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| 2018 Hyundai Grand Starex |
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| 2018 Hyundai Grand Starex |
The biggest change on this decade-old van is the face and by the looks of it, it looks more like a miniature version of its big brother, the Transit-sized Solati, judging from its headlamps and the new grille design that is beyond basic and apart from the front, the rear lamps have been refreshed. Apart from cosmetic changes, the Grand Starex is now available with the luxuriously new Urban variant and what separates the Urban to the normal Grand Starex is this...the interior.
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| 2018 Hyundai Grand Starex interior |
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| 2018 Hyundai Grand Starex interior |
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| 2018 Hyundai Grand Starex interior |
In the normal Grand Starex, you still have the plain-looking dashboard and a choice of 11 and 12 seats (with the swiveling part on it, thank goodness for that), but on the 9-seater Urban variant, not only you are welcomed with the brown interior color and wooden trim but also the new dashboard and the new steering wheel. It kind of now reminiscent of the Mercedes V-Class and while this van's posh enough to take the whole gang for an outing of a lifetime, the fourth-row seats can be folded to make room for stuff in the back, which sounds odd because the fourth-row seats kind of chewing away the boot space to almost nothing.
Even for men starting their own school service or use it as a taxi to send mallgoers home, they may find that the 11 or 12 seater layout a liability because of some parts that are too squishy even for a Balikbayan box-sized individual to get in. That sounds too shoddy to be used for that purpose but never mind. While the interior's not good to be used for school service or taxi purposes, its use as a family getaway vehicle is still the hallmark of the Grand Starex assurance.
The 2.5L CRDi engine is now Euro 6 compliant and can be mated with either a 5-speed MT or a 6-speed AT. In the top-spec version, it produces 175PS of power and 46kg-m of torque while promising a combined fuel economy of 9.4km/L. Opt one with a four-wheel drive layout and the Grand Starex will be capable of going any road conditions even on the wet condition, which sounds nice if you're brave enough to drive through the straights on a heavy rainfall.
As for safety, the new Grand Starex features a rear park assist, a quick-release alarm system, slope prevention device, and tire pressure monitoring system.
The base Grand Starex starts at 23,650,000 Won while the Urban starts at 27,000,000 Won, which doesn't sound like much but it is cheap for a minivan that is ten years old. It maybe old but with some slight changes around here, the Grand Starex continues to survive in a brave new world dominated by SUVs and because this is a common sight on South Korean roads, this van has been used for many purposes whereas Third World countries like the Philippines were strictly limited to family getaway purposes. Still, there's no argue that with such continuity, looks like the Grand Starex will hang in there for another lifetime or so until Hyundai calls it quits.
Photo: Hyundai Motor Company