It was when some character behind was trying to push me round the long S-bend at a familiar motorway exit that I realised Hyundai's Trajet MPV has at least one thing in common with the Coupé: if you keep the throttle steady on a bend and don't haul on the steering wheel, it will go round quicker than people like my close contact - who suddenly got into a lot more understeer than he wanted - expect.
Mind you, it's an MPV first and foremost, and not intentionally of the sporting persuasion. Hyundai made a pretty good job of the layout of its first car of this type, with seven individual seats - the front pair able to be swivelled round - and generous headroom even for the third-row passengers. As always, though, getting a comfortable amount of legroom depends on friendly negotiations with the people sitting immediately in front.
In GSI specification, the Trajet is well loaded with stowage areas, including not one but two lockers ahead of the front passenger. Cubbyholes and cupholders, pull-out under-seat drawers, aircraft-style trays, fold-down seat backs which double as picnic tables - they're all there. So are three 12-volt sockets, and there's a neat touch in the provision of elastic retaining straps above the front door pockets, to stop magazines, newspapers and whatnot from flapping around.
When all seven seats are in the upright position there isn't all that much space for luggage to be placed ahead of the restraining net, but that's common to all seven-seater MPVs of this overall size.
Each of the five rear seats can be removed, and with an MPV of this size it's always worth considering whether to create a four-seater layout, if that's the number of people on a particular journey, by taking out two of the middle seats and one from the rear, in the interests of extra lounging space for the single occupant left in each row.
Passengers in the third row have lightly padded outer armrests plus an offside control for heating and ventilation. The side doors are wide, so that getting in and out is easier than is the case with some rival cars of the same size and type.
So, even if it's not a 2003 design, the Trajet is sensibly laid out. What it doesn't have is a glamorous interior. This is one of the Hyundai models with unexciting trims and textures, and the most stylish cabin feature is the handbrake.
The Trajet is the work of Hyundai's European design centre at Frankfurt, and it doesn't have quite the appeal of the smaller and more recently marketed Pininfarina-styled Matrix.
No gripes about the two-litre CRTD on the road, though. This turbo diesel is one of Hyundai's in-house affairs - indeed, it was the first of the company's diesel engines on the UK market - and it pulls strongly, with 188lb/ft of torque at 2000rpm. The 2.7-litre V6 petrol engine beats it for straight-line performance, of course, but the CRTD comes back strongly for mid-range pull, and it's a popular engine with Trajet buyers looking for economy.
As with other Hyundai models there's one particular thing to note about the Trajet - the five-year unlimited mileage warranty.
Second opinion: A performance handling test of a Hyundai MPV? Well, remember you read it first on CARkeys. There's nothing at all exciting about the Trajet - it's really a fit-and-forget kind of machine, but that's no doubt precisely what its potential customers are looking for. As a way of travelling from A to B in reasonable comfort with acceptable performance, good economy and heaps of space in various combinations it seems a very decent buy. If we must talk of cornering ability (and as the magazine's official boy racer I suppose I have to), it should perhaps be pointed out that the Trajet does not like entering corners quickly - loud tyre squeal and cannonball-like understeer are the inevitable result. Once settled into the corner, though, the Trajet will accept a lot of throttle and can fairly zip out the other end. Whether or not any buyer will make use of this, of course, is another question entirely. David Finlay.
