Car of the Year Awards 2026: 7-seat SUV of the Year

For years, car brands have been obsessed with lowering the rooflines of their SUVs in a bid to make them look ‘sporty’. It’s a trend that results in compromised head room and has next to no effect on how much fun the car is to drive. So, it’s probably a good thing that whoever designed the latest Hyundai Santa Fe didn’t get that memo. Indeed, they’ve positively embraced the right angle, creating a silhouette that almost looks like it was meant for Minecraft. 

We’ll leave you to judge how pretty the result is and focus on the huge objective benefit: third-row head room. In many similar-priced rivals, including the Peugeot 5008 and Nissan X-Trail, the rearmost seats are best left for kids or adults you hold a grudge against. But in the Santa Fe, even a couple of six-footers will be surprisingly comfortable on long journeys. 

That boxy rear end also means large, oblong windows for a great view out, and being relegated to the third row doesn’t mean you have to do without armrests or cupholders. Indeed, you can even recline the angle of the backrests for a more laid-back posture. Access is superb, too, thanks to wide-opening doors and middle-row seats that tumble out of the way with a simple button press. 

If you opt for range-topping Calligraphy trim, you can have two ‘captain-style’ armchairs in the middle row, but the standard sliding three-seat bench takes greater advantage of the Santa Fe’s cavernous interior. With said bench slid all the way back, there’s loads of leg room – enough that you could afford to surrender some of it to give whoever’s behind you a bit more space. 

But a great seven-seater needs a big boot as well – and the Santa Fe has one. Even with all seven seats in use, you aren’t forced to travel light, but fold the third row down and you’re left with a colossal load bay. And thanks to the wide, square aperture and standard powered tailgate, loading and unloading is easier than in the closely related Kia Sorento. 

Even in our recommended entry-level Premium trim, the Santa Fe’s interior feels reasonably upmarket and the driving position is superb. You sit high up on a broad, comfy seat with a great view of your surroundings, making this 4.8-metre-long SUV surprisingly easy to drive in town. 

Out of town, the Santa Fe prioritises comfort over corner-carving – the right approach for a car like this. The ride is supple and the interior remains hushed even at motorway speeds, yet this isn’t a top-heavy barge. With light, accurate steering, it copes perfectly well along winding roads. 

While the plug-in hybrid version has tax benefits for company car drivers, we reckon the standard hybrid is the sweet spot of the range – particularly if you’re a private buyer. It’s lighter and better to drive, plus it returned almost 40mpg in our real-world testing. 

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