Top-Class For Value
by Ross Finlay (21 May 04)

I reckoned I'd drawn the short straw, with a 410-mile mostly main-road and motorway run ahead, as I cranked up the Terracan just after lunchtime. After all, here's a no-nonsense turbo diesel 4x4 whose manufacturers don't hide the fact that it's much more of a workhorse than its stablemate Santa Fé. It didn't quite seem to match the drive ahead.

Those first 410 miles later, I was fully convinced that Hyundai has seriously under-promoted this bulky machine. OK, the shiny wood-effect console material is a mistake, and when Korea finally runs out of the almost perversely dull grey colour applied to the fascia trim and cloth upholstery I'll be the first to call for three cheers.

But for leisurely motorway cruising, a strong-pulling diesel engine, masses of passenger space and remarkably low noise levels, the Terracan gets ten out of ten - or maybe 9.85, because for all the talk about "terra" meaning land, and "can" being from "khan", so that it works out as "King of the Land", this is by no means as impressive a name in English as it obviously seemed from the Korean peninsula.

The 2.9-litre turbo diesel engine with 161bhp and 254lb/ft of torque at 2000rpm is a cracker, though, providing good performance and economy figures for what is a bulky body-on-chassis machine designed to cope with more off-tarmac work than the Santa Fé. Noise and vibration levels are much lower than you might expect, with foam blocks all over the place, padding in the floor, sound insulation under the bonnet and in the wings, and a seven-layer front bulkhead.

So there's no problem with noise when you head off down the motorway, and, for a clue as to just how much the Hyundai talk about this being a rough-roader is a little OTT - even if does come with a high ground clearance, front skid plate and so on - have a look at the standard tyres. They're BF Goodrich Macadam, and they produce very little in the way of surface noise to upset the tea-party tranquillity of the passenger cabin.

At the price, there can't be many 4x4s which offer so much rear passenger space as the Terracan, especially when you take the considerable cargo-netted load volume into account too.

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