Having found other owner reviews very useful on this site, I thought I should try to reciprocate and put together my experience and thoughts on 5 months ownership of my Santa Fe.

Bought the car, a 2.2 diesel, auto, 7 seat Premium, new in August 2011. Getting the internet broker price (£4k+ off list) from a main dealer who had six in stock was not at all difficult but only achievable if I took a package called Affinity which included G3 paint protection, gap insurance and a season ticket to Warrington Wolves rugby league club which in the end I swapped for a further £150 off because a family member worked in either the police or NHS. Insurance is £480 for a 55 year old with max no claims. I don't know if that is a lot as I've had company cars for quite a while. On average, I cover about 18,000 to 20,000 business miles a year and around 7,000 private miles. I might end up doing quite a bit more business miles over the next 2 or 3 years so I was attracted to to the 5 year unlimited mileage warranty.

Other cars I considered were the VW Tiguan, Mitsubishi Outlander, Honda CRV and Toyota Rav4. They were all expensive spec for spec with the Santa Fe by the time I added dual zone climate, leather and auto. On the road the Tiguan was the nicest of the others to drive, responsive and far less road noise than the CRV or Rav4. The Outlander was the most disappointing, awful engine/auto combination, jiggly ride yet wallowing suspension and far too much road and engine noise in the cabin for me and no dual zone climate option. I chose the Santa Fe because it was as good as the Tiguan and better than the others to drive, needed quite a bit less of my money, the unlimited mileage warranty, extra space and more power. It is to my mind half a size bigger than the others with noticeably more rear legroom and boot space. I was recently in a BMW X5 and that seems to have a little bit less space inside than the Santa Fe but is bigger on the outside.

The engine and auto gearbox work really well and are the stars of the show especially as the engine seems to be bedding in with the miles. Bags of torque whenever you need it and an auto box that works the way I expect it to, changing seamlessly up and down just when I would have done had it been a manual. Kickdown is immediate and provides plenty of grunt but the engine is so torquey it is seldom needed. I played around with changing the gears manually in thew first week and that side of it works really well too but the auto is so good I don't use it.

The Santa Fe is set up quite firmly which I like and when pressing on a bit it rocks and rolls a bit less than my last two cars a Subaru Outback and a Passat estate. There's a little bump and thump from the European spec suspension and 18" wheels around town but it doesn't offend. It clearly isn't a sporty drive but it is quite surprising how well it holds it all together for a big, heavy and tall car. Road and wind noise at speed is well suppressed making it a relaxing and capable motorway cruiser, better than I expected.

Other things I like about it are the seats, comfy with enough adjustment and lumbar and side bolster to fit me well. The dual zone climate does a good job of keeping SWMBO 3 or 4 degrees warmer than me. The sound system is excellent as is the ipod interface although a longer cable would be nice. The rain sensitive auto wipers are a first for me and switch on and off and increase in speed at just the right times. Inside everything seems to fit together well. The plastics are all hard, not your soft touch germanic type but there's no squeaks or rattles and overall its a nice enough place to be.

I've done 12,000 miles in 5 months. I had to have a squeaky rear shock replaced at 3 months which was handled well by the dealer. List price just for the shock is over £800 apparently. The car has used about half a litre of oil. Fuel consumption varies enormously depending on driving style. On my once a week journey to the office I've seen 27 mpg but if I keep it at around 65 and 70mph it will show 45mpg. It doesn't seem at all fussy about what type of diesel I use unlike my previous Outback that much preferred BP Ultimate. The computer is quite accurate; I've done a few brim to brim fills and it was between 1 and 2 mpg optimistic. The speedo is also very accurate reading no more than 2mph more than my satnav at any speed. I haven't noticed any smoke and if the dpf has regenerated I've missed it but I do a lot of motorway runs and little town driving.

I've towed a 750kg trailer almost fully loaded several times and that was hassle free and helped by the self levelling suspension that comes as standard with the 7 seater. Sitting higher than in a normal car means that I can now see what else is behind me rather than having a mirror full of trailer.

I've had the rear wheels engage a few times as part of the 4wd set up, quite often in snow on a trip to the Alps and a few times in a muddy field pulling the trailer. You feel and hear a slight clunk almost as soon as the front wheels begin to spin then the traction improves. I swapped the Kumho OEM tyres for Vredestein Wintrac 4 Xtremes in October. The mud doesn't stick in them as much as with the Kumhos and they're brilliant in the snow. I've commented elsewhere that the Vredesteins aren't wearing as slowly as I hoped or was lead to believe they would so I'll be swapping over again in March.

There are a few things I'd change if I could. The front and rear fog light switches are hidden away low down to the right of the steering column. You have to feel for them and when they're switched on there's no sign in the dash, the buttons light up but you can't see them unless you duck your head down down to check. There's no bluetooth for a phone so I put in a Parrot 3100. The audio controls on the steering wheel are too close together and the channel up/down and the volume up/down functions are easy to get wrong if you don't look. The front map lights are way too weak for map or newspaper reading in the dark. The foot operated parking brake takes a bit of getting used. If you park on a slope and don't press it down hard enough you have to remember to keep your foot on the main brake pedal and press the parking brake again to release it and then again harder to put it back on.I guess it has to work this way and on the positive side it gives you a usefully large two part storage bin where the handbrake would be.

In summary I'm very pleased with my choice as it does the things important to me very well, has all the extras I want at a price that others don't come close to.