- Doors and Seats
5 doors, 8 seats
- Engine
3.5i, 6 cyl.
- Engine Power
200kW, 331Nm
- Fuel
Petrol (91) 10.5L/100KM
- Manufacturer
FWD
- Transmission
Auto
- Warranty
5 Yr, Unltd KMs
- Ancap Safety
5/5 star (2021)
2021 Hyundai Staria V6 petrol launch review
It’s all about space with the new Hyundai Staria people mover, from the way it looks to the cavernous interior and beyond, discovers Glenn Butler.
- Loads of space and storage
- Long list of safety features
- Manoeuvrable for a vehicle of this size
- No ISOFIX in third row, baby-seat anchors are hard to reach
- Fuel consumption will be high
- Tailgate should be electric
Introduction
If any vehicle type is ripe for a sexy makeover it’s the eminently practical, yet sadly unpopular, people mover. Vehicles like the Kia Carnival, Toyota Granvia, Honda Odyssey and Volkswagen Multivan are some of the most practical vehicles going around, and yet they simply don’t rush off showroom floors like SUVs do.
Just one in every hundred new vehicles sold each month is a people mover. So, practicality clearly isn’t the drug we’re buying when it comes to our addiction to new metal. But that doesn’t mean people movers should be forgotten, and we’re glad that the 10,000 Australians who do buy practical over personality have cars like those mentioned above to choose from. Exceptional functionality has a place in this world.
Hyundai has been selling eight-seat people movers in Australia for a few years now. The 2022 Hyundai Staria we’re testing here launched in September 2021 as the successor to the Hyundai iMax. But even Hyundai knew the iMax lacked a little something. Hence the Staria’s spaceship-like looks.
That’s right, space is the new frontier.
Hyundai offers the Staria in six different specifications: three come with a 2.2-litre turbodiesel and all-wheel drive, and the other three come with a 3.5-litre petrol V6 and front-wheel drive. All have an eight-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters.
The one we’re testing here is the entry-level petrol variant, called simply the Hyundai Staria, priced at $48,500 plus on-road costs. Above that sits the Staria Elite, priced from $56,500, and the top of the range is the Staria Highlander, priced from $63,500. At each gade, opting for the available turbo diesel, all-wheel drive option adds $3000 to those prices.
The Staria’s exterior styling dominates conversation initially. This is one futuristic looking space shuttle that reminds me of Boba Fett’s helmet from the front. It’s also big, measuring 5.25m bumper to bumper and just under two metres tall (1.99m to be exact). That’s 103mm longer and 65mm taller than the old iMax. Its 1970mm width is 50mm wider than the iMax, too. So yes, it’s bigger in every dimension.
Key details | 2021 Hyundai Staria V6 petrol FWD |
Price (MSRP) | $48,500 |
Colour of test car | Abyss Black mica |
Options | none |
Price as tested | $48,500 |
Price on-road | $53,036 (Melbourne) |
Rivals | Kia Carnival | Honda Odyssey | Hyundai Palisade |
Inside
The Staria’s interior is spacious, comfortable and a little futuristic. The first thing that hits you as you slide into the driver’s seat is the cool centrally mounted 8.0-inch infotainment screen. More expensive Staria Elite and Highlander models get a bigger 10.25inch screen, but that doesn’t mean this 8.0-inch model is lacking. More on this in the Infotainment section below.
The Staria base model has fabric seats with manual adjustment and doors that open manually – including the tailgate which is huge, and can be challenging for smaller humans (sub-1.6m) to reach and close.
The Staria has remote lock and unlock, but eschews a start button in favour of an old-school ignition barrel. There are electric windows (front two only) and mirrors, but no sunroof or window shades which are reserved for the more expensive variants. The base model’s back windows are of the pop-out, latch-secured type that opens little more than a centimetre. Again, the more expensive models win here with sliding windows.
A huge central bin between the driver and front passenger houses two big cupholders (there are 16 in all, scattered around the cabin) and a very deep storage bin with sliding cover. There’s also a very handy oddments tray on the dashboard ahead of the driver, just in front of the flat-screen containing the speedo, tacho, fuel gauge and other driving-related information.
This entry-level Staria has a basic air-conditioning system instead of climate control. There is an independently controlled second zone for second- and third-row occupants, and roof-mounted air vents for both of these rows, plus floor vents in the third row.
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Those sizeable exterior dimensions translate into a cavernous interior with three rows of seating, all of which will comfortably take adults – although the limiting factor here might be the gross vehicle mass (maximum weight) of 2920kg, which caps the combined weight of all eight occupants and luggage to 778kg.
Cargo space with the third row occupied is a still massive 831 litres. Push the second and third rows forward on their runners and cargo space grows to 1303L.
The seats are a 2-3-3 configuration, and both back rows slide forward and fold, either to provide passenger access to the row behind or increase cargo space. The second row is split 60/40, although strangely the ‘40’ - which would surely be the preferred access to the third row - is behind the driver and not passenger, or kerb, side.
For those with infants and toddlers, there are only two ISOFIX positions (outboard middle row) and just three top-tether anchor points (middle row). This means you’re limited to putting baby seats in the second row outboard positions only, which then makes it very hard to get people into the third row without removing the baby seats each time.
In addition to this, the top tether anchor points are very low down on the seatbase, and are beyond the reach of the standard straps on our Britax convertible baby seat and Nuna Klik Plus test units in all but the ‘40’ seat behind the driver because in that seat the straps could slide down either side.
Both the second and third row’s backrests can be reclined for a more relaxed seating position.
Key details | 2021 Hyundai Staria V6 petrol FWD |
Seats | Eight |
Boot volume | 831L seats up / 1303L seats folded |
Length | 5253mm |
Width | 1997mm (including mirrors) |
Height | 1990mm |
Wheelbase | 3273mm |
Infotainment and Connectivity
The Staria (base variant) has an 8.0-inch infotainment touchscreen mounted centrally on the dashboard. The graphics are contemporary and it responds crisply to touches. It offers a basic menu of items, including Bluetooth phone connectivity, AM/FM radio, media playback, voice memos and a digital vehicle manual.
Hyundai says this base model has wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto – systems we’ve found to be fragile on other Hyundai and Kia models (and there’s no wired fallback). More expensive models have wired CarPlay and Android Auto only.
The Staria has an interesting feature called ‘Quiet mode’ which reduces speaker volumes in all but the front row, presumably to let sleeping babies (or adults) sleep, or to aid conversation in the cheap seats when you don’t want the chauffeur to eavesdrop.
This cheapest model misses out on some niceties, such as DAB+ digital radio and satellite navigation. The centre console contains a wireless charging pad, two USB ports and a 12V port. There are two additional USB ports in the second row and another two in the third.
Safety & Technology
This is one area where the new Staria leaves the superseded iMax in its dust. In addition to seven airbags and curtain airbags that reach all three rows, the Staria has a full suite of active safety systems – none of which were offered on the iMax.
We’re talking autonomous emergency braking, forward collision avoidance (car, cycle, pedestrian) lane-following assist, rear-cross-traffic avoidance, smart cruise control, driver attention warning and intelligent speed limit assist (derived from speed-sign recognition and satnav data). All of these are packaged in what Hyundai calls its SmartSense safety suite.
The Staria also has a front and rear camera and front and rear parking sensors to make manoeuvring the big bus as easy as possible. The tyre pressure monitoring system has readouts for every tyre, helping you identify any underinflated tyres.
At the time of writing, the Hyundai Staria is yet to be crash-tested by the Australiasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) and therefore does not have a star rating.
2021 Hyundai Staria V6 petrol FWD | |
ANCAP rating | Not yet tested |
Safety report | N/A |
Value for Money
The Hyundai Staria base model’s $48,500 (plus on-road costs) puts it up against the eight-seat entry-level Kia Carnival S ($46,880) and the seven-seat Honda Odyssey Vi L7 ($48,700), although only the Kia has the on-road performance to match the Staria.
The cheapest Toyota Granvia and Volkswagen Multivan variants with eight seats carry price tags beyond $60,000, putting them well out of contention here.
Hyundai’s website estimates that a Melbourne buyer will get the $48,500 Staria onroad for $53,036. Premium paint, which makes up four of the five available colours, adds $695.
All Hyundai passenger vehicles come with a five-year, unlimited kilometre new car warranty for personal use. Hyundai vans (including the Staria) come with a 160,000km limit if used for business purposes.
Servicing intervals are every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first. Pricing for each service is $360, which makes it one of the more affordable people movers to service. By comparison, Honda currently has what it calls “5 Low Price Services” which caps each of the first five services at $125 each. The Kia Carnival’s servicing is considerably dearer, coming in at $2462 for the first five years compared to $1800 for the Hyundai.
The Staria’s claimed fuel consumption rating of 10.5L/100km (regular unleaded) is about what you’d expect from a vehicle of this physical size (2142kg unladen) with a 3.5-litre petrol V6 engine. During our test week we averaged 20 per cent worse: 12.6L/100km.
At a glance | 2021 Hyundai Staria V6 petrol FWD |
Warranty | Five years / unlimited km |
Service intervals | 12 months / 15,000km |
Servicing costs | $1080 (3 years) | $1800 (5 years) |
Fuel cons. (claimed) | 10.5L/100km |
Fuel cons. (on test) | 12.6L/100km |
Fuel type | 91 octane petrol |
Fuel tank size | 75L |
Driving
The old Hyundai iMax was a people mover built off a commercial van platform, which meant it looked, drove and handled much like a commercial van. Hyundai says the new Staria is built on the same platform as the new Hyundai Santa Fe – which it says is a dedicated passenger car platform. But don’t take that to mean it drives like an SUV, because it doesn’t.
The new Staria is a much nicer vehicle to drive than the old iMax, but it lands somewhere in between commercial van and SUV.
First up, the good points. The Staria’s (and Santa Fe’s) 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine has plenty of power to give this eight-seater some pep in its step. It accelerates willingly and smoothly, although accelerating on the go requires a few revs because its peak torque (pulling power) is at a relatively high 5000rpm. That’s not much of a problem because the Staria’s eight-speed transmission works well to get you in the right gear for your needs.
The ride quality is absolutely fine most of the time. Sharper bumps can jar through, accompanied by a few smaller aftershocks.
There is some wind noise noticeable inside the cabin over 60km/h, and the Kumho PorTran 18-inch tyres kicked up some noise as well on various surfaces.
The steering is generally well weighted, requiring little effort to turn - which is good because it can take a lot of turns on the steering wheel in tighter manoeuvres. That said the Staria’s 11.9m turning circle feels commendably small for a vehicle of this size with a long 3.2m wheelbase. Angling into sloped driveways can be cause for some minor creaks from the long body, but again that’s to be expected.
It’s worth mentioning that the Staria comes with a full-size spare wheel and can tow up to 2500kg.
So, nothing major there that would make us think twice at purchase time.
Key details | 2021 Hyundai Staria V6 petrol FWD |
Engine | 3.5-litre V6 petrol |
Power | 200kW @ 6400rpm |
Torque | 331Nm @ 5000rpm |
Drive type | Front-wheel drive |
Transmission | Eight-speed torque convertor automatic |
Power to weight ratio | 93.4kW/t |
Weight | 2142kg |
Tow rating | 2500kg braked, / 750kg unbraked |
Turning circle | 11.9m |
Conclusion
I’m a fan of the Staria’s space-ship inspired face, but the risk, whenever a car company does something visually adventurous, is that it puts some buyers off. Still, it’s nice to see a people mover with spunk, and the Staria offers a visual alternative to the bland people mover norm - and it’s gone in a totally different direction to the popular Carnival which instead is trying to make people movers look like SUVs.
Whether you like the look or not, there’s a lot of other things to like about the Staria. It has loads of room inside its flexible cabin, and has the functionality and equipment that owners would expect. It’s also got an impressively long list of safety features, and that’s what you want for a family van, right?
For me the lack of ISOIFIX and top tether anchors in the third row, and the very low top tether anchors in the second row limit its young family friendliness. But if your big family has grown beyond that stage, the Staria could fulfil your needs nicely.