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Ok.  I'm starting to feel that I perhaps have looked at too many options and completely confused myself, and perhaps I need to stop looking for perfection for my under £8k budget! 

I had pretty much decided on the Santa Fe - it would tow practically any caravan we choose next, looks good, is comfortable, there's plenty available at a reasonable price ... but then I convinced myself that the road tax was too high, the non-towing mpg wasn't particularly wonderful and the service costs were too high. And, most importantly, do I really want such a darned big car on a day to day basis?

From squinting at our dealer's website, I figure most of the caravans we're likely to look at weigh up to 1350kg.  So if I add 200kg-ish on for our payload, I only really need to tow 1600kg max (yes, I know the maths is a bit adrift there ).  I still want to retain the higher driving position of an MPV but most of the smaller ones either seem to struggle to make an 85% match on kerbweight or have very low noseweights. 

Should I stick with buying a Santa Fe and just stop stressing that I'm making the wrong decision; reconsider my caravan figures and reconcile myself to fishing from a smaller pool of caravans when we  change later this year; or scout round again to find an alternative car (though I think I'm running out of ideas of ones I can afford that are smaller than a Santa Fe).

And in general, is it much better (as would seem logical) in terms of fuel economy to have a bigger car if it improves my kerbweight % match (for example from 85% to 73%)?

Have you had a test drive of the Santa Fe yet?

When you say it is a big car, how much difference is it to the other MPV type vehicles you have looked at, you may be surprised at it. The width and height maybe bigger but you may find there is not much difference in the length.

One of my work colleagues teased me about the size of the Range Rover I have until we compared their Jaguar X Type against it ..... there is only an inch and a half difference in the length, it was the height and width that made it look a lot bigger.

How much towing would it be doing compared to solo driving and how much happier would you be with the caravan you want to have rather than a one you are restricted to by another towing vehicle.

In the end it comes down to personal choice and, I am afraid, only yourself can answer that one.

Thanks ST - you are right about the personal choice thing ... and I do like the Santa Fe!

Yes, thinking about it rationally, the big-ness isn't actually the physical size of the car as I'm driving a Grand Picasso at the moment and that's fine.  It'll be my day to day car, and using a 2.2l Santa Fe for the school run feels like it would be an expensive luxury. It would be used practically every day but would tow maybe six weekends, a couple of weeks and a fortnight each year ...

We have a Sorento KX2 which is basically the same as the current santa Fe, it can do 40mpg solo, and last time out with the van did 29mpg. It is better than the previous 2.5 Sorento, which was also much heavier!

My wife usually drives it and averages 38mpg- mix of short and longer trips for work(she is not light footed!). It does about the same mpg as my 07 Saab convertible which is a 1.9 diesel!-But of course that has older technology, but we love it!