SANTA FE - the name alone instantly grabs the attention conjuring up visions of the rugged and colourful old wild west, a sure-fire indication of what Hyundai’s first-ever in-house designed off -roader is all about.
And you sure won’t be needing your spurs to make this steed go, pardners!

A superb choice of name and, without doubt, a sales winner.

Designed in Hyundai’s Californian design studios and built at their Ulsan plant in Korea, the Santa Fe is a muscular sports utility vehicle with macho looks that sits in terms of size between Land Rover’s Freelander and Discovery. In fact, it is wider and longer than the Freelander and just 205mm shorter than the Discovery.

Similar to Toyota and Honda with their RAV4 and HR-V respectively the Sante Fe is offered in two and four-wheel driver versions. However, the Santa Fe is a much larger animal than either.

The stance is wide and solid with an aggressive looking front bumper – featuring intergrated large circular-shaped fog lamps – and distinctive bonnet character lines. The large headlamps give it a high-tech look. Similarly, high-tech combination lamps and a massive bumper stand out at the rear and complement the large backlite and tailgate. The optional roof racks and five-spoke 16-inch alloys further reinforce the sporty, aggressive image.

Inside there is a lot of space which will adequately fit in five adults and luggage. Legroom is fine and headroom under the sunroof may be a little challenging for six-footers and upwards. Equipment levels, too, are generous and include as standard front and rear power windows. Floors in passenger and luggage areas are finished in tuft cut pile carpet and there’s four-speaker radio/CD player system along with numerous handy stowage areas.

The neat instrument binnacle with its large, four classic design circle instrument cluster contains the usual plus an LCD tripmeter that can keep track of two different journeys. Pity though that it all looks a little bit too plasticky.

Other standard features include central locking, heated electric door mirrors, luggage net and twin DC power outlets amd driver and passenger airbags.

The two-wheel drive derivative - our test car - is powered through a smooth manual five-speed gearbox by a 2.0 litre DOHC engine and has a peak power output of 135bhp at 5800rpm together with a maximum torque rating of 179Nm at 4,500rpm.

The Santa Fe is certainly no lightweight and although it moves along pretty briskly, put it under pressure when overtaking and it has to work hard. Step up to the 2.4 litre and this engine’s a much worthier match.

The Santa Fe feels solid and macho and is fun to drive. And the suspension – MacPherson strut front and double wishbone at the rear with dual trailing arms – do a grand job.

Parcel one up for me.