Hyundai Santa Fe: Built for barn and beyond

As you can see from the images, the new Hyundai Santa Fe is very much at home down on the farm, even if it can draw quizzical glances from the Guinea fowl, inquisitive creatures as they are. Very much like myself, as it happens, and after four generations of fairly pleasant but forgettable versions of Hyundai’s flagship SUV, they decided to give the latest version a full modernisation, drawing strongly on the themes used on their latest electric vehicles, notably the big Ioniq 9 SUV, This Santa Fe is a much more distinctive and successful exercise in styling.

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In an age when there are so many SUVs and crossovers with utterly generic looks, it’s great to see a manufacturer making an effort to make its mark. The strong, bold front is reminiscent of a Range Rover, while the boxy rear end looks a bit like a classic Volvo estate. The LED headlights cleverly pick out “H” shapes at the front (presumably for Hyundai), and are arranged in neat rectilinear blocks at the back.

From the sides, it has quite a bit of the new Land Rover Defender about it, the only failing being that the black paintwork and cladding around the arches make the black alloys look comically small, whereas they are, as is the fashion, massive at some 20 inches in diameter. This is apparently standard on the top-of-the-range “Calligraphy” spec model.

If you can overlook that, easily rectified by ordering one of the lesser trim levels with a more conventional silver finish, then the Santa Fe acquits itself well as one of the best-looking new cars on the market. It has a great presence, and not just because of its size – a bit less than a Range Rover all round.

Inside, there is also a “premium” feel and an excellent blend of buttons, dials and touchscreen controls so that you are rarely distracted. Deleting all the physical controls and loading far too much onto the touchscreen is the mistake a lot of the new Chinese entrants have made, and it’s hard to understand why you’d want to make it so difficult to, say, adjust the door mirrors or open the glove box. The Hyundai avoids such excesses.

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This is an ideal cruiser. It feels, and is, extremely comfortable. With its refined electric set-up supplementing the internal combustion engine, in “eco” mode the Ioniq is best pushed along at a leisurely pace, though in “sport” mode it can be pretty quick.

There’s also a great range of options for this hybrid, including four-wheel drive and plug-in capacity to create something extremely capable, and with a huge range. For most buyers, front-drive and the extremely efficient standard hybrid setup will be more than adequate. It can be had with six seats, with the middle row set up as separate captain’s chairs with a motorised “relax” mode; or with a three-abreast bench in the middle plus the two seats “in the boot”, and they even recline. The seats are easily lowered from controls just inside the boot (with electric tailgate as standard). It’s all slathered in leather and soft-touch plastics, and, as far as I can see, built to last.

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This Hyundai is easily the match of most of its rivals and offers good value for the package. It’s cheaper than its all-electric cousins, the Ioniq 9 and Kia EV9, but they will be cheaper to run and have a lower benefit-in-kind charge than the hybrid Santa Fe for business users. It doesn’t really give that much away to its similarly priced rivals from Mercedes, BMW and Audi – but you get far more for your money.

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More direct hybrid rivals are plentiful, comfortable and capable – Volvo XC60, Nissan X-Trail and Skoda Kodiaq. You wouldn’t be disappointed with any of those, but it’s the Santa Fe that is by far the most up-to-date, practical and the best looker. You shouldn’t be disappointed, and neither will your presumably extended family down on the farm.