Compare the2025 Hyundai Santa FeVS 2025 Nissan Murano

Both the Santa Fe and Murano 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 Murano’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.

Both the Santa Fe and Murano have rear cross-traffic warning, but the Santa Fe has Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Murano’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert doesn’t automatically brake.

Both the Santa Fe and the Murano have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear side-impact airbags, driver knee 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, driver alert monitors, 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 Murano 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 Murano’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 Nissan covers the Murano. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles. Coverage on the Murano ends after only 5 years or 60,000 miles.

The Santa Fe’s corrosion warranty is 2 years longer than the Murano’s (7 vs. 5 years).

Hyundai pays for scheduled maintenance on the Santa Fe for 1 year and 12000 miles longer than Nissan pays for maintenance for the Murano (3/36,000 vs. 2/24,000).

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 Nissan vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Hyundai third in initial quality, above the industry average. With 4 more problems per 100 vehicles, Nissan is ranked 6th.

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 Nissan With 1 fewer problems per 100 vehicles in the first three years of ownership, J.D. Power ranks Hyundai higher than Nissan.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2024 Auto Issue reports that Hyundai vehicles are more reliable than Nissan vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Hyundai 6 places higher in reliability than Nissan.

The Santa Fe’s 2.5 turbo 4-cylinder produces 36 more horsepower (277 vs. 241) and 51 lbs.-ft. more torque (311 vs. 260) than the Murano’s 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder.

On the EPA test cycle the Santa Fe gets better mileage than the Murano:

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

The Santa Fe Limited’s tires provide better handling because they have a lower 45 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Murano’s 55 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Santa Fe Calligraphy has standard 21-inch wheels. The Murano’s largest wheels are only 20-inches.

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 Murano doesn’t offer drift compensation steering.

The design of the Hyundai Santa Fe amounts to more than styling. The Santa Fe has an aerodynamic coefficient of drag of .294 Cd. That is significantly lower than the Murano (.34) and many sports cars. A more efficient exterior helps keep the interior quieter and helps the Santa Fe get better fuel mileage.

The front grille of the Santa Fe uses electronically controlled shutters to close off airflow and reduce drag when less engine cooling is needed. This helps improve highway fuel economy. The Murano doesn’t offer active grille shutters.

The Santa Fe has standard seating for 7 passengers; the Murano can only carry 5.

The Santa Fe has 40 cubic feet more passenger volume than the Murano (152 vs. 112).

The Santa Fe has .1 inches more front legroom, .9 inches more rear headroom and 6 inches more rear legroom than the Murano.

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

The Santa Fe’s cargo area provides more volume than the Murano.

The Santa Fe’s standard towing capacity is much higher than the Murano’s (3500 vs. 1500 pounds). Maximum trailer towing in the Nissan Murano is only 1500 pounds. The Santa Fe offers up to a 4500 lbs. towing capacity.

Standard Trailer Sway Assist on the Santa Fe uses the Electronic Stability Control sensors to detect trailer sway, then uses individual brakes to counteract any swaying and help keep the tow vehicle and trailer steady. The Murano doesn’t offer electronic trailer sway control.

The power windows standard on both the Santa Fe and the Murano have locks to prevent small children from operating them. When the lock on the Santa Fe is engaged the driver can still operate all of the windows, for instance to close one opened by a child. The Murano prevents the driver from operating the other windows just as it does the other passengers.

The Hyundai Santa Fe stands out above the Nissan Murano by offering not one, but two Qi-compatible phone chargers. This convenience helps travelers with multiple devices to keep powered up on-the-go. Wireless charging eliminates lost or cluttered charging cables and and two of them provide more flexibililty. Both vehicles also offer Qi charging for the second row passengers.

The Santa Fe XRT/Limited/Calligraphy has a 115-volt a/c outlet, allowing you to recharge a laptop or run small household appliances without special adapters that can break or get misplaced. The Murano doesn’t offer a house-current electrical outlet.

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 Murano doesn’t offer an automated parking system.

The Hyundai Santa Fe outsold the Nissan Murano by over six to one during 2024.