The front seats are heated and cooled in the top-spec Highlander model I tested and there's also a heated steering wheel. There are controls in the third-row seats too but you have ultimate control of the rear climate from the front central console. There are air vents in all three rows of seating in the Santa Fe, which is great for keeping all the rear passengers cool. Some say big-kid rear passengers reach forward and play with them while you are driving along for japes, which I can imagine me and my siblings doing! The access buttons on the side of the front passenger seat make it easy for the driver to move that seat electronically without having to get out of the car, which was great for school pick-ups and helping elderly relatives in and out of the car. Or with a forward-facing child seat in the second row, a 184cm+ driver can sit in front. We found legroom good throughout the Santa Fe and when I was seated in the third-row with a rear-facing child sea in the second-row, then a 182cm driver could fit in front. To access the third-row seats you do have to uninstall a child seat from the second-row you can fold the seat forward and climb through.

I could sit back there comfortably though and I'm 162cm tall. Unfortunately, the third-row seats don't have any top tether anchorages or ISOFix points so I couldn't install any child seats back there. I found three child seats would just fit across this second-row. Now on to the child seats… This seven-seater family SUV has top tether anchorages on the back of all three second-row seats and ISOFix points for the two outer seats. It is important you know so you are making an informed decision from the start if you are planning to use the third-row seats. Starting with the Santa Fe seating, like the Kia Sorento there are no third-row airbags.

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