Hyundai Santa Fe 2.2 CRTD CDX 7 Seat review
Hyundai Santa Fe 2.2 CRTD 150 CDX 7st Road Test
Test date 28 May 2006
Price as tested £24,430
For Handy size, seven-seat versatility, strong and refined diesel, well kitted
Against Cabin still lacks class, limited front headroom, cramped third row
We’ve said it before, but this new Hyundai Santa Fe provides some of the strongest evidence yet that the Koreans are coming.
Armed with what we shall see is a credible product and reinforced by that most sought-after of commodities – decent residual value – it’s a far cry from the days when we’d recommend such a machine only to those who couldn’t afford anything better.
Hyundai also appears to be ahead of the game in the design of this all-new Santa Fe. The MPV world has long realised that you don’t have to drive something the size of a container ship simply because you need seven seats.
However, the news appears to have slipped by SUV designers, despite the fact that a large proportion of the sales of these cars go to people looking for a rather more stylish alternative to a people mover.
The company has spotted a huge gap in the market between compact, five-seat recreational off-roaders such as the Toyota RAV4 and Nissan X-trail, and big seven-seat barges like the Land Rover Discovery. Priced and sized to split the difference between these two classes, and available with two third-row seats for an extra £600, it is into this space that the Santa Fe neatly, not to say somewhat opportunistically, dives.
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