Hyundai Staria comes in as a successor to the Starex in Thailand
Words: Surya Sujith
Usually, Hyundai launches its products in the home market of South Korea first. However this time they have taken a different approach and launched the all-new MPV Staria in the Thailand market. Hyundai has always taken the MPV business in Thailand seriously. The Starex/H-1 has been one of the biggest Hyundai MPV nameplates here. Hyundai Staria is essentially the spiritual successor to the Starex.
The Staria is an MPV that can be had with 2-11 seats and in multiple trim levels. At first glance, one might even doubt if he’s watching a sci-fi movie car, as the product gets a sleek, futuristic design.
Exterior Design
The front end has an LED light bar running across the width, giving it a sleek, minimalistic look. The LED headlamps look handsome at either end of the large grille. One thing to note on the profile is that the glass area is humongous and without any sharp body lines visible. The rear facet comprises a large rear windscreen, an upright boot lid and long, narrow, vertically mounted tail lamps (on the SEL variant, these get parametric Pixel LED elements).
Alloy wheel designs and sizes vary across the variants, as in 17-inch wheels for the S variant and 18-inch rollers in a flat-faced two-tone design for the SEL.
Interior
With two 10.25-inch displays, one functioning as an instrument console and the other as the infotainment unit ( includes Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto),push button start/stop system, 7 USB ports, electro-chromic IRVM, ambient lighting, rear window sun blinds, climate control, cruise control etc, the interior sure is feature-packed. The Staria gets lounge chairs in the second row and has automatic rear doors.
Powertrain
The all-new Staria uses a 2.2-litre turbocharged four-cylinder diesel engine that produces a peak power of 177 PS at 3,800 rpm and a max torque of 431 Nm (1,500 to 2,500 rpm). An 8-speed automatic gearbox is the standard offering. There are also push-button gear selector and paddle shifters for added convenience. There has also been news of a 268 hp, 3.5L V6, and a manual box joining later. If these would be sold in Thailand is something we are not sure of yet!
The Staria has discarded the solid axle suspension of the Starex and gets a rear multilink unit instead, calling for significant improvement in the van’s road manners.
Safety
Hyundai Staria comes with up to six airbags, stability control, ISOFIX child seat anchors, and Hyundai’s new-age Smartsense Suite. The Smartsense safety package includes the likes of adaptive cruise control, rear-cross traffic alert, lane-keeping assist, autonomous braking, oncoming vehicle detection, and blind-spot monitoring.
Price
Staria’s Thailand price ranges from THB 1,729,000 (around Rs 39.48 Lakh, ex-showroom) for the base S variant and THB 1,999,000 (around Rs 45.65 Lakh, ex-showroom) for the range-topping SEL.
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