Hyundai Santa Fe PHEV review: big, clever and surprisingly sensible
The Hyundai Santa Fe PHEV is big, bold and packed with clever touches. It may cost around £50,000, but against pricier seven-seat rivals it starts to look like a very sensible choice.
We've had the Hyundai Santa Fe on our roads for a while now, and it still looks as striking and unusual as it did when it first arrived. And I like that about it. It's not for the introverts, because it's incredibly distinctive, but it's definitely stylish in a world that's increasingly being dumbed down by innocuous design.
The interesting design carries on inside, too, with an interior that's arguably feeling more conventional these days, but still refreshingly functional and practical.
I particularly like the double-level centre console, and the array of dash-mounted controls for things like climate control, entertainment, cameras, and driving mode really makes my heart sing.
There's a plethora of charging points and cup holders, so the passengers are well catered for, and a third row of seats (even in the plug-in hybrid) that pops up from a flat boot floor. As big-family wagons go, this is on a par with the best of them out there.
I've spent a week in the plug-in hybrid version, which is a sensible choice, and the latest versions have a 105bhp motor and a 13.8kWh battery, which is good for a claimed 34 miles on a charge.
That, to be honest, isn't an impressive number these days, and neither is the power output from its 1.6-litre engine. No, that's not a typo. It's a big car with a small engine.
The pay-off, of course, is in the fuel economy. That little engine might make a bit of a fuss, but it's going to give you some decent MPG, with 40mpg+ manageable, and much more if you're using some battery power too.
It drives nicely, too, with body roll kept in check, accurate steering, and relatively tidy dynamics in a B-road for such a big vehicle.
And the more you live with it, the more practical touches you notice. I love the window blinds for the middle row, and the way that row reclines and moves back and forth to free up space for the rear, or create legroom for the middle.
And for all the quirkiness of the exterior, it's the interior you'll fall for soonest in the Santa Fe. Hyundai has a habit of thinking outside the box, and creating ingenious ways to make its cars marry up with modern life particularly well, and this being its biggest offering, that ingenuity is on prominent display here.
Prices hover liberally around the £50,000 mark, with the cheapest being a hybrid and the most expensive being variants of the plug-in hybrid.
They're all treated to a generous kit list, and they all come with a five-year warranty and some decent dealer offers.
Of course, I'm not going to pretend £50,000 isn't a lot of money, but given its size and utilitarian appeal, you can't help but pitch it against the likes of Volvo's XC90 and Land Rover's Discovery. And then it starts to look like quite the bargain.
If it wasn't quite so well thought out, so nice to drive, and so easy for a big family to live with, that would make opting for a more expensive car far easier to justify, but the fact is, this does everything every bit as well. So it's an incredibly sensible choice.