Hyundai Staria

Hyundai has given both the seven-seater and ten-seater versions of the Staria same-looking cabin layouts, including similar dashboards. In both versions, the quality levels and executed designs are excellent and make the Staria feel premium.

Hyundai is offering four Nappa leather upholstery options for the seven-seater Staria – dual-tone brown, monotone black, dual-tone grey, and dual-tone blue. Meanwhile, the ten-seater Staria is offered with three upholstery options – black fabric, carbon monotone semi-Nappa leather, and black Nappa leather.

Both versions of the Hyundai Staria come equipped with a 10.25-inch full-TFT instrument console placed far ahead of the four-spoke multi-functional steering wheel as a free-standing unit. Both driver and co-driver sides of the dashboard have sleek horizontal housings for the AC vents. The vertically-laid pop-out centre console houses a new-age 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system and physical buttons for the auto AC.

The lower part of this centre console comes with a wireless charging pad, transmission buttons, and an electronic parking brake switch. The Staria also gets more premium features like a dual sunroof, ventilated and heated front seats (second row also in the seven-seater version), USB ports for all seats, smart powered tailgate, one-touch relaxation rear seats, power sliding side doors, and BOSE audio system.

Both versions of the Hyundai Staria have very unique and futuristic design languages, which are polarising to look at – while some might find them cool-looking, some might not be impressed with their out-of-the-box designs. However, both versions command attention and have a sense of futurism.  

Both versions of the Hyundai Staria have differences in their front profiles. The seven-seater version comes with vertical rounded rectangular housings for the LED projectors, while the ten-seater version has smaller pentagonal all-LED headlamps. The wide-looking grille, in which these headlamps are housed in their extreme corners, also looks different in both versions, with the seven-seater version offering two different options for the inserts – dark chrome and bronze. Both versions of the Staria have a long daytime running LED strip running across the width of their fascia.

The side profile of both versions of the Staria looks similar, with the van having large-sized window panels and a sliding theme for the opening and closing of the rear door panels. The angular design for the front quarter glass and upright design of the rear window panels make the Staria look large when viewed from the side. The van comes with 18-inch alloy wheels as standard. The rear profile of both versions is also the same, with the Staria having a clean design with vertical parametric LED tail lamps on the corners and the rear windscreen covering half of the rear look.

The Hyundai Staria is a large and boxy people mover with the stance of a traditional van, so expecting it to be a dynamically excellent vehicle behind the steering wheel might be a bit too much. Body roll can be felt at higher speeds, though the low-speed ride quality is well-cushioned. The Staria is offered with four drive modes for preferable driving experiences – Smart, Normal, Eco and Sport.

All the variants of the Hyundai Staria come with a diesel-automatic powertrain as standard. The 2.2-litre four-cylinder diesel engine of the Hyundai Staria is paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission and delivers a maximum power output of 177 bhp and a peak torque output of 431 Nm.

Matching the no-compromise approach followed for comfort and convenience features, the safety equipment list of the Hyundai Staria is also exhaustive with features like a surround-view monitor, blind spot view monitor, rear occupant alert, forward collision avoidance assist, driver attention alert with leading vehicle departure alert, blind spot collision assist, safe exit assist, smart cruise control with stop and go, lane following assist, lane keep assist and rear cross-traffic collision avoidance assist. It also gets six airbags, ABS with EBD, vehicle stability management, electronic stability control, traction control, hill start assist, and ISOFIX mounts for child seats.

If you are comfortable living with the polarizing looks of the Hyundai Staria, this large and luxurious people mover from Hyundai is a potent long-distance family vehicle with premium interiors, a long list of equipment and a composed ride quality.