Rent Hyundai Santa Fe 2023 in Dubai

Grey is the easiest colour to keep looking clean on a Dubai rental, and it suits this generation of the Hyundai Santa Fe 2023 well. This is the outgoing, rounder-bodied Santa Fe, sold before Hyundai's boxier redesign took over showrooms, and its softer creases wear a plain colour better than a car built around hard lines does. We get this Santa Fe to your door within one to two hours of booking, anywhere in Dubai. It's a five-seat mid-size SUV, not a three-row car, aimed at a family or two couples who want more room than a Tucson without paying for something bigger. That's the decision this page works through.

The naturally aspirated 2.5, and how it drives

This generation runs a 2.5-litre naturally aspirated four cylinder, making 177 hp and 232 Nm through a 6-speed automatic to the front wheels. There's no turbo and no all-wheel drive on this car, whatever a listing elsewhere might suggest, so treat it as a comfortable cruiser rather than something quick off the line. Merging onto Sheikh Zayed Road with a full load takes a bit more patience than in a turbocharged rival.

Where it earns its keep is once you're rolling. The automatic shifts smoothly, the steering is light at parking speeds, and the ride absorbs Dubai's rougher back streets and speed bumps with more composure than a stiffer compact crossover manages. Nobody books this car to feel fast. They book it because a Friday drive to Abu Dhabi or a straightforward airport run doesn't ask anything of the driver, and that's worth more over a week than a 0-100 time.

Five seats, not seven, and what fits behind them

This Santa Fe seats five, with no fold-out third row, so size it against a family of four or two couples rather than a group of six. The boot holds 571 litres with the back seats in place, enough for three or four large suitcases stacked flat, which beats wedging them in sideways the way a compact crossover often forces you to. Drop the rear bench and that grows to 1,649 litres, room for flatpack furniture or a proper supermarket run.

The back seat is genuinely usable for three adults on a normal trip, not two people with a third squeezed between them, and there's enough legroom for a child seat plus someone sitting beside it. If your group runs to six or seven, this car will not stretch to fit them and you should look at a proper three-row SUV instead.

Outside, that space costs you a bit of width. At 4.785 metres long and 1.9 metres wide, the Santa Fe is noticeably broader than a Tucson, which matters on a tight Marina ramp or in an older multi-storey where the bays predate cars this size. Ground clearance of about 185 mm clears speed bumps and mall entrances cleanly, but the tyres and the front-wheel-drive layout are built for road use. Leave Hatta and the dunes to something with proper 4x4 hardware.

Fuel bills, Salik and a grey cabin in summer

Hyundai's official combined figure for this engine is about 7.1 litres per 100 km. Real Dubai driving, with the AC working hard and traffic that rarely moves freely, lands closer to 9 or 10. The 71-litre tank still gets you a decent stretch between fills, somewhere around 650 to 750 km depending on how much of your week is stop-start city driving against open highway.

Check the mileage terms before you book. This car comes with 250 km included per day, enough for a normal mix of errands, mall runs and the odd trip out of the city, and anything past that is billed at AED 0.5 per extra kilometre, a fair rate if a longer day trip comes up. Salik tolls and any RTA fines during the rental are the renter's responsibility, and you'll need to be at least 25 to take the keys on this one.

Grey doesn't do anything for cabin temperature, and a car this size takes a few minutes to pull down after sitting closed in an open car park at 45 degrees. What it does do is hide dust and the fine scratches that build up on a rental fleet in this climate, so the car tends to look presentable for longer between washes than a dark or white one would. Start the engine and give it a short head start before everyone gets back in, and the front vents will have cleared most of the heat by the time you're all seated.

Who this outgoing-generation Santa Fe suits, and who should look elsewhere

Rent this Santa Fe if you're a family of four, or two couples travelling together, who want a back seat that fits three adults and a boot that takes real luggage without a fight, but don't need a third row you'd rarely fill. It handles the airport run, a highway trip to Abu Dhabi and the daily grind of city driving without forcing a compromise, and it rides more settled than most cars in the compact crossover class.

Look elsewhere if it's just two of you with light bags. A Tucson or similar will save you on the daily rate, on fuel and on parking in the tighter bays around town. Size up to a proper three-row SUV if your group regularly hits six or seven, since this Santa Fe stops at five seats with no extra row to fold out, and skip it altogether if dune driving is on the plan, since the front-wheel-drive layout isn't built for sand. Within its own lane, a settled mid-size family SUV in a colour that hides the desert dust, it does the job well.