016. 4) If you're not familiar with the SFS....turn off the ECO button for your test ride. I guess ECO stands for economy and you won't get your best performance. But as I now drive mine, I keep the ECO on to get the best MPG.

These are good vehicles.
 
#5 ·
There's a thread titled something along the lines of "most annoying things" about the SFS, that I started when researching cars.

I own the 2017 SFS 2.0 T AWD w/Ultimate package. My biggest beef is the ESC/hesitation issue. Very annoying and downright dangerous at times. I cannot predict when it'll happen. I'm fairly convinced it's a simple programming fix since it's virtually identical to the LWB v6 ESC/ETC TSB fix. But trying to get Hyundai to acknowledge/duplicate/care about it, is a diff. story (they have bigger issues with the whole engine issues and whistleblower stuff, IMO).

I don't believe the engine issues affect the 2016/2017 (well at least as far as we know).

Ideally I wanted a 3-year old used car to save money, but it's almost impossible to find one that's top trim level and fully loaded. At least around here.

Plus my old POS blew a second head gasket, so I was under the gun to get things fixed before the extended warranty ran out and I didn't want to tempt fate to keep the vehicle without a warranty for 2 more years. So I went new. Plus the 2017 had all the "safety" features and bells/whistles I wanted (I put "safety" in quotes because the ESC safety feature is actually a danger feature, IMO as it kicks on at the most inconvenient times and you almost get into a car wreck).

If you don't need the new features, I'd say go with the 2016 and not 2017.
 
#6 ·
I'm also in the market for a SFS and after doing all my research it looks like the 2015 SFS 2.0T SE is the best value with the lease problems. Does anyone know of anything with that care that I should be weary of? The engine recall seems to only be on the 2013-2014 ... any reports of the 2015 engines blowing .. specifically the 2.0T?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top