Comparison: Ground clearance Hyundai Santa Fe vs. competitors 2025

The Santa Fe's journey from an absolute mystery in ground clearance figures from its first generation (2001-2006) to a soaring height in its second (2006-2012) with a robust 203 mm clearance, only to sheepishly drop down by a few unnoticeable millimeters in subsequent refreshes. The latest facelift of the fourth-gen (2020-now) flirts with the ground at 176 mm, seemingly trimming down for a more aerodynamic profile and perhaps admitting that not every family retreat requires fording a river or climbing a rock face.

Compared to the rest of Hyundai's brood, the Santa Fe's ground clearance doesn't write home about conquests over mountainous terrain. In fact, it plays middle ground—literally. You've got the nimble-footed i20 N and friends tiptoeing around at approximately 130 to 140 mm, while the giddy Kona and Tucson siblings loom at a more adventurous 170 mm. Towering over them all, like a lighthouse over choppy seas, is the Hyundai Staria, boasting a clearance that clears the 186 mm bar! The Santa Fe lounges somewhere in-between, high enough to hurdle over everyday obstacles but modest enough to retain its composure in a corner.

Variety is the spice of life and vehicle heights. Take the Suzuki Vitara, which scrapes the sky, matching the second-gen Santa Fe at 185 mm, yet presents a smaller footprint with its petite length and Daewoo Matiz-rivaling wheelbase. Then we speed across to the sublime opulence of the Land Rover Range Rover Velar, which at 213 mm towers over the Santa Fe like a skyscraper, backing its metropolitical length and height with a chasm-spanning wheelbase. But let's not forget the likes of the Mazda MX-30, Genesis GV70, and Lexus UX, who, interestingly, see eye to eye with the Santa Fe, all near the 160-185 mm zone—not quite enough to trigger altitude sickness, but enough to leap over a naughty kerb. When one looks at Spartan warriors like the Tesla Model Y or the Mercedes Benz EQE SUV, their ground clearances are making low-profile tire manufacturers giddy with delight at 167 mm and 154 mm, respectively, while the aristocratic Aston Martin DBX's astonishingly lofty 235 mm altitude screams 'Do you even lift, bro?' to its rivals.