We bought a 2017 SFS SE 2.4L AWD this past December. We really didn't shop around or look at other car makers. The only SUV/CUV we considered at the time was the Nissan Rogue which was more expensive and had less features than the SF.
We loved all the standard features on the SF that we bought. The panoramic sunroof is awesome along with heated front and rear leather seats and steering wheel. There are plenty more items as well but too many to list here. We are in Canada, so I'm not sure if there are differences in features from SF's in other countries.
In hindsight, I wish we had shopped around and even bought something else. Don't get me wrong, we really like the SF, however, after less than three months of ownership of the car, we have had issues with it.
Right from the start, as soon as I had the papers signed, my sales guy sat me in the car to go over the features. I noticed that the car had almost 300 Km on the odometer. Some people might not have a problem with that, however, to me that car was a demo and in 300 km of driving in the city I live in, that is enough driving to beat the sh#t out of it! We have potholes in our roads that could swallow a car! I mentioned this to my sales guy and he shrugged it off saying that "ALL" the cars in their inventory are available for test drives. Whatever! My last two new vehicles I have purchased both had less than 100 km on them when I took delivery. 300 km on delivery seemed excessive to me and others I talked to.
As soon as I took delivery of the car and left the dealership and drove a short distance (literally within 2 mins of leaving), I heard a knocking in the front left strut when I drove over slight bumps or small heaves in the road. I called the dealer and made an appointment to have it looked at, and of course, they couldn't find anything wrong!
Then I started having a few issues with the acceleration (there are threads about this here and on other Hyundai forums with this same problem). Sometimes while leaving a parking lot or a stop light, and while turning, the car is really sluggish to accelerate. The 5-6 times I have experienced it, it's like the car doesn't want to move. This can be a real issue if you have other cars coming at you! Again, I called the dealership, and again, they never heard of it before! Yet there is plenty of documented cases of this happening, especially in the 2.0 Turbo SF.
Another issue that we have seen is while starting the car. There have been a few times while turning the key, it takes between 4-6 seconds for the car to actually start. This isn't a common thing, however it has happened around 4 or 5 times. Still too many for a new car.
I have noticed the transmission is not overly smooth as well. Sometimes it is downright violent. I drive an even split of city and highway. While driving on the highway, I have experienced violent jolts as the gears shift while trying to maintain 105-110km/h while starting to go up a low grad incline. This happens frequently to me on the same stretch of highway almost every time I am driving home from work, and even though I know it's going to happen, it still frightens me.
I have also noticed the transmission to be jumpy in lower gears and at slower speeds as well, but not as violent as I mentioned above. All of these transmission issues seem to be while climbing an incline. It's like the car can't figure out what gear it's supposed to in, even while driving at slower speeds.
All thing's considered, I'm not thrilled with my SFS. Yes, it's got loads of great features and is a nice car to drive, but for only having it for less than three months, I've had too many issues and complaints with it. It is my first Hyundai, and at this point, probably my last.
If I had my time back, I would have went with the 2017 Honda CRV-Touring. It has most if not all of the same features as the SFS for about $3000 (Canadian) more.
