2026 Hyundai Santa Fe XRT First Test: New Transmission, Better Performance?

Old eight-speed out, new eight-speed in.

Pros

• Improved transmission
• Excellent packaging
• Well equipped for the price

Cons

• Dull to drive
• Drab all-black interior
• Annoying touch-sensitive controls

Thanks to its clever interior packaging, distinctive design, and compelling value, the Hyundai Santa Fe remains among the best mainstream three-row family SUVs on the market. But its unrefined eight-speed dual-clutch automatic never suited its mission.

For 2026, Hyundai has swapped the Santa Fe’s dual-clutch unit for a more conventional eight-speed torque-converter automatic. To see what difference the new transmission makes to the SUV’s driving manners and performance, we tested a 2026 Santa Fe in its off-road themed XRT guise.

A Darn Fine Box (The Vehicle)

Introduced for 2024, the latest Santa Fe quickly earned our respect. Its offbeat styling integrates clever details and interesting lighting (although in white paint, like on this XRT tester, it looks a bit like a refrigerator). Sure, the design borders on weird, but its boxy shape makes for ample interior space.

Respect isn’t love, though, and some of the Santa Fe’s driving manners have left us wanting. While we’ve been impressed with the Hybrid version for its fuel economy, it’s not powerful. Models equipped with the standard gas engine are quicker, but we’ve had specific issues with its dual-clutch transmission, namely a slow, stuttering engagement that made takeoffs lurchy, in addition to occasional rollback on inclines.

A Darn Fine Box (The Transmission)

Drivers shouldn’t have to work around those types of quirks. To cut to the chase: The new transmission fixes them. Simply put, it works just like a normal, traditional automatic should.

Release the brake, and it immediately creeps forward; press the gas, and it rolls into power naturally. Shifts aren’t as crisp as the outgoing transmission, but they are adequately smooth.

If there’s any complaint, it’s that inputs to the paddle shifters are slightly delayed. Manual mode isn’t likely a major concern for most Santa Fe drivers, though.

The Same but Better

With its new transmission, the Santa Fe is better to drive. As before, though, how it drives isn’t why it’s worthy of recommendation—generally speaking, the experience from behind the wheel is lifeless and uninteresting.

The steering is effortlessly lightweight and numb. It’s not too slow, but more heft and texture could improve precision; it’s a vagueness that sometimes takes guesswork and correction to point the front wheels where you intend them to go. Similarly, the brake pedal is long and soft. That makes gradual and smooth stopping easy, but again, a firmer feel would be preferable. Needing to slow suddenly doesn’t work well with its spongy tuning.

Even with the new transmission, the engine delivers power in a relaxed way. This turbocharged 2.5-liter I-4 makes 277 hp and 311 lb-ft of torque, which arrives eventually. It needs to be coaxed out, and the transmission’s tendency to choose higher gears in an effort to optimize fuel economy is no doubt a contributing factor. Sport mode makes the engine more responsive, but power delivery is still far from immediate.

At least it’s comfortable. The Santa Fe’s suspension keeps the body controlled over bumps and undulations. Especially in this XRT version, chatter is soaked up nicely, as its thick all-terrain tires give additional cushioning compared to the rubber on other Santa Fe variants.

Despite its off-road inspired looks, we kept the Santa Fe XRT on pavement during this test period. Like similar cosplaying crossovers, this isn’t a serious rock-crawler. That said, Hyundai’s other XRT SUVs have proven capable on dirt roads and moderate terrain.

Santa Fe XRT Performance Numbers

At the test track, the new transmission seems to have enabled slightly quicker acceleration. While all-terrain tires like the XRT is equipped with can have a harder time maintaining on-road traction during hard launches, the XRT’s modest power and effective all-wheel drive kept wheelspin in check. The 2026 Santa Fe XRT hit 60 mph in 6.9 seconds, quicker than the 7.4 seconds we recorded for a 2024 Santa Fe on all-season tires (the Hybrid clocked in a 7.6 seconds). In the quarter mile, the XRT ran 15.1 seconds at 93.0 mph, edging both the dual-clutch-equipped gas model and the Hybrid by a few tenths and a few mph.

The XRT stopped from 60 mph in 120 feet, 5 feet shorter than the 2024 Santa Fe. That’s unexpected given open tread of the all-terrain tires, but that Calligraphy model was about 130 pounds heavier. The Santa Fe Hybrid we tested stopped in as little as 115 feet despite weighing some 200 pounds more, perhaps helped by regenerative braking.

Limit handling is another area where the drawbacks of all-terrain tires can show. The XRT managed 0.73 g on the skidpad and ran the figure eight in 28.4 seconds at 0.60 g average. By comparison, the 2024 Santa Fe held 0.80 g and posted 27.1 seconds at 0.64 g, while the Hybrid reached 0.83 g and ran 27.5 seconds at 0.63 g.

It’s What’s Inside That Counts

All of these are expected, unexceptional results from an SUV like this. Rather than performance, where the Santa Fe stands out is how well it functions. Its third row isn’t exceptionally large, but access is easy. Every row provides cupholders, USB ports, and generous views out of the large side windows. Throughout the cabin, it’s as if Hyundai put a storage space everywhere it could. Up front, there are dual glove boxes bisected by a shelf, and the dual-opening center console bin has a drawer for items to be slid back to second-row passengers.

Two wireless chargers sit in the open for easy device placement. On the dashboard is a 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen, running Hyundai’s user-friendly if not cutting-edge user interface. Between those is potentially the Santa Fe’s worst feature: a touch-sensitive control panel for most climate functions. It needs precise taps to operate and has no tactile feedback, requiring glances away from the road. Hyundai has the sense to provide some physical knobs and buttons for other basic controls.

The driver assist functions are also operated by physical controls on the steering wheel. These work quite well in the Santa Fe, as they do in most Hyundais. Perhaps the lane keep assist could be more precise, but the adaptive cruise control’s acceleration and braking are very smooth. The eye-tracking monitor can be annoying, but it allows for extended periods of hands-off driving in slow traffic.

A potential drawback of the XRT version is that it’s available only with an all-black interior, unlike other Santa Fe trims that offer gray or brown upholstery options. It looks fine, just monochromatic. Still, like every Santa Fe, this sub-$45,000 midrange version is a compelling value: well equipped, high-quality, and very effective as a family SUV.

The 2026 Santa Fe’s new automatic transmission doesn’t transform its performance. Likewise, the carryover interior has the same excellent functionality it did before. Nevertheless, the revised Santa Fe makes welcome improvements to refinement and drivability for 2026.