Quality, features and a towing capacity of 5000lbs, you can see why the Hyundai Santa Fe is the clear winner.
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.
The Highlander wins this category by a small margin. The Highlander has 83.7ft3 while the Santa Fe has 80ft3.
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.
The Santa Fe beats the Highlander is this category by miles. The base model Santa Fe has 252hp while the Highlander only has 184hp.
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.
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.
Both the Santa Fe and Highlander are very safe vehicles and in fact both have 5 star crash test ratings.