Compare the2024 Hyundai Santa FeVS 2024 GMC Acadia

Both the Santa Fe and Acadia 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 Acadia’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.

The Hyundai Santa Fe has a standard driver’s side knee airbag mounted low on the dashboard. The knee airbag helps prevent the driver from sliding under the seatbelts or the main frontal airbag; this keeps the driver better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. A knee airbag also helps keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Acadia doesn’t offer knee airbags.

Both the Santa Fe and the Acadia have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear side-impact 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, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.

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 Acadia has not yet been evaluated by the IIHS 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 Acadia’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty expires 2 years or 24,000 miles sooner.

Hyundai’s powertrain warranty covers the Santa Fe 5 years and 40,000 miles longer than GMC covers the Acadia. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles. Coverage on the Acadia ends after only 5 years or 60,000 miles.

The Santa Fe’s corrosion warranty is 1 year and unlimited miles longer than the Acadia’s (7/unlimited vs. 6/100,000).

Hyundai pays for scheduled maintenance on the Santa Fe for 3 years and 36,000 miles. Hyundai will pay for oil changes, tire rotations, air filter replacements, cabin filter replacement, brake fluid replacement, inspections, and any other required maintenance. GMC only pays for the first scheduled maintenance visit on the Acadia.

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 GMC vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Hyundai third in initial quality, above the industry average. With 39 more problems per 100 vehicles, GMC is ranked 20th, below the industry average.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2024 survey of the owners of three-year-old vehicles provides the long-term dependability statistics that show that Hyundai vehicles are more reliable than GMC With 8 fewer problems per 100 vehicles in the first three years of ownership, J.D. Power ranks Hyundai higher than GMC.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2024 Auto Issue reports that Hyundai vehicles are more reliable than GMC vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Hyundai 13 places higher in reliability than GMC.

The Santa Fe has a standard locking fuel door which locks and unlocks with the power locks. The fuel filler door is not lockable on the Acadia. A locking fuel door helps prevent fuel theft and vandalism, such as sugar in the tank.

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

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 Acadia doesn’t offer drift compensation steering.

For greater off-road capability the Santa Fe has a greater minimum ground clearance than the Acadia Elevation (7 vs. 6.8 inches), allowing the Santa Fe to travel over rougher terrain without being stopped or damaged. The Santa Fe XRT’s minimum ground clearance is .5 inch higher than on the Acadia AT4 (8.3 vs. 7.8 inches).

The Santa Fe is 1 foot, 1.8 inches shorter than the Acadia, making the Santa Fe easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

The Santa Fe has .6 inches more rear headroom and .8 inches more rear legroom than the Acadia.

For enhanced passenger comfort on long trips the Santa Fe’s middle and third row seats recline. The Acadia’s third row seats don’t recline.

The Santa Fe’s standard towing capacity is much higher than the Acadia’s (3500 vs. 1500 pounds).

The Santa Fe Calligraphy’s front and rear power windows all open or close with one touch of the switches. The Acadia’s rear power window switches have to be held the entire time to close them fully.

Manual rear side window sunshades are available in the Santa Fe to help block heat and glare for the rear passengers. The Acadia doesn’t offer rear side window sunshades.

The Santa Fe Limited/Calligraphy’s Smart Parking Assist can parallel park or back into a parking spot by itself, starting, stopping and changing direction automatically. Remote Smart Parking Assist will park and retrieve your car remotely: press a button and watch it park itself. This is ideal for tight locations. The Acadia’s automatic parking system does not offer parking by remote control.

The Hyundai Santa Fe outsold the GMC Acadia by almost two to one during 2023.