We've partnered with Hyundai Australia to bring you our top 15 favourite family-friendly features of the all-new 2022 Hyundai Staria Highlander People Mover and tested to find out how good it is as a BabyDrive!
These are my top fifteen favourite family features (I promise number 10 is a GOOD one):
- The Staria is a really spacious eight-seater people mover that is great for large families with three, four or more kids. It sits eight passengers very comfortably with its spaciousness, flexibility and usability of the interior space. The Staria easily fits three full-size child seats across the second-row seats, or an adult can sit comfortably between two child seats and the Staria has great third-row access even with child seats installed in the second-row seats.
- Based on the same technology as the Santa Fe SUV, the Staria provides the best of both worlds: SUV capability with the space and practicality of a people mover. For example, the Staria uniquely comes with Hyundai's H-TRAC all-wheel-drive system if you go for the 2.2L Diesel engine (the model I have tested) or front-wheel drive with the 3.5L petrol V6. AWD people movers are rare, especially at this price point and both engine choices including the AWD diesel are available from the entry-level Staria to the top-spec Highlander tested here.
- Also like the Santa Fe, the Staria comes with a 2.5-tonne towing capacity, making it great for family holidays and camping trips.
- The Staria's Smart Power Sliding Doors open automatically when you have the key on your person, leaving your hands free to carry your kids and their belongings to and from the car.
- Similarly, the Smart Power Tailgate opens automatically when you walk up to the boot of the Staria with the key in your pocket, leaving your hands free for carrying kids and it closes automatically when you walk away too.
- The boot size is AMAZING!! It has a flat floor and you can even stand a twin stroller up in the Staria with all three rows of seats in use!
- Seven airbags, including protection for third-row passengers and one between the front seats, are standard in the Staria and all seatbelts are the full three-point variety.
- The 2022 Hyundai Staria has a surround-view monitor camera with 3D view functionality, this is great for manoeuvring and parking and making sure there are no kids or animals around the outside of the car.
- The blind-spot view monitor is great for seeing down the sides of the Staria when you indicate to turn or changing lanes.
- I promised you it was a good one… the 2022 Hyundai Staria has a rear passenger view monitor and it is AWESOME!! It allows you to watch your little ones in the back whilst driving along. There's no more worrying they are choking or falling asleep or fighting, you can see everything clearly on the screen! Who doesn’t want this!?!
- Safe Exit Assist sounds an alarm if another road user is coming alongside the Staria when you park, so the kids don’t step out into their path.
- The Staria has a big 10.25-inch media screen. The media system is great too, it is easy to use and packed full of features families will love, like Sounds of Nature which is white noise at your fingertips, Quiet Mode to bring audio to the front when rear passengers are sleeping, Passenger Talk intercom so you don't have to shout over your shoulder to be heard in the third row and Voice Memos, which I’ve started using for capturing the priceless and hilarious car conversations with my kids. It also has Apple Car Play and Android Auto and a phone charging tray on the dash.
- There are aircon vents in the Staria's ceiling for all three rows of passengers. These can be controlled from a panel in the ceiling by older kids and adults or you can disable the rear controller and adjust rear temperature and fan speed from the front media screen instead.
- The windows are enormous in the 2022 Hyundai Staria and there are two sunroofs as well in this Highlander model. These all create great visibility for passengers big and small, whether in forward-facing or rear-facing in child seats. There are built-in window blinds in the second and third-row windows, which are fantastic for shielding rear passengers from the sun while driving along.
- Storage throughout the Staria is next level including 16 cup holders and two of them are my favourite dashboard cup holders!
Thanks to Hyundai Australia for partnering with BabyDrive to produce this highlight reel, the support helps us to keep producing our unique style of trusted parent-specific car reviews!
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