Compare the2023 Hyundai Santa FeVS 2023 Kia Sportage

Both the Santa Fe and Sportage 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 Sportage’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.

The Santa Fe has a standard blind spot warning system which uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them and moves the vehicle back into its lane. Only the Sportage EX/SX/Prestige/X-Line/X-Pro offers a blind spot warning system.

To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Santa Fe has a standard rear cross-path warning system, which uses sensors in the rear bumper to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side, helping the driver avoid collisions. Only the Sportage EX/SX/Prestige/X-Line/X-Pro has a rear cross-path warning system.

Both the Santa Fe and the Sportage have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, 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 112 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Sportage is only a standard “Top Safety Pick” for 2022.

The Santa Fe’s corrosion warranty is 2 years and unlimited miles longer than the Sportage’s (7/unlimited vs. 5/100,000).

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. Kia doesn’t pay scheduled maintenance for the Sportage.

The Santa Fe’s standard 2.5 DOHC 4-cylinder produces 4 more horsepower (191 vs. 187) and 3 lbs.-ft. more torque (181 vs. 178) than the Sportage’s 2.5 DOHC 4-cylinder. The Santa Fe Limited/Calligraphy’s standard 2.5 turbo 4-cylinder produces 94 more horsepower (281 vs. 187) and 133 lbs.-ft. more torque (311 vs. 178) than the Sportage’s 2.5 DOHC 4-cylinder.

The Santa Fe has 4.5 gallons more fuel capacity than the Sportage (18.8 vs. 14.3 gallons), for longer range between fill-ups.

The Santa Fe offers an available sequential manual gearbox (SMG). With no clutch pedal to worry about and a fully automatic mode, an SMG is much more efficient than a conventional automatic but just as easy to drive. The Sportage doesn’t offer an SMG or a conventional manual transmission.

For better stopping power the Santa Fe 2.5T’s brake rotors are larger than those on the Sportage:

The Santa Fe stops shorter than the Sportage:

For better traction, the Santa Fe Calligraphy’s tires are larger than the largest tires available on the Sportage (255/45R20 vs. 235/65R17).

The Santa Fe’s standard tires provide better handling because they have a lower 60 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Sportage LX/X-Pro’s standard 65 series tires. The Santa Fe Calligraphy’s tires have a lower 45 series profile than the Sportage SX Prestige/X-Line’s 55 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Santa Fe has standard 18-inch wheels. Smaller 17-inch wheels are standard on the Sportage LX/X-Pro. The Santa Fe Calligraphy’s 20-inch wheels are larger than the 19-inch wheels on the Sportage SX Prestige/X-Line.

For better maneuverability, the Santa Fe’s turning circle is 1.2 feet tighter than the Sportage’s (37.4 feet vs. 38.6 feet).

The Santa Fe has 1.6 inches more front headroom, 2.7 inches more front legroom, 2.7 inches more front hip room, 1.4 inches more front shoulder room, .4 inches more rear legroom, 2.9 inches more rear hip room and 2.7 inches more rear shoulder room than the Sportage.

Maximum trailer towing in the Kia Sportage is limited to 2500 pounds. The Santa Fe offers up to a 3500 lbs. towing capacity.

The Santa Fe uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Sportage uses a prop rod to support its heavy hood. It takes two hands to open the hood and set the prop rod, the prop rod gets in the way during maintenance and service, and the prop rod could be knocked out, causing the heavy hood to fall on the person maintaining or servicing the car.

The Santa Fe Calligraphy has a standard heads-up display that projects speed, warning and navigation instruction readouts in front of the driver’s line of sight, allowing drivers to view information without diverting their eyes from the road. The Sportage doesn’t offer a heads-up display.

The Santa Fe’s standard driver’s power window opens or closes with one touch of the switch, making it more convenient at drive-up windows and toll booths. The Sportage’s standard power window’s switch has to be held the entire time to close it fully. The Santa Fe Calligraphy’s front and rear power windows all open or close fully with one touch of the switches. With the Sportage EX/SX/Prestige/X-Line/X-Pro’s power windows, only the front windows open or close automatically.

The Santa Fe Limited/Calligraphy’s standard wipers adjust their speed and turn on and off automatically according to the amount of rainfall on the windshield. The Sportage’s manually variable intermittent wipers have to be constantly adjusted.

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

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducts detailed tests on headlights for their range both straight ahead and in curves and to be certain they don’t exceed acceptable amounts of glare to oncoming drivers. The Santa Fe’s headlights were rated “Good” to “Acceptable” by the IIHS, while the Sportage’s headlights are rated “Acceptable” to “Poor.”

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

Both the Santa Fe and the Sportage 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 Sportage.

The Santa Fe Limited/Calligraphy has a 115-volt a/c outlet on the center console, allowing you to recharge a laptop or run small household appliances without special adapters that can break or get misplaced. The Sportage doesn’t offer a house-current electrical outlet.

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 Sportage doesn’t offer an automated parking system.

The Santa Fe will cost the buyer less in the long run because of its superior resale value. The IntelliChoice estimates that the Santa Fe will retain 51.18% to 51.49% of its original price after five years, while the Sportage only retains 49.33% to 51.02%.

Consumer Reports® recommends both the Hyundai Santa Fe and the Kia Sportage, based on reliability, safety and performance.