Compare the2024 Hyundai Santa FeVS 2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee

For enhanced safety, the front and second-row seat shoulder belts of the Hyundai Santa Fe have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Jeep Grand Cherokee doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

Both the Santa Fe and Grand Cherokee 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 Grand Cherokee’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.

With its standard Forward Collision Avoidance Assist, the Hyundai Santa Fe is better at preventing collisions with pedestrians than the Jeep Grand Cherokee, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:

Both the Santa Fe and Grand Cherokee have rear cross-traffic warning, but the Santa Fe has Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Grand Cherokee’s Rear Cross Path Detection doesn’t automatically brake.

Both the Santa Fe and the Grand Cherokee have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, 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, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.

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 Grand Cherokee’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty expires 2 years or 24,000 miles sooner.

Hyundai’s powertrain warranty covers the Santa Fe 5 years and 40,000 miles longer than Jeep covers the Grand Cherokee. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles. Coverage on the Grand Cherokee ends after only 5 years or 60,000 miles.

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

Hyundai pays for scheduled maintenance on the Santa Fe for 1 year longer than Jeep pays for maintenance for the Grand Cherokee (3 years vs. 2 years).

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2024 Initial Quality Study of new car owners surveyed provide the statistics that show that Hyundai vehicles are better in initial quality than Jeep vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Hyundai third in initial quality, above the industry average. With 38 more problems per 100 vehicles, Jeep is ranked 19th, below the industry average.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2024 Auto Issue reports that Hyundai vehicles are more reliable than Jeep vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Hyundai 15 places higher in reliability than Jeep.

The Santa Fe’s 2.5 turbo 4-cylinder produces 54 lbs.-ft. more torque (311 vs. 257) than the Grand Cherokee’s standard 3.6 DOHC V6.

On the EPA test cycle the Santa Fe gets better mileage than the Grand Cherokee running its gasoline engine:

Both the Santa Fe and the Grand Cherokee have a standard automatic start/stop engine feature to stop unnecessary fuel waste and pollution at stoplights and heavy traffic. All Santa Fes have a standard disable switch for the system, so a driver can keep the engine from shutting off when the vehicle stops temporarily. A disable switch for start/stop is only offered on the Grand Cherokee V6.

To lower fuel costs and make buying fuel easier, the Hyundai Santa Fe uses regular unleaded gasoline. The Grand Cherokee 4xe requires premium for maximum efficiency, which can cost on average about 82.8 cents more per gallon.

The Santa Fe has a standard locking fuel door which locks and unlocks with the power locks. The fuel filler door is not lockable on the Grand Cherokee. A locking fuel door helps prevent fuel theft and vandalism, such as sugar in the tank.

The Santa Fe offers a standard 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 Grand Cherokee doesn’t offer an SMG or a conventional manual transmission.

The Santa Fe stops much shorter than the Grand Cherokee:

The Santa Fe SE/SEL’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 Grand Cherokee Laredo’s standard 70 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 Grand Cherokee Laredo.

The Santa Fe’s drift compensation steering can automatically compensate for road conditions which would cause the vehicle to drift from side to side, helping the driver to keep the vehicle straight more easily. The Grand Cherokee doesn’t offer drift compensation steering.

The Santa Fe Calligraphy AWD handles at .84 G’s, while the Grand Cherokee 4x4 pulls only .79 G’s of cornering force in a Car and Driver skidpad test.

The Santa Fe is 3.3 inches shorter than the Grand Cherokee, making the Santa Fe easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

The design of the Hyundai Santa Fe amounts to more than styling. The Santa Fe has an aerodynamic coefficient of drag of .294 Cd. That is significantly lower than the Grand Cherokee (.357) and many sports cars. A more efficient exterior helps keep the interior quieter and helps the Santa Fe get better fuel mileage.

The Santa Fe has standard seating for 7 passengers; the Grand Cherokee can only carry 5.

The Santa Fe has 45 cubic feet more passenger volume than the Grand Cherokee (152 vs. 107).

The Santa Fe has 1.2 inches more front headroom, 3 inches more front legroom, .3 inches more front shoulder room, 1.2 inches more rear headroom, 4.1 inches more rear legroom and .1 inches more rear shoulder room than the Grand Cherokee.

The Santa Fe’s cargo area provides more volume than the Grand Cherokee.

Pressing a button automatically lowers the Santa Fe’s second row seats, to make changing between passengers and cargo easier. The Grand Cherokee doesn’t offer automatic folding seats.

On a hot day the Santa Fe’s driver can lower all the windows from a distance using the keyless remote. The driver of the Grand Cherokee can only operate the windows from inside the vehicle, with the ignition on.

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 Grand Cherokee Summit’s automatic parking system requires operating the brakes and transmission to safely park and it doesn’t offer remote control parking.