The Santa Fe comes with up to three rows of seats and all occupants get a large amount of room, which you can divvy it out further by sliding the middle row. Every passenger gets their own USB socket and two cupholders too.In the very back there’s a mains- voltage socket, plus air vents with their own flow control. There’s even a moderate space behind the third-row – not a shed-load, but the seats aren’t butted up to the back window. The boot opening is exceptionally wide, too – so wide that Hyundai leads with the fact in its promo material. It’s the first time I can recall a car maker playing its new model’s most prominent asset as the width of its tailgate.
But that’s the pitch here: the Santa Fe is so useful you may not even need to put up a tent. On the outside upper flank behind the rear door there’s a panel not unlike the one on the Defender, only here it pops open as a grab handle so you can reach stuff on the roof rack.
There is some class and ambience to match the practicality. Perceived material quality is mostly good.
Some brushed metals don’t look like the metal they aren’t, but others do, and there’s a nice bamboo-like trim option and a gently curved instrument binnacle and touchscreen that places controls in reach of the driver. And there are separate buttons for the key driving controls and climate.
There is stacks of storage space up front, including a deep central cubby, although the centre armrest may be a touch too far back for some elbows searching for the ultimate chilled driving position.