skip to main content
  1. Five of the best new family cars for less than £20,000
  2. Vauxhall Insignia, Create a buzz, not a hum
  3. Hyundai i800, Mass appeal
  4. Ford Kuga, Dynamic sports utility
  5. Nissan Qashqai, Mould breaker
  6. Renault Scenic, Mainstream MPV

Hyundai i800, Mass appeal

On the face of it the Hyundai i800 doesn't have a great deal going for it. For a start, it's a huge chunk of minibus and it's made in Korea. But then when you actually drive it, you realise it's remarkably cool in a quasi-A-Team sort of way (especially in black, obviously) and it's much more fun behind the wheel than it should be. Sure, it's slow - despite having a massive 2.5-litre diesel engine - but it's also built of better stuff than might be expected and it has some thoughtful flourishes in the cabin that suggest it's been made with harassed parents in mind - like controls for the rear heaters. It's also got a mammoth boot, which we'd bet you could actually fit a real-life extinct mammoth into.

And because it's from Korea, it's cheap as boiled rice. At a shade under £20k for eight seats and a comprehensive spec sheet, there's little to complain about. Apart from corners maybe. But we'll move on.

Mark Nichol