Hyundai is not yet sure it wants to make a full production version of the Santa Fe Cabriolet (and it probably won’t), but if it did, it’d be the world’s first seven-seater convertible... that’s also an SUV.

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It doesn’t have any kind of roof to speak of, but as Australia’s CarAdvice found out, pretty much everything else works and is functional.

The vehicle was actually designed and built by Hyundai Australia to only be driven on sunny days when it isn’t raining, and apparently, you shouldn’t drive it when there’s lightning outside, either. The prototype uses a 2.2-liter diesel engine according to the reviewer, it drives pretty decently for something its size.

There’s obviously not a real business case for the model and it was probably conceived purely as a fun one-off for sunny Australia. It isn’t registered for road use, though, and being an engineering prototype built primarily for suspension testing, it will probably end up being scrapped anyway.

If you do want to buy a drop-top high rider, don’t fret: you can have a second hand Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet or a new Range Rover Evoque convertible; they’re not three-row SUVs, but they do have a proper roof so you can drive them in the rain.

Further Reading

Read our full review on the 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe.

Read our full review on the 2017 Land River Range Rover Evoque Convertible.