2023 Hyundai Santa Fe vs Mitsubishi Outlander

What's the difference?

The Santa Fe Hybrid is a better Santa Fe to drive than the V6 petrol or the diesel variant. It’s also a lot more fuel efficient, but the value isn’t as great at this price. Also keep in mind that the Hybrid has a much lower braked towing capacity relative to the diesel and V6 petrol Santa Fes.

The Elite grade will save you money, and you’re not missing out on many luxuries. 

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with accommodation and meals provided.

The Mitsubishi Outlander LS Black Edition scores big marks for practicality as long as you don’t think of it as a conventional seven-seater. Treat it as a five-seater, with the super-handy option of squeezing a couple of kids into the occasional third row for short trips, and you’ll be laughing.

It’s comfortable, refined and fuel-efficient, but it isn’t perfect. Side curtain airbags not covering those ‘+2’ third row seats is a safety miss. The exterior design, especially at the front, is polarising (my guess is mostly to one pole). And the lengthy warranty hand-cuffing you to Mitsubishi network service to enable an ‘extra’ five years’ cover feels awkward.  

However, the closer is solid value-for-money. It not only passes the family practicality and flexibility test, it’s keenly priced and well-equipped relative to mid-size competitors.   

There’s only one way to tell the hybrid version of the Santa Fe from the petrol and diesel variants - the wheels. The hybrid's wheels are smaller and have a sort of ‘cog’ design to them. I’m not a fan of the styling, but they’re supposed to be aerodynamic and save fuel.

Overall, I am a fan of the Santa Fe’s looks which were given a major change in 2020 with a completely different grille and interior.

I like the way Hyundai has moved away from giving all its cars the same face, with each model now having its own visual identity.

The Santa Fe’s wide, cat fish-like gaping mouth grille might not be for everybody, but it sure doesn’t look like the front of any other SUV on the market.

The rear of the Santa Fe is far more conservative but looks prestigious enough to stop short of the boredom threshold.

It’s far from boring inside with the dash sculptured into what appear to be rock pools, with geyser-like air vents and a floating centre console.

Again, no sign this is a hybrid in the cabin either, which is the way it should be, or will be when electric vehicles become the norm.

The cabins of the Elite and Highlander are filled with leather and modern tech. It’s a plush place made even plusher on the Highlander with its Nappa leather upholstery.

The Santa Fe is a big, mid-sized SUV at 4.8m end-to-end, but it’s not as large as a Hyundai Palisade. That's huge at five metres long.

Say what you like about the current Mitsubishi Outlander, but there’s no doubt the design of the car’s ‘face’ is distinctive.

The large grille section consists of an upright lower panel and sloping, broadening, slotted upper piece. Big splashes of curved chrome run down the sides, at the same time defining the slim, angular daytime running lights above.

Then, more upright headlight units sit on top of separate fog lights, the entire combination topped by ‘Outlander’ script in proud relief along the bonnet’s leading edge, the latter obviously inspired by Range Rover’s long-established badge treatment.   

The rest of the exterior is more conventional, with - surprise, surprise - the Black Edition defined by a whole bunch of black stuff.

Everything from the 20-inch alloy wheels to the front and rear skid plates, exterior mirror housings and the grille are blacked out.

And the theme carries over inside with a sleek and comfy combination of black synthetic suede and synthetic leather on the seats (with contrast stitching), a black laser-etched panel in the front centre console around the gearshift, black headlining and black front pillar trim.

Overall, the interior is simple, understated and functional with a common-sense mix of physical and digital controls, as well as soft-touch materials where it counts.

The Santa Fe is among only a handful of mid-sized SUVs offering seven seats. The third-row seats are really designed to be used occasionally. They’re flat and fairly hard and the passengers back there aren’t fully covered by the side curtain airbags.

The second row offers plenty of room. Enough, even for me at 191cm, to sit comfortably behind my driving position.

And if you’d like more space then the Highlander grade allows you can replace that bench seat with two captain’s chairs in the six-seat version.

Clever cabin storage spaces can be found throughout. I particularly like the floating centre console with an area underneath big enough for a small backpack, and the shelf above the glove box in the dash is also good for throwing a wallet or phone.  

Big door pockets, cupholders and a deep centre console storage box are also on board.

For charging devices there are five USB ports (two up front, two in the second row, and one in the third), two 12-volt outlets (front seats and cargo area) and a wireless phone charger.

While there isn’t three-zone climate control. There are directional air vents in all three rows and the Elite and Highlander grades also come with pull-up sun shades for the rear windows.

As for the boot, most of the time you’ll probably have the third-row seats folded flat, and that’ll give you a cargo capacity of 571 litres.

Or, if you are using the third row there’s 130 litres of space left for you to use.

At just over 4.7m long, close to 1.9m wide and 1.75m tall, the Outlander is a ‘large’ medium-size SUV.

There’s lots of breathing room up front and the car is wide enough that the driver and front passenger aren’t bursting each other's personal space bubbles.  

Within the car’s overall footprint, a 2.7m wheelbase (the distance between the axles) is pretty generous and rear seat room is good, too.

Sitting behind the driver’s seat set for my 183cm position I enjoyed more than adequate head, leg and shoulder room.

Three full-size adults across the second row are okay for up to medium length trips, thanks in no small part to a flat rear floor. And depending on the child seats or boosters you’re working with, three-abreast for smaller humans should be do-able, as well.

Storage options in the front include a medium-size lidded box between the seats (which doubles as a centre armrest), a reasonable glove box, two big cupholders in the centre console and generous bins in the doors with space for large bottles.

The wireless charging pad is handy for your phone (even when it’s not charging) as well as other bits and pieces. And an overhead bin flips down for your sunnies.

There are directional air vents for those in the rear with storage running to a shelf underneath the vents, map pockets on both front seat backs, two large cupholders in the fold-down centre armrest and slots in the doors, again with space for larger bottles.

Move to the third row, and… you’ll be cramped. Mitsubishi is up front in positioning this car as a ‘5+2’, meaning full-time seating for five and (very much) part-time seating for two.

Those two in the way-back seats will be small kids, on short trips, and even then, the sliding (and reclining) middle row will need to move forward quite a bit to accommodate their legs. Adults? Forget it.

Power and connectivity options include primary USB-A and USB-C sockets for media in the dash plus another two outlets in the rear for power only. There are 12-volt plugs in the front and the boot.

Speaking of which, the boot will accommodate 163 litres (VDA) worth of stuff (to the top of the seats) with the third row upright, which is enough for some shopping bags, school bags, etc.

Folding that 50/50 split-folding row down means removing the ludicrously long (but undoubtedly effective) head restraints for a flat-floor load space of 478 litres (VDA).

We were able to load in the large CarsGuide pram, with room to spare, and our three-piece luggage set (36L, 95L and 124L) was also swallowed easily.

Lower the 40/20/40 split-fold second row seat and you have 1461 litres (VDA - to the roof) at your disposal. 

There are small storage areas either side of the load space behind the wheel tubs and tie-down anchors to help keep loose loads under control.

The Outlander LS Black Edition is rated to tow a 1.6-tonne braked trailer (750kg unbraked) with ‘Trailer Stability Assist’ standard, and the spare is a space-saver.

At $41,490, before on-road costs, the Outlander LS Black Edition is a ‘5+2’ rather than a full-time seven-seater. But there’s no doubt it will be cross-shopped with other large/medium three-row SUVs like the Nissan X-Trail ST-L 7 Seat ($46,290), Skoda Kodiaq Style 132TSI ($51,490) and Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace 132TSI Life ($48,490).

Worth noting those three competitors are all all-wheel drive, which no doubt contributes to the higher price points. But we’re still well below the Genesis GV80, Land Rover Discovery and Mercedes-Benz GLBs of this world.

And if you’re fine with front-wheel drive, as the Outlander is, that makes this Mitsubishi a potential value-for-money winner against its competitive set.

So, aside from the performance and safety tech we’ll cover later in this review, what features are included as standard in the Outlander LS Black Edition? 

For a start, you can expect dual-zone climate control, a 9.0-inch multimedia touchscreen, Android Auto and (wireless) Apple CarPlay, sat-nav, six-speaker audio (with digital radio), power-adjustable driver’s seat, keyless entry and start, cruise control, a 7.0-inch ‘Multi Information Display’ in the instrument binnacle, and a wireless charging pad.

Plus there are LED headlights, tail-lights, DRLs and fog lights, a leather-bound steering wheel and gearshift, a combination of synthetic suede and synthetic leather seat trim and 20-inch alloy wheels.

That’s solid for a car in the around $40K bracket, but it pays to remember your front passenger will be adjusting their seat manually and the tailgate is of the open-and-close-it-yourself variety.

For those adjustments in electronic form, as well as a head-up display and other bits and pieces you’ll need to step up to the Aspire grade at $44,240, before on-roads. Still good value.

The Santa Fe Hybrid is not a plug-in hybrid like the Mitsubishi Outlander or Kia Sorento. That means you don’t need to connect the battery to a power outlet to charge it. Instead, the battery charges on the go as you drive it, and through regenerative braking.

Under the bonnet is a 1.6-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-petrol engine and an electric motor. They have a combined output of 169kW/350Nm.

That’s pretty good grunt. Just as a comparison, the V6 makes 200kW/331Nm, while the diesel engine produces 148kW/440Nm.

If you’re planning on towing, then the diesel and petrol are clearly the better choices with their 2500kg braked towing capacity, compared to the hybrid’s 1650kg.

The Hybrid Santa Fe is also all-wheel drive and a six-speed automatic transmission shifts gears smoothly.

The Outlander LS Black Edition is powered by a naturally aspirated 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine.

It produces 135kW at 6000rpm and 244Nm at 3600rpm, sending drive to the front wheels via a continuously variable automatic transmission.

This is what it’s all about isn’t it? How much fuel does the Santa Fe Hybrid use? 

Hyundai says this hybrid will use 6.0L/100km after a combination of open roads and urban driving. That is excellent, but if this was a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) that figure could be as low as 4.0L/100km.

Still, the Santa Fe hybrid is much more fuel efficient than the V6 variant which uses 10.5L/100km.

I took a look at the drive history of the Santa Fe Hybrid I tested at the end of the Australian launch.

According to the trip computer the car had travelled 967.2km and had used an average of 7.3L/100km.

About 500 of those kilometres were done by me with peak hour city traffic, country roads and motorways all in there. That’s great fuel efficiency, but a Santa Fe PHEV would do better.

As I said earlier, there’s no need to plug the Santa Fe into an external power supply to charge its lithium-ion battery, it’ll charge itself automatically through normal driving.

Mitsubishi’s official fuel economy number for the combined (ADR 81/02 - urban, extra-urban) cycle is 7.7L/100km, the 2.5-litre petrol four emitting 174g/km of CO2 in the process.

Over a week of city, suburban and some freeway running, we averaged 8.9L/100km, which is pretty impressive for a close to 1.7-tonne, seven-seat SUV.

Minimum fuel requirement is 91 RON ‘standard’ unleaded and you’ll need 55 litres of it to fill the tank.

Using the official economy number, that translates to a range of around 715km, which drops to just under 620km using our real-world figure.

You’re not just getting better fuel economy in the hybrid version of the Santa Fe, you’re getting a better SUV to drive. 

That’s what I found when I tested the Santa Fe Hybrid at its Australian launch. The ride is more comfortable and the steering feels more responsive and lighter than the V6 petrol or diesel Santa Fe, both of which I’ve driven extensively.

The better ride I think comes down to the stabilising effect of extra weight situated low from the batteries (they’re located under the driver). Hyundai told me the front suspension had been revised to deal with the added weight, too.

So, I feel the ride is now more comfortable, less jittery with a smidge more planted feeling to the handling.

The lighter and better steering feel may have something to do with having a smaller engine in the nose of the Santa Fe. The 1.6-litre four-cylinder weighs less than the 2.2-litre diesel engine and the V6 petrol. That lighter font end now has a more ‘pointable’ feeling.

That said, the electric motor would add more weight to the Santa Fe hybrid’s nose, too.

Another difference to the way the hybrid drives is the take-off acceleration. It’s quite sudden and forceful for a family SUV in this class and that’s due to the 350Nm of torque, available from 1000rpm.

That’s great for moving away out of a car space and quickly blending into traffic, or accelerating away from traffic lights.

Visibility as with the regular Santa Fe is excellent and parking is easy, too, given this isn’t a large SUV.  

Close to 4.7m long and tipping the scales at 1660kg, the Outlander LS Black Edition is a substantial rather than large front-wheel drive SUV.

Its 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine produces 135kW and 244Nm with that second, peak pulling power figure arriving at a relatively high 3600rpm.

You can expect 0-100km/h acceleration in around 10 seconds which is pretty handy, if not exactly earth-shattering.

Yet, the Outlander is a pleasant machine to drive - quiet, refined and with enough oomph to get the job done in the cut-and-thrust of suburban traffic and cruise comfortably once out of town.

I'm not a fan of CVT autos, but the unit fitted to the Outlander is one of the better ones, minimising the usual disconnect between road speed and engine rpm.

The suspension (strut front, multi-link rear) is comfy, even over less than perfect urban surfaces, steering feel is good, and the body remains stable in the bends.

That cornering performance is also helped by the (255/45) Bridgestone Ecopia rubber, designed specifically for SUVs and 4WDs. They’re economy-focused but grip hard, without a hint of squeal in tight cornering.

Braking is firm and progressive with (350mm) ventilated discs at the front and (330mm) solid rotors at the rear.

Under the heading of miscellaneous observations, the front seats remain comfortable and supportive after lengthy stints behind the wheel. An 11.2m turning circle isn’t tiny so it pays to plan ahead for U- or three-point turns. And all-around vision is good, with the exception of the enormous third row headrests. If there’s no one in those seats, make sure to remove them and pack the seat flat.

The Mitsubishi Outlander scored a maximum five-star ANCAP assessment in 2022 and the active (crash avoidance) tech is impressive.

The standard suite includes lane departure warning and departure prevention, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, AEB operational from 5.0-110km/h (with forward collision warning, junction assist and pedestrian detection), rear AEB (below 15km/h), fatigue monitoring, auto rain-sensing wipers, traffic sign recognition, front and rear parking sensors, and a reversing camera. 

If, despite all that, a crash is unavoidable there are eight airbags on-board - front and side bags for the driver and front passenger, side curtains, a driver’s knee bag and a front centre bag to minimise head clash and other injuries in a side impact.

Important to note the head-protecting side curtain airbags cover the first and second rows but not the third. Less than ideal.

There are three top tether points across the back seat for location of baby capsules and/or child seats, with ISOFIX anchors on the two outer positions. 

The Santa Fe Hybrid has the same warranty as the rest of the range at five years/unlimited km. The battery is covered by an eight-year/160,000km warranty, which is pretty standard for hybrids.

Servicing is required every 10,000km/12months, however, the costs were yet to be finalised at the time of publishing.

Mitsubishi Australia covers the Outlander with a 10-year/200,000 km warranty, with five-year corrosion (perforation) protection also included.

That’s double the time period offered by the majority of brands in the local new car market, however an unlimited kilometre term is more typical. And… there’s a catch.

To qualify for the 10-year cover Mitsubishi says, “The vehicle must have had ALL scheduled services performed within the authorised Mitsubishi Dealer Network (from the first service onwards).” 

Have the vehicle serviced outside the Mitsubishi network, or not in accordance with the service schedule, and you’re looking at five years/100,000km.

Speaking of servicing, capped pricing is available for 10 years/150,000km, with the lowest annual cost being $299, and the highest (year 10) coming in at $849. The annual average over that period is $434. Not outrageous, but not especially sharp, either.

Also worth noting, roadside assistance is complimentary for the first year, renewed annually for up to four years, again, if you have your Outlander serviced by an authorised Mitsubishi dealer.