The Hyundai Santa Fe: now with that 'want one' feeling fitted as standard.

If your family needs a large 7-seat SUV but your budget is closer to the kind of sum needed for a mid-sized 5-seat 'Qashqai'-class model, then Hyundai hopes that its fourth generation Santa Fe will appeal. This time round, the cabin is more premium - and more spacious for seven people. Overall, it's a much more sophisticated option than it was before.

Look at a car like this, Hyundai's MK4 model Santa Fe SUV, and you get some idea of just how far this South Korean brand has come in recent years. This, after all, is the kind of quality product that has driven the improvements in its recent fortunes.

The Santa Fe has had a big role to play here. Looking back, it was the launch of the MK2 version of this car in 2006 that really put Hyundai on the map. Not only was it beautifully built - it also had beautiful market positioning, this the first relatively affordable SUV to blur the boundaries between the mid-sized class and the large Crossover segment better suited to bigger families. Santa Fe buyers paid compact sector prices but got the kind of 7-seat capacity they'd previously needed a much larger SUV for. No wonder this car became such a strong seller for the UK importers. This time round, its smartened up its act, but the basic proposition remains much the same.

How an SUV drives is usually pretty far down the priority list after how it looks, what it costs and how much room there is inside. We used to take it as read that an SUV would be about as sharp as a serving of refried beans to drive but in recent years, we've seen the pendulum swing back the other way with 'sporty' 4x4s that cornered better but at the expense of decidedly brittle ride quality. There has to be a happy medium between these two extremes and Hyundai claims that this car rather neatly strikes it.

To help with that objective, this fourth generation model rides on an all-new platform, but the engine is more familiar - a 2.2-litre 200PS diesel. This is the only powerplant that British buyers are currently offered, but there is the choice of manual or automatic transmission, the auto a new 8-speed package. As before, the oily bits are shared with sister brand Kia's Sorento model, which is certainly this car's most direct competitor. 4WD is standard too, the system in question being Hyundai's 'HTRAC' set-up, which apportions torque in varying quantities between the axles depending on the traction available, at the same time as braking individual wheels in search of better grip.

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