There’s a huge amount of Hyundai Santa Fe safety equipment. The Active Hood System (AHS), which reduces the impact applied to a pedestrian during a collision, and a Trailer Stability Assist system appear for the first time on a Hyundai. There are also Santa Fe debuts for stability management, brake assist, emergency stop signal and driver’s knee airbag. It also comes with ABS, a hill descent system, hill start assist and seven airbags. Euro NCAP experts have awarded the Santa Fe five stars for crash safety, including an impressive 96 per cent score for adult occupant protection.

It was rated as the safest ‘Large Off-Road 4x4’ of 2012 by Euro NCAP with its scores across all test categories rated as best in class.

The Hyundai Santa Fe practicality question is an interesting one. You can order either five or seven-seat versions of the car. On the latter cars the seats fold flat in a 60/40 configuration for a load area of 534 litres. The second row of seats folds in a 40/20/40 configuration using one-touch controls, and when flat the load area increases to 1,615 litres.

The rear seats aren’t actually as tight to slot into as other cars like this, because the middle row slides forwards allowing adjustable legroom if required.