Compare the2023 Hyundai Santa FeVS 2022 Mercedes GLA

For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Hyundai Santa Fe are height-adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of driver and passenger heights. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages passengers to buckle up. The Mercedes GLA doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.

Both the Santa Fe and GLA have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Santa Fe has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The GLA’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.

In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Santa Fe are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The GLA doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.

Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Santa Fe Limited/Calligraphy has standard Parking Collision Avoidance Assist that uses rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The GLA doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.

The Santa Fe’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the GLA.

Both the Santa Fe and the GLA have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, driver alert monitors, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.

For its top level performance in IIHS driver and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, side impact, roof strength and head restraint tests, its standard vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention system, its standard vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention system, and its standard headlight’s “Good” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Santa Fe its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2022, a rating granted to only 87 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The GLA has not been tested, yet.

The Santa Fe comes with a full 5-year/60,000-mile basic warranty, which covers the entire truck and includes 24-hour roadside assistance. The GLA’s 4-year/50,000-mile basic warranty expires 1 year or 10,000 miles sooner.

Hyundai’s powertrain warranty covers the Santa Fe 6 years and 50,000 miles longer than Mercedes covers the GLA. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles. Coverage on the GLA ends after only 4 years or 50,000 miles.

The Santa Fe’s corrosion warranty is 2 years longer than the GLA’s (7 vs. 5 years).

Hyundai pays for scheduled maintenance on the Santa Fe for 3 years and 36,000 miles. Hyundai will pay for oil changes, lubrication and any other required maintenance. Mercedes doesn’t pay scheduled maintenance for the GLA.

There are over 2 times as many Hyundai dealers as there are Mercedes dealers, which makes it much easier should you ever need service under the Santa Fe’s warranty.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2022 Initial Quality Study of new car owners surveyed provide the statistics that show that Hyundai vehicles are better in initial quality than Mercedes vehicles. With 4 fewer problems per 100 vehicles, JD Power ranks Hyundai higher than Mercedes.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2022 survey of the owners of three-year-old vehicles provides the statistics that show that Hyundai vehicles are more reliable than Mercedes vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Hyundai third in reliability, above the industry average. With 47 more problems per 100 vehicles, Mercedes is ranked 18th.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2021 Auto Issue reports that Hyundai vehicles are more reliable than Mercedes vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Hyundai 14 places higher in reliability than Mercedes.

The Santa Fe Limited/Calligraphy’s standard 2.5 turbo 4-cylinder produces 60 more horsepower (281 vs. 221) and 53 lbs.-ft. more torque (311 vs. 258) than the GLA’s 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder.

As tested in Motor Trend the Santa Fe Limited/Calligraphy 2.5 turbo 4-cylinder is faster than the Mercedes GLA:

To lower fuel costs and make buying fuel easier, the Hyundai Santa Fe uses regular unleaded gasoline. The GLA requires premium, which can cost 20 to 55 cents more per gallon.

The Santa Fe has 5.3 gallons more fuel capacity than the GLA (18.8 vs. 13.5 gallons), for longer range between fill-ups.

For better stopping power the Santa Fe’s brake rotors are larger than those on the GLA:

The Santa Fe stops shorter than the GLA:

For better traction, the Santa Fe Calligraphy’s tires are larger than the largest tires available on the GLA (255/45R20 vs. 235/55R18).

The Santa Fe has a standard space-saver spare (not available on Limited/Calligraphy AWD) so you can replace a flat tire and drive to have the flat repaired or replaced. A spare tire isn’t available on the GLA; it requires you to depend on its run-flat tires, which limits mileage and speed before they are repaired. If a run-flat is damaged beyond repair by a road hazard your vehicle will have to be towed. Some tire options on the GLA don’t have a run-flat feature, either.

The Santa Fe has standard front and rear gas-charged shocks for better control over choppy roads. The GLA’s suspension doesn’t offer gas-charged shocks.

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the Santa Fe’s wheelbase is 1.5 inches longer than on the GLA (108.9 inches vs. 107.4 inches).

For better handling and stability, the average track (width between the wheels) on the Santa Fe is 1.5 inches wider in the front and 1.8 inches wider in the rear than the track on the GLA.

The Santa Fe Calligraphy AWD handles at .83 G’s, while the GLA 250 4MATIC pulls only .80 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

The Santa Fe Calligraphy AWD executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver 1.1 seconds quicker than the GLA 250 4MATIC (26.7 seconds @ .67 average G’s vs. 27.8 seconds @ .61 average G’s).

The Santa Fe has 2.2 inches more front headroom, 3.1 inches more front legroom, .2 inches more front hip room, 3.2 inches more front shoulder room, .9 inches more rear headroom, 3.7 inches more rear legroom and 3.5 inches more rear shoulder room than the GLA.

The Santa Fe has a much larger cargo volume with its rear seat up than the GLA with its rear seat up (36.4 vs. 15.4 cubic feet). The Santa Fe has a much larger cargo volume with its rear seat folded than the GLA with its rear seat folded (72.1 vs. 50.5 cubic feet).

Pressing a button automatically lowers the Santa Fe’s (except SE) optional rear seats, to make changing between passengers and cargo easier. The GLA doesn’t offer automatic folding seats.

The Santa Fe has a 2000 lbs. towing capacity. The GLA has no towing capacity.

Standard Trailer Sway Assist on the Santa Fe uses the Electronic Stability Control sensors to detect trailer sway, then uses individual brakes to counteract any swaying and help keep the tow vehicle and trailer steady. The GLA doesn’t offer electronic trailer sway control.

To improve rear visibility by keeping the rear window clear, the Santa Fe has a standard rear fixed intermittent wiper with a full on position. The rear wiper standard on the GLA only has an intermittent setting, so in a hard rain visibility isn’t as good.

Consumer Reports rated the Santa Fe’s headlight performance “Good,” a higher rating than the GLA’s headlights, which were rated “Poor.”

To shield the driver and front passenger’s vision over a larger portion of the windshield and side windows, the Santa Fe has standard extendable sun visors. The GLA doesn’t offer extendable visors.

Manual rear side window sunshades are available in the Santa Fe to help block heat and glare for the rear passengers. The GLA doesn’t offer rear side window sunshades.

Both the Santa Fe and the GLA offer available heated front seats. The Santa Fe Limited/Calligraphy also has standard heated rear seats to keep those passengers extremely comfortable in the winter. Heated rear seats aren’t available in the GLA.

The Santa Fe Limited/Calligraphy’s Smart Parking Assist can parallel park or back into a parking spot by itself, starting, stopping and changing direction automatically. Remote Smart Parking Assist will park and retrieve your car remotely: press a button and watch it park itself. This is ideal for tight locations. The GLA’s automatic parking system does not offer parking by remote control.

The Hyundai Santa Fe outsold the Mercedes GLA by almost six to one during the 2021 model year.