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Hyundai has completely restyled the squarish 2024 Santa Fe. Photo by John Gilbert.

There evidently is no limit to what Hyundai might do next in future design tricks. The South Korean company already has leaped to the design forefront in recent years with vehicles such as the Sonata and Elantra, and on to the Ioniq and Kona. 
Now we have the new Santa Fe, a midsize SUV that has always been popular as a family hauler, and the 2024 model takes a giant step into the company’s future.
First of all, despite being known for its daringly bold adventures in design such as with the Ioniq and new Kona, designers apparently chose to blend the new with the currently popular trend toward a squarish, at least rectangular appearance. It looks like the idea might have started by copying the new Ford Bronco and old Ford Flex, and maybe several Jeeps — but no previous Hyundais.

Yet the new generation Santa Fe pulled it off smoothly and impressively, as I discovered when I finally got a chance try one on a week-long road test. 
The one I got was the Calligraphy model, and it was pre-production, which means it was first-out among the new models and we should excuse any potential glitches. And we found a couple.
But any criticisms had to fight their way up through the impressive features we kept finding. 
First, there are all sorts of colors on new vehicles these days, and this one might be one of the most unique we’ve ever seen. It’s called “Earthy Brass Matte,” and it was a sort of bronze, non-metallic color that made the stylish black alloy wheels stand out, as well as the little lettering and identifying logos on all sides. 

We thought it might be our choice if we were to buy a Santa Fe, although that was before I discovered that it added $1,000 to the sticker price. It was, however, the only added price in the total of $50,905.
Elsewhere on the slightly larger exterior is the square-look grille, with headlights that might have been copied from Volvo’s newest light style, with bright LED headlights in a sideways “H” shape, containing foglight and daytime running lights, also of maximum brightness LEDs
Climb inside, and you are impressed all over again. The front bucket seats are perforated white Nappa leather, as are the second-row captain’s chairs, and the split rear third-row seats, that are surprisingly roomy, and fold down for added storage. 
The second row buckets also fold down, and both second and third rows are power operated for ease of operation.
Hyundai’s latest “signature” shift lever is there, on the right side of the steering wheel, and it takes some adjustment. You start with push-button, then rotate the rectangular shift knob to engage reverse at the top, drive at the bottom, and neutral in the middle. You push on the end of the knob to set park. 

Easy to get used to, but concentrate so you don’t accidentally roll forward or back when you wanted the opposite.
My wife, Joan, and I drove from Duluth to Minneapolis for a Twins baseball game against St. Louis — a good-timing bit, because we saw the Twins win 6-0 for their only victory in a week — and we parked in the 5th Street ramp, right across the street from center field. 
When it was over, we got swept along with the funneled traffic control that sent us west on I-394, and we went a couple miles before we could turn around having outreached the congestion. I stopped to put in some gasoline, and when we noticed the price was surprisingly 30 cents a gallon more than Duluth’s $3.09, I decided we’d just put in enough to safely get back to less-costly fuel.

The Santa Fe didn’t seem to mind, and carried us smoothly and with precision up I-35, effortlessly gliding between the barrels and cones that narrow the lanes between Hinckley and Sandstone, and virtually every street we chose to drive on in Minneapolis. 
Suspension was firm but never harsh, and the power was smooth, from the new standard engine, a 2.5-liter revised 4-cylinder turbocharged engine that was quick and efficient. Its fuel economy, though, is not exceptional. We got a best of 25.4 miles per gallon.
My preference would be for the smaller 1.6-liter 4 hybrid, which has proven to be among the very best in fuel efficiency and more than adequate in power. The new 2.5 Turbo develops 277 horsepower at 5,800 RPMs, while giving you maximum torque of 311 foot-pounds at only 1,700 RPMs. That power is fed to all four wheels via a dual-clutch 8-speed automatic transmission which is smooth and quick-to-shift, and the paddles on the steering wheel help you manually select your gears.

Hyundai’s progressive ideas about safety features include the instantly changing speedometer and tachometer from gauge to view of the adjacent lane from cameras located on the outside mirrors, giving you an instant view to make sure either lane is not filled with a fast-closing vehicle. 
One of the other little tricks is a gas gauge auxiliary view of how many miles you have remaining from your fuel supply. That led to some anxious moments.
I figured the seven gallons I put in near the ballpark in Minneapolis would easily reach the Duluth area, although when I glanced at the little number it seemed to drop more rapidly than I expected. We cruised down the big hill coming into Duluth and while I planned to stop at a station on the way through town, I decided no, I’d wait till morning. So we drove on out the North Shore and turned north on our road. As I did, I was shocked to see that the little mileage number had dropped to “4,” without giving us any extra alert or warning. I continued up our road and parked in our driveway, and by then the number was “2.” Now, we’re 5 miles away from the nearest gas station, so I enlisted Joan to follow me with an empty gas can as I tried to make it. the next morning.

Luckily, the built-in margin was sufficient, but as I drove to within a couple miles of the nearest station, I saw the last number disappear, showing that I could still go “—“ miles. Talk about range anxiety!
Maybe in another year or so, Hyundai will add a voice that says: “Stop for gas, you moron!” in conjunction with the handy little remaining-miles number. I need that.
With one day remaining in my week, we were driving along and all of a sudden the large and all-encompassing information screen went to black. Nothing. Turning it off and on didn’t work, either. 
Finally I rapped it, gently but firmly, and it came back to life. The problem here is the wondrous full-surround back-up camera view is not there, if the whole screen goes dark. 
At the end of the week, it went dark again, and nothing we could do revived it. Maybe that was in the fine print where it describes “pre-production.”