Hyundai Staria

The cabin of the Hyundai Staria is not as futuristic to look at as the exterior. However, the asymmetric layout of the cabin makes it as unique as the exterior design language. However, the all-black finish for the cabin looks not so upmarket.

The driver’s cockpit of the Hyundai Staria looks minimalist with a new-generation round-themed multi-functional steering wheel and a 10.25-inch full-TFT instrument console neatly tucked behind the steering wheel in a scooped housing. The centre console looks very different with separate housing for the 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system and a scooped cavity and transmission lever placed beside each other below the infotainment screen and buttons for automatic climate control in between.

The co-passenger side of the dashboard has a curved design from the outer corner, with sleek AC vents above it. Other features which make the cabin of the Hyundai Staria premium are wireless charging, a dual-pane sunroof, heated and ventilated front seats and powered tailgate and rear sliding doors.

As said above, there is nothing like the Hyundai Staria available in the market right now. While the overall profile has the same boxy visual appeal, it looks very different from the other MPVs due to its extremely futuristic design. However, while the design looks very unique, it might not be eye-pleasing to many people who prefer conventional designs for their vehicles.

At the front, the Hyundai Staria has a rakish look, in which the front windscreen and hood are aligned at the same angle. The front hood is characterized by a sleek horizontal LED light bar running across its width, which is segmented into three parts. It is the bottom part of the front profile of the Hyundai Staria, which grabs a lot of eyeballs. It has a massive rectangular grille, which is spread across the width of the bumper and has gold chrome inserts. The extreme corners of the grille come incorporated with vertically-aligned LED headlamps, the housings of which have rounded edges.

The side profile of the Hyundai Staria looks as unique as the front profile. There are very large window panels till the D-pillar, with a triangular design carried out for the front quarter glass. The B and C pillars are blacked out with a gloss black finish, which gives the windows a sense of continuity and makes the side profile look very unique. The door panels have a simple and flat design, with the Staria getting a conventional sliding pattern for the rear doors. However, what’s not so conventional is the design of the machined alloy wheels.

The rear profile of the Hyundai Staria looks boxy with two halves – while the upper half is covered by a flat rear windscreen, the lower part looks simple with just rounded rectangular license plate housing and a rectangular door handle below it. What catches your attention are the long vertically laid LED tail lamps on the outer edges, which have a very unique parametric pixel arrangement for the LEDs.

The boxy and large Hyundai Staria might not be a driver’s car, but it is a comfortable place to be in for the rear occupants. The Staria is offered with both captain seats and rear-facing seat options for the middle row, while the last third row is also good enough to accommodate three full-sized adults.

The unconventional-looking Hyundai Staria gets a rather conventional heart under its hood – a 3.5-litre naturally-aspirated petrol engine. Coupled with an 8-speed automatic gearbox, the engine produces a maximum power output of 272 bhp and a peak torque output of 331 Nm. While the van feels quick with a 0-100 kmph claim of 8.9 seconds, the top speed of the Staria is capped at 210 kmph.

The Hyundai Staria has an appreciable list of safety features for a people carrier, which includes six airbags, forward collision warning, blind-spot monitoring system, rear cross-traffic alert, smart cruise control with stop and go, lane keep assist, lane follow assist, reverse parking sensors and rear camera.

The Hyundai Staria breaks the common notions of MPV designing and opens new doors for the desirability of MPVs based on their visual appeal, and not just for their seating comfort.