What is Kia Sportage comparable to?

The RAV4 is the longest of these three models by a decent margin, and that could be worth considering especially if you live in the city and find yourself negotiating tight parking spaces often.

But when it comes to width and height, all three are pretty close. And in truth, it’s the boot capacity that helps justify the extra length of the RAV4. Here are the specs:

That’s right, the RAV4 has 20 per cent more boot room than the Sportage, and 16 per cent more than the Tucson. But the Toyota is also the only one without a full-size spare, if that matters to you. It makes do with a space-saver, where the other two have matching alloy spares under their boot floors.

The Toyota is also the only one without a full-size spare.

Now, the usability of the cargo area is clearly Advantage Toyota, with a more copious cargo zone allowing for easier loading. It’s not just the space on offer, but also the size of the boot opening - it’s wider and taller than its competitors, which is great when you’re loading in prams or luggage, as you can see from the images.

As for back seat space, the Toyota again trumps its rivals.

There is more leg room, more head room and more shoulder room in the RAV4 than in the other two, not to mention better back seat airiness thanks to its larger windows. It offers near-as-much space as a large SUV in the back.

The Kia and Hyundai are still roomy enough for a young family, though they might fall short when it comes to the Taller Teens Test. There is almost identical knee room, head room and shoulder room in the two Korean twins-under-the-skin, but the glasshouse design of the Kia does make it feel a little freer in the back, even if the tinted windows make it feel a bit dark.

Storage in all three is good, with cup holders between the front seats and in a flip-down armrest in the rear seat of each, plus bottle holders in all four doors, too. Each has a covered centre console and a decent glovebox… but again, it’s the Toyota that takes the storage smarts to the next level, with a shelf across the dashboard for loose item storage, and a big bin section in front of the shifter which also happens to house a Qi wireless phone charger.

Up front, these models all get media systems with decent tech, but here’s a rundown on what each has.

On test, we found the Kia’s flush-fit media screen to be a neater aesthetic, but it was a little harder to reach when driving, and also not as easy to get that ‘at a glance’ info that the tablet-style screens offer. Though we did find that the ‘old-school’ array of buttons below the screen was actually really handy, and nicely laid out, too.

The Hyundai’s screen looks modern and tidy, with a more user-friendly button layout than the Kia. It is simple to operate, with an almost identical menu system to the Kia, too.

The Toyota’s screen is one of its least impressive elements. Sure, it’s easy enough to use and the menus are easy to find your way around because there are hard buttons either side of the screen to assist, but - at the time of writing - there’s still no smartphone mirroring available. It’s due late in 2019, and we reckon the addition of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will lift the game of the RAV4 even further.

All of our judges felt the presentation of the RAV4’s cabin was the most modern and sporty, while the Tucson was found to be simple but maybe a touch too basic, and the Sportage was a bit more flash thanks to splashes of silver throughout, despite an abundance of black plastics.

All told, the extra boot space and bigger back seat of the Toyota put it as the clear winner for practicality, and it also won for presentation - so it outscores its competitors here.