S P A C E travel
Think peoplemovers are dull? You haven’t met the Hyundai Staria.
The Staria Limited seems like a lot of money for a Hyundai van with some seats. But then, it’s a luxuriously equipped vehicle; and it’s not strictly a van.
The other-worldly-looking Staria is actually based on the Santa Fe SUV platform, and brings with it all the technology and driveability that entails. Essentially Hyundai has taken its most polished SUV and turned it into a van (the lightcommercial Staria Load), and then turned that van into a people-mover that rivals many top-line SUVs.
The styling is potentially polarising, but we love the out-there attitude, especially for what’s otherwise a practical family/ corporate vehicle.
The only thing about the futuristic styling is most people assume the Staria is hybrid or plug-in. In fact, it has the clattery 2.2-litre turbodiesel from the Santa Fe, in a lower state of tune (130kW versus 148kW). It’s still a strong and potentially quite frugal engine, it’s just that raucous compression-ignition doesn’t quite fit with the design concept. And it does attract a $3680 Clean Car fee.
The huge upside of the powertrain is you also get Hyundai’s HTRAC all-wheel drive system. It provides sure-footed handling and seamless traction on low-friction surfaces, although you’re definitely not going off-road. Not with that ground clearance.
The multi-link rear suspension is pretty sophisticated for a van (the Load has a more basic setup by the way), so you’re assured of stable handling at speed. It’s still a substantial thing to be punting around at speed, but your passengers will be complaining long before the chassis does.
The Staria Limited’s price is partly justified by the no-holds-barred tech. It gets all the good stuff from the top Santa Fe, including digital instrumentation (finally, that weird “cube” theme looks right in a Hyundai), Blind-spot View Monitor (which throws up a high-res video feed of the side of the vehicle in the instrument panel when you change lanes), Surround View, Rear Occupant Alert and Safe Exit Assist (to warn of approaching traffic when you open the door). The list goes on. It has driver and safety assists to spare.
But there’s also plenty of crowdpleasing MPV stuff. You can call up a picture of the rear-seat crew on the infotainment screen for chats, there are rear-seat USB ports and powered sliding doors that open automatically if you’re standing there with the key.
The rear seats slide but can’t be removed; the backrests can fold flat for longer loads and the third row has a “tip-up” feature for the squab, to maximise loadspace.
Minor storage spaces are many and mostly quite large, including two dashtop bins. There’s a massive centre console which serves both first and second rows; handy, but
it does mean you can’t walk through to the second row from up front.
The rear seats are leather, but not exactly sumptuous. In that respect, the Staria is a bit more posh bus than corporate express: loads of space everywhere, but the major impression is functionality. It’s no Palisade Nappa edition.
The cabin styling is great and the tech is awesome, but the materials used for the dashboard and door trims are still pretty, well, vanny. Not a lot of texture and not many softtouch surfaces. It reminds you some Staria variants also serve as workaday vans.
But that doesn’t dull the appeal. It’s packed full of tech and a delight for driver and passengers alike, which is exactly what a peoplemover is supposed to be.