This is the 2026 Hyundai Santa Fe Ultimate Calligraphy Hybrid. The first ever Ultimate Calligraphy Hybrid. Today we're going to find out what this offer and if this is the best hybrid SUV that you can buy.
Let's roll. [Music] [Music] Before we start this video, special thanks goes to our great friends at Don Valley North Hyundai. They are a Hyundai dealership located just north of Toronto.
They're kind enough for allowing me to borrow this thing for the day, test it out, and show you everything you need to know about it. If you want to take this for a spin or check it out in person, don't forget the link in the description below. And as always, I don't get paid by dealerships.
If it is a sponsored video, you will know. But in this case, these are just my thoughts, my opinion. So nothing interfering in my judgment.
So, let us begin first with the exterior. So, what do we have in here? Well, the model that you see in here is an all black in and out.
It's actually quite unique. In fact, it kind of reminds me that it might be the car that Darth Vader would use for his family if he actually uh loved having a family. It's moving on to the front.
And what you see in here, it's a slight different design. First of all, we have the light bar in the front, which kind of synchronizes with the H ladder for the headlights. And with this package, you have the internal part of the headlight blacked out as well, which I think makes the daylight Rhino lights pop even more.
And then you have the centerpiece for the grill, which has two-tone finish, black and sort of like galvanized color. And then moving on to the bottom side, we've got the two windows here that open up to cool down the engine at certain temperature. They automatically open up.
And then moving further down, we've got the standard grill here matching the top side and a little flares underneath here to make it look a bit more sporty. But everything in here, it's pretty much black, including the badge at the front. And moving on to the side over here, we've got 20-in wheels.
These are specific to the Ultimate Calligraphy hybrids, also blacked out, wrapped around with 2545 Kumo tires. in this case looks really nice. They look kind of sporty.
A bit of that turbine design. And then at the top, we've got the Santa Fe badge on the side, which is also blacked out, including the side mirrors. So, the entire side profile here is all of blacked out.
And we've got everything else painted in black, including the rails at the top, the door handles, the side skirts, as well, including the piece over onto the side. This is to grab on if you wanted to get on the top of the vehicle. And of course, tinted windows, second row and third row.
We have more things painted in black, including the Santa Fe badge all the way across, plus the Hyundai badge and everything else and more tinted rear uh wind window or rear windshield in this case, including the lip at the bottom. Another thing that I notice is the tail lights at the back, which in this case with this color are also blacked out. You can see it clearly.
This one is turning on, but the internal part over here, it's blacked out. Similar to the headlights, there's a power tailgate in this case that you can open from the key fob. And in terms of tech features in here, we've got powered second row, so you can actually fold the seats in the second row automatically.
On top of that, the third row does get a climate unit like a rear AC in this case. And then we've got two USBC ports, plus 115 volts to charge or connect your laptop. The third row, people also get the air vents at the same time, plus a couple of cup holders.
And on this side, we have another 12vt charging ports. But because it is a hybrid, so you don't get a spare tire and not a lot of space because the battery is located at the back. Jumping into the second row, the second row seats are powered, so you can move it forward like that.
You can also adjust it automatically with this package, which is quite nice. You can move it all the way to the back. You can raise it up and down, which is pretty rare in a lot of SUVs to be absolutely honest.
And then you can do the manual option to get into the third row, which this does offer, is by pressing the button at the top. And the seat moves automatically forwards. And then you can do that automatically.
And it folds the seats automatically as well once you're done. And then you can slide it. Now, my favorite part about that is that you can move the seat back and forth manually, which I think is the fastest way.
But to get access to the third row, you just press that button. We already tested the third row in a different video. It's okay.
It's not bad for a nonlarge three row SUV, which this isn't. And then we jump into the second row. First thing you notice, we've got the sun shades, including the actual window, which is tinted.
That means it blocks out the entire interior, make it even more darker. On the insides, you've got heated seats on the actual armrest that you can control from there. There's these little hangers onto the actual seat in front of you.
And then we've got USBC ports. On top of that, you can open the armrest from the backside if you wanted to access that area. And there is a little small compartment here that you can store stuff.
Now with the ultimate calligraphy, you don't get climate unit into the second row except the third row which you do. It's sort of a small climate unit. You can change the fan speed and the temperature.
You can turn it off as well. So it's tackling with two climate unit systems. And then we've got a panoramic roof which can be opened automatically.
There's an armrest for the captain chairs which this offers. And we've got some space in the center you can store stuff. Other than that, pretty comfortable in the back, but also the interior is black, including the door panels.
And you notice that kind of a little bit different than the black on the outside, but it's still black, similar to the outside. Jumping into the front row. But before we do that, first thing you notice before you jump in, there's a door sill, which is also blacked out.
In this case, it's got a really nice look to it, and I feel like most cars should have the same color like this one. And then you can see the interior which is also black interior. So black on black which again it's quite interesting choice but hey everyone has their own taste.
I find the exterior nice but I like something brighter on the inside. First thing is that the interior doesn't change from the other trims completely. The design is still the same with a curved display.
Massive curved display. The hybrid gets similar treatment with the ultimate calligraphy. We've got the blacked out steering wheel.
In this case, the dashboard, the side, the door panel as well. It is blacked out. Um, including the buttons in on the side.
The buttons in the center remain the same here, but everything else is black color, including the panel, the island in here in the middle. Okay, let's start it up. Because it is the hybrid, it goes into a hybrid system.
Therefore, you don't hear the engine right away. Only when you drive. And here we go.
We are on. First thing we notice is the screen in the back. Massive curb display that you see um now also available in the Palisades and then the centerpiece here for the uh climate unit.
But let's get into the details what it offers onto the actual infotainment display. First up, it is touchscreen. You can go back into the main menu and you got your built-in GPS map with this package.
You go back again. Sirius XM phone projection and you've got your seats with this which you can control from here like the second row heated seats. You can move the second row.
You can fold them from here. You can do the same thing with fold and unfold or you can just slide them from there. So that's the seatback recline.
Um you can also do the cushion tilt as well this portion. So up and down. and we go back into got your weather vallay modes data and so on.
So those are some of the settings to notice. Plus we've got the shortcuts as well which is similar to the Palisade is sort of the new updated infotainment. Let's increase the brightness in this case.
You've got quiet mode passenger talk. So essentially the voice goes all the way to the back so you don't have to raise it. Captures it with the speakers at the front.
Something you see in the Palisad as well. This thing is pretty loaded for the package. And of course, there is a 360 camera with a 3D.
Oh no. Come on, Hyundai. That could have been black.
Like, match the color. Match the color. Like, come on.
Okay, that's a bit disappointing. That could have been like a black as well, too. The windows are, but like ah, come on, Hyundai.
That's fine. And there you go. Can connect your phone wirelessly.
So, you get your Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, uh, so that way you don't need the built-in GPS. So, a lot of features offers with this package. You also get one of my favorite features, rear view mirror camera.
Hell yeah. Now, this is something I use quite a lot. I always keep it on.
Always keep it on. It's just better than the actual windshield in the back. I know if it breaks down, you're screwed.
Well, you can use the standard one, but this is one of my favorite features. And then we go into the climate units. There's a dual zone.
You can change the temperature, synchronize it. You also have heated seats in the front for both passenger and driver's side. You also have ventilated seats for both sides, which is quite nice.
You can control the rear climate unit, which would be the third one. You can turn it off from here in case if kids are playing around there. And let's just turn it uh off.
There's no one sitting in the back. And there we go. We have some buttons underneath here.
That's for your auto hold. That's for your different driving modes like drive and terrain, downhill assist. This is your 360 camera parking.
And that's the parking sensor. Now, further down, we've got some interesting things. Uh first, we've have a wireless charging pad with three levels.
Now, this one is quite interesting because it actually offers sort of like a cooling portion underneath and you've got two, one on each side. And you can see the level of charging in here. There's a USBC port, another USBC port, and the UVC.
Now, that cleans your phone. All you have to do, you slide your phone in here, close it, press the UVC button, and you've got yourself a clean phone. So, it sanitizes, which is pretty nice.
So, what do we have under the hood? First of all, this uses a 1. 6 L 4 cylinder turbocharged engine.
It is available as a front-wheel drive in the US or all-wheel drive in Canada. It makes 231 brake horsepower combined and 271 pound- feet of torque. It uses a six-speed automatic transmission shift by wire and with paddle shifters as we saw previously.
It can be set up with six seats or seven seats. For the one that we have for today's video is a six captain chair seats uh and two in the third row. We have essentially a curb weight of 4,486 lb and it can tow up to 3500 lb.
One of the great guys that works at the dealership, Steven said that his brother owns the standard model hybrid of course, not the ultimate calligraphy, and he was able to achieve on a full tank 950 kilometers. That is of course if you drive this thing very conservative, not going on the throttle all the time because of course that just burns more fuel. It does have one electric motor and the battery is located at the back and it charges of course through regeneration.
There's no plug-in hybrid option which I'm assuming eventually Hyundai will offer something like that, but at the moment there's only a couple out there that offer something like this with a third row plug-in hybrid. Now, the next question is, how does it drive with this engine? Let's go for a drive.
Okay, here we go. Let's see how this bad boy drives. First of all, because of the electric motor, this thing pulls.
It's got a really nice pull when you put your foot down, which I kind of like. Now, it's not going to be the same as the 2. 5 L because of course different displacement, more horsepower on that non-hybrid.
But what we carrying here is about fuel efficiency. Showing me right now with about 90% of the tank, 829 kilm. That is impressive.
You've got three rows, six to seven seats. What else do you want pricewise? What are you paying for this bad boy?
Well, in Canada, it starts about $45,000 with calligraphy go to $59 $60,000. Some will look at it and go, Sam, that's a bit pricey. In the US, it starts at about believe about $39,000, go up to like $53,000 for the calligraphy.
I believe in the US had this before us. I may be wrong on that, but I have a I think I read it somewhere. They actually got it.
You guys in the US got it before us. The calligraphy. Ultimate calligraphy.
What do I think about the driving? It's comfortable. It's punchy.
You put your foot down. This thing moves. It's quick when you need it.
And it's also fuel efficient. Uh we're going to put it in eco mode. And there we go.
This case I'm on the highway. Going to turn on the cruise control. Uh and that's it.
It will keep you within the lanes kind of self-driving mode. I don't believe this one gets the highest uh cruise control at 2. 1.
I believe this the ACC 2. 1. This one gets the standard ACC compared to the other trims.
Not sure why. Uh different system maybe, but here we go. We've got the speed limit, keeping the distance.
It's essentially driving itself, steers itself, and it does a great job. It's comfortable. The sitting position is perfect.
Big fan of this thing. And I've got the heads-up display in front of me showing all the information I needs. Everything is where it needs to be.
We've got two wireless charging pads here. One for the drive passenger, one for the driver. Um, and just perfect on the outside.
This thing looks badass. You got to admit that. It looks really good.
That turning signal uh camera thing, I love that. It's one of my favorite features in this vehicle. And right now on the right side, we can see the power delivery, the charge.
Uh the battery it's about 70% I believe right now. So it's not fully charged, but it's charging as you're breaking, as you're slowing down. It regenerates and then charges the battery.
Here we go. Lane assist as well in this case. And bingo.
It does it nicely. Lane change assist was perfect. We can even do one more.
Let's see. It detects no vehicles on the left. Okay.
No, there's one approaching. Uh, let's try one more time. It's not doing it.
I think there's like a vehicle behind me is very close. I love this thing. I love the package.
I love how it looks on the outside. It's got real presence. And I was looking at the rollers that we filmed.
The car looks really nice and it's got some good styles. I think the package with the black blacked out outside is just the perfect uh balance. I think the wheels I'm usually not a big fan of black cars.
I like more like shiny colors, but this one I can see myself kind of enjoying it more. And let's be honest, it's a three row SUV. It looks great for what it is.
Um they've done a great job with the hybrid system in this case with the electric motor. Uh, the battery really helps, but it also puts a bit of weight on the vehicle at about 4,480 4,500 lb. Towing capacity with this one, it's about 3,500 lb.
Very impressive. Um, it's loaded with tech. It's got so much.
Let's forget about the Hyundai of 2000s. Let's talk about the Hyundai of today. They are killing it.
They are bringing so much and so quickly to the table that nobody can can keep up with them. Their updates are amazing. They bring some new tech and actual intelligent useful tech like that camera thing is brilliant.
Um, and I believe they were the first ones to uh offer that. Yes, Honda had it, but Honda had it for one side only and Honda had it on here. But this one was like they took something that was okay and made it better.
That's it. Um, and I think they've done a great job. It's hard to compete with these guys right now in terms of package, in terms of the hybrid system.
I think what they should include in this car in the next generation, a plug-in hybrid, green plates. I just saw another black one uh pass by like this. And you see Santa Fe in Toronto pretty much everywhere.
They've getting so popular. People absolutely love these. Um, right now there's not that many cars that compete with this.
The Outlander, as I mentioned, would be one. The Sarrento, which is based off the same platform. This looks just a mile better.
Um, trying to think, Highlander kind of thing, but the Highlander, it's more of a larger SUV. Um, that could be one. The Grand Highlander, of course, is not even comparable to this cuz the Grand Highlander is huge.
Um there's not that many like the Pathfinder needs definitely an update and also an hybrid system which eventually will come. So at this point you're kind of like stuck with what this offers. It's kind of unbeatable in its own way.
And I think that's what Hyundai is trying to do here is that giving something that very few manufacturers can match in terms of pricing and fuel efficiency. Um this is a great package overall. I think they've done a great job.
One thing I I notice I don't like very much now. It's like I've gotten bored of this thing. It's like very rough the armrest.
Um maybe it needs a change, but that's one thing I could complain a little. Having said that, I'm a big fan of this. I love what they've done with this car.
They've nailed the the package. They've nailed the hybrid system and everything. That's Gordon another Santa Fe.
It was like they're literally everywhere. I see them more than any other car. more than RAV 4s to be honest.
More than RAV 4s which is kind of like the bestselling vehicle, one of the bestselling vehicles. Um they're getting just more and more popular. Great package, great pricing.
Can't beat it.
