Overview

With diesel no longer the de-facto choice of fuel for large seven-seat SUVs, many of you will have found yourself getting better acquainted with the staff of your nearest filling station. As nice as they might be, we suspect you’d rather hand them less of your hard-earned, something the Hyundai Santa Fe will be able to help with.

While you still fill it with petrol, there’s an electric motor and small battery pack that recovers energy when you slow down. This is then used to either drive the car for short distances on electricity alone, assist the engine or power things like the air-con when you’re stopped. If you want something that’ll complete your commute on electric alone, you need a plug-in hybrid like the Santa Fe PHEV.

Sticking to the regular Santa Fe Hybrid, it’s available with front- or four-wheel drive and in two well equipped trim levels. There’s no diesel option at all unlike the related Kia Sorento, and no lowly trim level to attract value-conscious buyers. Even so, it’s much cheaper than a lot of the premium badged alternatives out there. After all, the Audi Q7, BMW X5, Mercedes-Benz GLE and Volvo XC90 aren’t that much bigger.

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However, the Santa Fe is priced closer to the smaller Land Rover Discovery Sport and Mercedes-Benz GLB, while also battling with mainstream rivals such as the aforementioned Sorento, Peugeot 5008, Skoda Kodiaq and Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace. If seven seats aren’t a necessity, then the list of competitors opens up even more.

Over the next few pages we’ll be scoring the Santa Fe in 10 key areas to give it a score out of five. They’ll take into account the driving experience, how pleasant the interior is, the practicality on offer and what it’ll cost you.