New Santa FE 2013

The Santa Fe, Hyundai’s innocuous entry in the ultra-competitive mid-size crossover segment, has received numerous subtle improvements over the years but has never garnered much attention. Come 2013, though, the Santa Fe should turn more heads, trading its dreary duds for Hyundai’s dramatic new styling language and packing a tech-heavy interior like that found in the Sonata.

Swoopy Styling, Buck Rogers Cockpit

It’s clear from these spy shots that there will be a whole lot of Sonata in the new Santa Fe’s face and a bunch of Tucson in the upswept beltline. It also appears that Hyundai’s stylists have embarked on an all-out assault on outward vision with those massive D-pillars.

We had few gripes about the previous Santa Fe’s interior except that, like the sheetmetal, it boasted all the style of a brown paper bag. Consider the problem rectified with a thoroughly modern interior that adopts the Sonata’s hourglass-shaped center stack and futuristic styling theme. Expect a similar level of equipment, as well as some newfound niceties.

Power? Yes. Cylinder Count? TBD

Since the current Santa Fe’s base 175-hp, 2.4-liter four-cylinder was new for 2010, we’re confident it will carry over to the new model. The future is less certain for today’s optional engine, a 3.5-liter V-6 pumping out 276 hp. We expect it will be replaced by the turbocharged four-pot now pulling duty in a slate of other Hyundai and Kia vehicles, where it cranks out between 260 and 274 hp. Six-speed automatics are a near certainty for both engines, and we’d love to see Hyundai continue to offer a six-speed manual on base models.

The Santa Fe could eventually be offered as a hybrid as well, what with Hyundai in full world-domination mode when it comes to fuel economy. (The company boasts EPA ratings of 40 mpg or better for its Accent, Elantra, Veloster, and Sonata hybrid.) A gas-electric Santa Fe would almost certainly co-opt the setup used in the new Sonata Hybrid, where the 2.4-liter four is assisted by a 40-hp electric motor. After all, the first time Hyundai ever showed off this system, it was in a Santa Fe back in 2008.

The new Santa Fe should appear next year as a 2013 model. Even with comprehensive improvements inside and out, this mid-sizer should to stick to Hyundai’s corporate philosophy of lots of stuff for not a lot of money.