Still Special
The striking Hyundai Staria is getting a facelift. Anyone hoping that it will lose some of its extravagance in the process should probably look away.
Usually, vans aren’t designed to be very special, but Hyundai certainly made the Staria quite unique. Taste is subjective, but it’s a striking car in any case. It seems that Hyundai doesn’t regret that. The Staria is being facelifted, and the eraser probably won’t be used very heavily on the current design.
There’s still a lot of camouflage on the test vehicle in these photos, yet we already see familiar details here and there. For example, the headlights on the nose seem to remain in the same place, and we expect a wide strip of daytime running lights one level higher. Presumably, the ‘grille’ between the headlights will be filled in differently, and the front and rear lights will get a new layout. Larger changes are unlikely.
The Hyundai Staria in question may have had some motor peculiarities, as apparently there was enough reason for the test driver to pull aside a piece of the camouflage and take a look under the hood by the side of the road. Oh well, perhaps we shouldn’t read too much into that. In any case, there’s a combustion engine in that engine compartment, a four- or six-cylinder gasoline engine or a 2.2-diesel four-cylinder. In the Netherlands, we only know the Staria as a van with a hybrid powertrain. We are curious to see if there will be more choice here after the facelift.