Compare the2024 Hyundai Santa FeVS 2024 Lexus TX

Both the Santa Fe and TX 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 TX’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.

To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Santa Fe has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning with Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist, systems which detect vehicles approaching from the sides and can automatically apply the brakes to prevent a collision. Only the TX Premium/Luxury offers Parking Support Brake.

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

A significantly tougher test than their original offset frontal crash test, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety does 40 MPH small overlap frontal offset crash tests. In this test, where only 25% of the total width of the vehicle is struck, results indicate that the Hyundai Santa Fe is safer than the TX:

The Hyundai Santa Fe achieved a “Top Safety Pick” rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for the 2024 model year. This recognition was based on its impressive performance in the small overlap frontal crash test, updated side impact crash test, headlight evaluations, and pedestrian crash prevention testing. The TX is not a “Top Safety Pick” for 2024.

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 TX’s 4-year/50,000-mile basic warranty expires 1 year or 10,000 miles sooner.

Hyundai’s powertrain warranty covers the Santa Fe 4 years and 30,000 miles longer than Lexus covers the TX. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles. Coverage on the TX ends after only 6 years or 70,000 miles.

The Santa Fe’s corrosion warranty is 1 year longer than the TX’s (7 vs. 6 years).

Hyundai pays for scheduled maintenance on the Santa Fe for 2 years and 26000 miles longer than Lexus pays for maintenance for the TX (3/36,000 vs. 1/10,000).

There are over 3 times as many Hyundai dealers as there are Lexus dealers, which makes it much easier should you ever need service under the Santa Fe’s warranty.

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 Lexus vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Hyundai third in initial quality, above the industry average. With 12 more problems per 100 vehicles, Lexus is ranked 8th.

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

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

The Santa Fe has 3.2 gallons more fuel capacity than the TX 550h+’s standard fuel tank (17.7 vs. 14.5 gallons), for longer range between fill-ups.

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 TX doesn’t offer an SMG or a conventional manual transmission.

The Santa Fe stops shorter than the TX:

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 TX doesn’t offer drift compensation steering.

For greater off-road capability the Santa Fe XRT has a greater minimum ground clearance than the TX 500h F Sport Performance Premium 4dr Sport Utility (8.3 vs. 8 inches), allowing the Santa Fe to travel over rougher terrain without being stopped or damaged.

The Santa Fe is 1 foot shorter than the TX, 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 TX (.34 to .35) and many sports cars. A more efficient exterior helps keep the interior quieter and helps the Santa Fe get better fuel mileage.

The front grille of the Santa Fe uses electronically controlled shutters to close off airflow and reduce drag when less engine cooling is needed. This helps improve highway fuel economy. The TX doesn’t offer active grille shutters.

The Santa Fe has 2.7 inches more front legroom, .5 inches more rear headroom, 2.8 inches more rear legroom and .5 inches more third row headroom than the TX.

The Hyundai Santa Fe outsold the Lexus TX by over 16 to one during 2023.