Rent Hyundai SANTA FE 2023 in Dubai

If your week in Dubai runs to a family of four or five, school drop-offs, a weekend in the dunes you watch from the tarmac, and an airport run with real luggage, the midsize SUV is the sweet spot. We rent the Hyundai Santa Fe 2023 across Dubai and deliver it to your door, with 250 km a day included before any extra-kilometre charge kicks in. It sits between the smaller Tucson and the big Palisade: more comfortable and roomier than the first, easier to park and cheaper to run than the second. The thing to settle before you book is whether five seats and this boot suit your group, so let's get into that.

Five seats, and what that means for your group

The 2023 Santa Fe is a two-row, five-seat SUV. This generation has no third row, so if you genuinely need to seat six or seven, this isn't the car and you should look at a Palisade or a people-mover instead. For a couple, or two adults with two or three kids, it's roomy where it counts. The second row is wide and the seatbacks recline, so an adult sits comfortably back there on a longer drive out to Hatta or down to Abu Dhabi.

Rear passengers get their own air vents, which matters more here than the brochure makes it sound. In July, the back seat of a car without rear vents stays warm long after the front has cooled. The Santa Fe pushes cold air to both rows, so kids behind aren't roasting.

Does the family's luggage actually fit

With all five seats up, the boot holds 1031 litres. In practical terms that's a proper grocery run plus a stroller, or two large suitcases and a couple of soft bags for an airport pickup. Fold the second row and you open up 2041 litres, which swallows flat-pack furniture or a bike with the front wheel off.

The honest caveat: with four or five people aboard and a week's worth of cases, you'll use all of that boot and pack thoughtfully. It's generous for the class, but it isn't a Palisade. If you're a family of five flying in with five big bags, expect to tetris it or size up.

Heat, parking and Dubai roads

Dubai summers push past 45 degrees, and a Santa Fe left in an open lot bakes. The 2.5-litre's air conditioning is strong and the cabin, while large, cools to comfortable in a few minutes of driving with the fans up. Park in shade where you can and crack the windows for ten seconds before you set the climate, and you'll be fine even in August.

At 4785 mm long and 1900 mm wide, this is a midsize SUV, not a compact. It's an easy car to place once you're used to it, but the Marina's tighter multi-storey bays and some older mall ramps ask for a bit of care, and you'll want to use the reversing camera in a narrow column. Ground clearance is 185 mm, enough to clear Dubai's speed bumps and mall ramps without scraping, though this is a road-biased SUV rather than a dune machine.

On Sheikh Zayed Road it's in its element. The 2.5-litre four makes 191 horsepower, ample for confident overtaking and cruising at the limit, and the car feels planted and quiet at speed. DXB and DWC airport runs are relaxed, with high seating and a smooth ride over the expansion joints on the E11.

How often you'll stop to refuel

The 67-litre tank and roughly 9 to 11 litres per 100 km in real Dubai mixed driving give you a comfortable week between fills for normal city use. If your days are mostly errands and the school run, expect to top up once across a week. Long highway stints to Abu Dhabi or Ras Al Khaimah will pull from that range faster, but the Santa Fe is efficient for a car this size and won't have you hunting for a station mid-trip.

A note on costs that catch renters out: Salik tolls are charged to you as the driver, and any RTA fines during the rental pass to you, so keep to posted limits and lanes. Seatbelts are mandatory in all seats, and children under four need a proper child seat, which we can fit on request.

Specs at a glance

Who should rent it, and who shouldn't

Rent the Santa Fe if you're a couple or a family of up to five who wants comfort, a quiet highway ride, and a boot that handles real luggage without stepping up to a full-size SUV's running costs and parking footprint. It's the car I hand to visitors who find the Tucson a touch tight but don't want to wrestle a Palisade through Marina parking.

Look elsewhere in two cases. If you regularly need six or seven seats, this five-seater won't stretch, so size up to a seven-seat SUV. And if your trip is mostly solo or two-up city driving with light bags, you're paying for space you won't use, and a Tucson or a midsize sedan will be easier to park and cheaper to feed. For everyone in between, the 2023 Santa Fe is the comfortable, sensible middle, and we'll have it at your door in one to two hours.