Hyundai Staria Load Premium 2026 Review

The 2026 Hyundai Staria Load Premium costs $52,740 (plus on-road costs) placing it at the top of the Staria Load range. The lower grades include the entry model Van ($47,440 plus ORCs) and the Crew Van ($51,640 plus ORCs).

With Van and Crew Van you can pick either liftback tailgate or the barn back doors for the same money, but the Premium tested here is liftback only. All models have sliding doors on both sides, but there are no long-wheelbase or high roof variants, let alone electric or plug-in hybrid powertrains.

Other options in the diesel one-tonne van market include the Fiat Scudo (from $48,490 plus ORCs), Ford Transit Custom (from $56,890 plus ORCs), LDV Deliver 7 (from $44,726 drive away), Peugeot Expert (from $48,990 plus ORCs), Renault Traffic (from $48,990 plus ORCs), Toyota HiAce (from $51,880 plus ORCs) and Volkswagen Transporter (from $58,590 plus ORCs).

The 2026 Hyundai Staria Load was refreshed last year, although you’d be forgiven for missing it.

What’s new? It gains revised exterior badging, extra USB-C ports and blind spot collision warning replacing blind-spot collision-avoidance assist across the range. The Staria Load Premium also gains Hyundai’s Bluelink connected services, rain-sensing wipers and what Hyundai describes as a next-generation key fob.

Meanwhile, standard kit for the Staria Load Premium includes black cloth upholstery, leather-trimmed steering wheel and gear shifter, keyless entry, powered tailgate rear door and unique 17-inch alloys.

There are no factory options available for the Staria Load Premium, except for a choice between three exterior colours; Abyss Black and Creamy White are no-cost, while Shimmering Silver will set you back an additional $750. There are also dealer-fitted packs and accessories offered to furnish your Staria Load for work, with roof racks, cargo barriers and the like.

The Staria Load has a 2002kg kerb weight, a 3020kg GVM and a 1072kg maximum payload – of which Hyundai says 800kg can be placed in the cargo area. The Staria Load can tow up to 2500kg (braked) with 100kg of that resting on the towball.

The Staria Load’s warranty is five years/160,000km, with 12 months of free roadside assist. Hyundai only offers its seven-year warranty on passenger vehicles, so the Staria Load misses out.

The Staria Load is due for a scheduled service every 12 months/15,000km (whichever occurs first), with capped-price servicing totalling $2483 for the first five services. Pre-paid servicing is also available for the same cost as the pay-as-you-go system, equating to $1407 for three years/45,000km, $2036 for four years/60,000km and $2483 for five years/75,000km.

The Staria Load was given a five-star ANCAP crash safety rating in 2021, with a score of 85 per cent for adult occupant protection and 74 per cent for safety assist and 65 per cent for vulnerable road user protection.

In the 2022 ANCAP Commercial Van Safety Comparison, the Staria load was given a 90 per cent score and thus a ‘Platinum’ rating.

Active safety features fitted to every 2026 Hyundai Staria Load include blind spot view monitor, 360-degree camera, front and rear parking sensors, active cruise control and high-beam assist.

Impressively for a van, you get a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, 10.25-inch infotainment system with sat-nav, push-button start and four-speaker audio.

The 2026 Hyundai Staria Load Premium is also decked out with Hyundai’s Bluelink connected services, which serves up SOS emergency call and automatic collision notification, server-linked navigation and services such as geo-fencing, speed/time alerts and so on.

The infotainment provided also includes AM/FM and DAB+ digital radio, and there are two USB charging ports, a 12-volt port and a Qi-standard wireless charging pad up front. For smartphone mirroring, Apple CarPlay must be wired, while Android Auto is wireless.

The 2026 Hyundai Staria Load Premium is fitted with the familiar R-series 2.2-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine. It is transversely mounted with outputs of 130kW/430Nm, which is sent to the front wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission.

It’s about as conventional as a one-tonne van gets – mechanically at least.

According to the brand, the 2026 Hyundai Staria Load Premium is good for a 7.0L/100km combined fuel consumption average.

On test we recorded 10.1L/100km with a mixture of urban traffic and motorway driving.

Not that long ago, driving a commercial van was a bit like driving a truck. It was a utilitarian experience, one that meant sitting over the front wheels, getting winded over every bump and with very little metal between you and the road ahead, praying you don’t ever have a head-on crash.

These days, new vans such as the 2026 Hyundai Staria Load Premium are smoother, more refined and safer.

That doesn’t mean this van is anything like wheeling around a comfy sedan, SUV or hatchback. However, the suspension refinement, noise suppression, dynamics and performance are all working with you rather than tiring you out.

The Staria is easy to place on the road and negotiates tight urban delivery environments well. The 2.2-litre turbo-diesel does suffer some lag, but in the case of this test vehicle, it was minimal and predictable.

Getting in and out of the 2026 Hyundai Staria Load Premium is relatively easy for a van, with the step up into the cab not as awkward as some of the Hyundai’s competitors.

The switchgear and controls are simple to find and operate, with the gated gearlever (in place of the push-button arrangement in the Staria people mover) seemingly old-school, but so much more intuitive and quicker to operate.

While it’s similar to a car to drive, the echoing from an empty cargo area is not. Perhaps not an issue when fully loaded, but a cargo partition here would be a nice-to-have feature as standard.

The Staria Load’s cargo bay is 2607mm long and 1640mm wide, with height measuring 1436mm. Total cargo area volume is 4935 litres and Hyundai says the Staria Load will accept two Australian (or three Euro) pallets.

While it has a lower overall volume than some competitors (such as the 5.8 cubic metre volume in the Ford Transit Custom and 6.2 cubic-metre capacity in the Toyota HiAce), the Staria Load is still very useable with a wide and low cargo platform.

The Hyundai’s total payload capacity (1072kg) is slightly lower than some competitors, such as the LDV Deliver 7 with its minimum 1230kg payload capacity.

The load area is easy to access via the twin sliding doors, but the tailgate takes up a fair bit of real estate behind the vehicle when opening/closing. It’s good for shelter when working out of the van during inclement weather, but a pain when trying to access the back while parked in tight spots.

A barn door option on the Premium would be nice.

With newer and more sophisticated (yet more expensive) one-tonne van options at one end and cheaper, similar vans at the other, the 2026 Hyundai Staria Load Premium settles into a middle ground in its class.

The top spec could benefit from having the option of barn doors, while a cabin partition would help suppress cabin noise and increase safety. However, as it stands, the Staria Load is clearly a van with excellent safety credentials as well as competitive fuel economy and carrying capacity.

2026 Hyundai Staria Load Premium at a glance:
Price: $52,740 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 130kW/430Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 7.0L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 183g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2021)