After 11 years and tens of thousands of sales down under,
Hyundai's popular ILO delivery van has been replaced by a more eye-catching technologically
advanced and driver-friendly Staria-Load, but is that and the latest safety tech
worth paying thousands of dollars extra for in a humble load-lugger? Let's find out.
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Competing against a growing number of feature packed models in the medium van segment,
including the big selling Toyota Hiace and Ford Transit Custom,
the new Staria-Load builds on the Hyundai's ILO legacy by bringing more space, comfort,
safety and technology. However, the boost in SUV-like safety and convenience features have seen
the starting price for the order variant increased by more than $3000. The 5.2 metre long by 2
metre wide load-lugger is available in two-seat commercial or five-seat Crew Cab configurations
with the choice of double sliding doors and a top hinged tailgate or barn style rear doors.
Here we're testing the entry level three-door, two-seat lift back model, priced from just over
$45,000 plus on roads. You won't miss the Staria-Load at your local Bunnings car park
with the new van sharing its sweepy spaceship-like styling with the latest Staria people mover,
including full color coding for the front grill, bumpers,
door handles and side mirrors. There's also a stylish rear end featuring a black
top lip spoiler and elongated vertical tail lights, but Hyundai has toned back the bling
with just a black bonnet strip, instead of the people movers LED running lights
and basic 17-inch steel wheels, exterior colours are also limited to white or optional silver.
Hyundai's made it easy for Staria-Load buyers with just the one engine option,
a 2.2 litre four-cylinder turbo diesel, that promises decent fuel economy at an acclaimed
7 litres per hundred kilometres plus a 75 litre for your tank.
The turbo diesel engine is made into a conventional eight speed auto transmission
with drive now to the front wheels to free up more cargo space in the back.
It's mostly good news from the front seats with plenty of space
and lots of passenger car-like features like an electric park break, a leather covered
gear knob and steering wheel with integrated controls and adjustment for tilt and reach.
The well-cushioned driver seat is adjustable for height and covered in a hard wearing black
upholstery. Although there are no fold-down centre arm rests for the driver or passenger.
There's old school manual air conditioning dials and a key ignition too,
but they don't detract from an otherwise very modern setup.
The big eight-inch infotainment touch screen will also be familiar to many Hyundai passenger
car drivers, which means it packs in plenty of features and is relatively easy to use,
and it also features wireless, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto-connectivity.
There is also a handy wireless smart phone charger and a couple of USB and 12 vault sockets,
while the dash mounted 4.2 inch digital instrument cluster includes a trip computer
and digital speedo. Now one of the safest vans on the market, the new Staria-Load is literally
loaded with the latest driver assistance aides including autonomous emergency braking with the
adaptive cruise control working particularly well in busy highway traffic. The van also
gets a class leading seven air bags, including a front center bag, if things do happen to go wrong.
Storage is also a pretty good up front with a few handy spots on top of and around the dash,
including some cup holders, glove box, some spots in the side doors and some overhead shelves.
There's also a big empty space on the floor between the seats for larger items like plugging
in a portable fridge. Hyundai says there's more space in the back of the Staria-Load,
and it's a lot easy to load things with the lower floor height. And we are just over a
one-time payload, you should be able to get a couple of Australian pallets in the back.
Although it will be a lot easy to load them with the rear barn doors option.
You can also load large items through the wider side doors,
and to keep things in place, there are eight tie-down anchor points
along with felt board trim and vinyl floor covering for extra internal protection.
So the Staria-Load can fit in a suburb's worth of Australia post parcels,
but how are you gonna feel after driving it around all day? Let's take it for a spin.
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So even though we're not carrying any big load on board, the van feels quite responsive and
civilised to drive, thanks in part to the fact it buys its platform from the Hyundai Santa Fe
SUV and also the fast, fairly smooth gear changes from the eight-speed auto.
The van pulls away nicely from standstill, and with the engines peak torque coming in
quite early in the rev range, it should cope fine with a heavier load on board.
You don't expect the top heavy van to whiz around corners,
but the Staria-Load feels reasonably stable in the curves,
and the steering is light and reasonably direct for zipping around in busy traffic.
The leaf spring rear suspension rides the bumps quite confidently on suburban bitumen
delivering a pretty smooth ride, and it's just a little bit of floating-ness
at times in the freeway although we don't have any weight in the back to help settle it down.
You can hear the turbo diesel engine, but it's mostly pretty quiet inside the cabin
even at freeway speeds with just a little bit of noise coming in from outside
or with some boom from the back section. There's a lot of glass at the front and the side window,
so it's really easy to see out and the disc breaks do a really good job of slowing the van down.
The one thing we would really like though is some brighter headlights for night time driving.
There are four different driving modes to choose from, plus the option to change gears manually,
but we reckon most drivers will be happy to stick it in drive and let the van do the work.
While fuel economy will increase with extra weight on board, we achieved around 6.5 litres per 100
kilometres, during a mix of driving, which is about on par with the claimed fuel consumption.
Build quality also appears up to scratch and the vehicle is backed by a five-year unlimited
kilometre factory warranty with service intervals pegged at every 12 months or 15,000 kilometres.
Parking a van isn't always easy, but it's a child play in the Staria-Load
with big side mirrors that are also heated and fold in electrically.
Also making it super easy to park are front side and rear cameras
with different screen modes for overhead and side views
along with front and rear parking sensors. While there are much cheaper options available,
the Staria-Load fits the bill as an easy-going, easy loading cargo van, the addition of more
passenger car-like features also makes it a more comfortable and use friendly mobile office.
Not to mention, a much safer place to be when spending long hours on the road every day,
which makes the higher pricing much easier to justify
for small business operators and fleet buyers alike.