Hyundai Santa FE SUV

1.6 TGDi Hybrid Ultimate 5dr Auto [2025]

With the clamour for smaller SUVs over the last few years, it’s easy to forget about the bigger end of the market – the seven-seaters.

These are often the flagships of a brand's lineup - no car is more imposing than a giant 4x4.

As for Hyundai, it’s been quietly going about its business, refining its large SUV, the Santa Fe, since 2001. Back then, it wasn’t particularly memorable – neither was its successor nor the one after that.

But the last one, the fourth generation, really hit the right spot. Launched in 2018, it significantly improved practicality and offered more luxuries than ever before, so Hyundai has big shoes to fill with this new version.

When the covers came off last year, nobody could quite believe it. Despite being based on the same platform as the previous model, it bears no resemblance to the outgoing Santa Fe. In fact, this new one seemingly takes styling cues from the previous generation Land Rover Discovery.

Squint and it looks like a futuristic version of Land Rover's formerly squared-off boxy off-roader. And it’s the likes of the newer Discovery that Hyundai is now squarely (quite literally) aiming for.

But is it any good? And will a would-be Discovery owner be tempted by it?

Let’s find out.