Santa Fe VS Highlander

Quality, features and a towing capacity of 5000lbs, you can see why the Hyundai Santa Fe is the clear winner.

Pricing

Winner: Santa Fe

The two vehicles come in close on pricing with the Santa Fe coming in about $500 less expensive at $30,850 and the Highlander starting out at $31,230. This translates to about $7 a month difference.

Cargo Space

Winner: Highlander

The Highlander wins this category by a small margin. The Highlander has 83.7ft3 while the Santa Fe has 80ft3.

Interior Features

Winner: Santa Fe

The Santa Fe has a 7” touchscreen infotainment system that comes standard with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, while the Highlander only comes with a 6.1” touchscreen system.

Acceleration & Engine

Winner: Santa Fe

The Santa Fe beats the Highlander is this category by miles. The base model Santa Fe has 252hp while the Highlander only has 184hp.

Fuel Economy

Winner: Highlander

The Highlander and Santa Fe have a close tie yet again. The Santa Fe has a combined MPG of 21 and the Highlander has a combined MPG of 22. Given the large difference in power, most people will choose the Santa Fe for this small difference.

Towing/Hauling

Winner: Santa Fe

The Santa Fe wins this round with a knock out punch. The max trailer weight for the Highlander base trim is 1500lbs with a max tongue weight coming in at 150lbs. The Santa Fe base trim max trailer weight is a much better 5000lbs with a max tongue weight of 500lbs! You can tow quite a bit with the Santa Fe while the Highlander would limit you to only a small utility trailer.

Safety

Winner: Tie

Both the Santa Fe and Highlander are very safe vehicles and in fact both have 5 star crash test ratings.

Overall

Winner: Santa Fe