Driving the Hyundai Stargazer from an uncle’s perspective
SOMETIMES having to review cars as part of my job has its own benefits. My nephew, being the younger of my brother’s two children, likes to experience cars that I borrow and test, to satiate his love for cars.
So, whenever a test unit arrives, he would often ask me what car I’m testing for the week, and gets to ride with me for a short spin before I have it parked in our cramped condominium parking space. And then, the Hyundai Stargazer arrived as my lend-out for that week. He quipped, “It’s a spaceship!”
It is, at the very first glance, especially if people have seen the Staria, from the Staria-esque front end, the quadrilateral headlights, the LED light bar above the grille, to the geometric H-shaped tail lights at the rear, it looks nothing like it. This car has attracted stares from all around — from my neighbors in the condominium and even the guard at our building — and never took their eyes from it for a brief moment. And it’s an MPV — an affordable family carrier at that, starting at P1.258 million.
The little boy proceeded to open the rear passenger doors only to get at the third row seat, alongside my sister-in-law, who found the third row seats comfy and offering good enough legroom for even two adults. My brother and my niece followed suit as well, as we planned to head out for lunch in Tagaytay for a late Mothers’ Day lunch. And we had to pick up our mom for that as well.
Luckily for her, she gets to sit behind the front passenger seat. She found the little dining tray in front of her, behind the front passenger seat, where she can enjoy her coffee, Netflix on her iPad for her Koreanovelas, and some snacks, feeling as if she’s in an economy class flight carrier. Neat.
And only this top of the line GLS Premium trim offers that, with black leatherette seats, a center arm rest, as well as USB ports at the second row, though we wish for a tray behind the driver’s side as well. Noise levels are low enough that we barely need to raise our voices in a conversation, and the ride is comfortable for its class too. So, much so that we had children and my sister in-law sleeping, which is a sign of a comfortable ride.
And yes, thank goodness for wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, that I didn’t really need to bring out my USB cable that’s always connected to my power bank from my bag. There’s also a wireless charging pad on the center console as well, which is a peach. It really does have the essentials, and then some, for an MPV around that price.
Particularly a favorite of mine is Hyundai’s Smartsense safety suite, which came in handy for a lot of the times in the city, especially riders trying to speed in front of me in heavy traffic. There’s a red icon on which my nephew even noticed, notifying me there’s someone trying to overtake me on the other lane, as I explained that to the little guy at the back. Combined with its lane keeping function, it really does help in keeping us all safe as we escaped the city and headed out to Tagaytay, and that was also my nephew’s comment after we reached SLEx on our way there, impressing him. It was so safe that he quipped that “we won’t have any intruders.” Just like a spaceship would.
The 1.5-liter Smartstream four-cylinder engine provided sufficient power and torque, at 115 PS and 144 Nm, respectively. And its continuously variable transmission, which Hyundai dubs the IVT or intelligent variable transmission, ensures power delivery is smooth as an automatic transmission will allow. The engine-transmission combo worked wonders with fuel consumption, with 9.9 km/ liter on mixed conditions, and that’s going to Tagaytay and going back again. It didn’t consume a bar of fuel for the whole trip.
We arrived at Breakfast at Antonio’s, where we chatted about adulting, family business, and how my sister in-law was doing in between gigs. She’s a member of a local rock band.
I turned to face my little car-loving nephew, who then gave me a big smile and a thumbs-up. He liked it. And that kind of takes me back to my childhood when my dad was still young and took me to places.
Now that I think about it, it was a long time ago when my dad introduced me to an MPV that ignited my love for cars. It was that day that I did the same to my little nephew, with the Stargazer.