Toyota HiAce v LDV eDeliver 7 v Hyundai Staria Load 2024 Comparison

From the first planning stages of this comparison, we knew that the battery-electric 2024 LDV eDeliver 7 would be more expensive in the initial purchase than the two diesel-powered vehicles.

But, as it turns out, the differences aren’t that great, especially if you’re going to lease them, thanks to generous tax advantages currently available.

The 2024 Hyundai Staria Load is the least expensive of the trio with an entry price of $46,740 plus on-road costs (or $49,490 drive-away). However, for this comparison test, we didn’t end up with the entry-level vehicle we were aiming for and instead landed the Premium version with liftback tailgate and prestige paint, starting from $51,740 plus ORCs (or $56,488 drive-away).

The 2024 Toyota HiAce LWB van opens at $48,886 plus ORCs, with auto adding $2000 to the equation and barn doors another $750. That full combo comes in at $51,636 plus ORCs (or $55,950 drive-away) – very close to the Staria Load Premium.

Our LDV eDeliver 7, meanwhile, is the top-of-the-line version with high roof and an 88kWh battery pack (a 77kWh battery is also available). Its national drive-away price is $73,674, but the entry-level short-wheelbase 77kWh model can be had from $63,990 drive-away for ABN holders.

These three vans are workhorses and their equipment levels reflect that. However, there are some differences which may or may not be deal-breakers for potential customers.

Firstly, both the 2024 Toyota HiAce LWB and the Hyundai Staria Load Premium are fitted with sliding doors on both sides whereas the LDV eDeliver 7 is only available with a single sliding door on the left-hand side.

On the other hand, the LDV and HiAce on test have twin ‘barn’ doors on the rear that open to 90 degrees and then further to 180 degrees, making loading – especially with a forklift – easy. The Hyundai has a one-piece liftback tailgate, which could make loading with a fork difficult. It is, however, powered, with a remote opening and closing feature.

In the load area, the LDV and the Hyundai have floor coverings whereas the Toyota makes do with bare metal. All three have mid-height internal side wall protection.

All three also have tie-down anchor points in the rear, with the LDV having the sturdiest (they’re also recessed). The count for tie-downs is eight for the LDV and Hyundai and six for the Toyota.

In the load areas, the LDV looks the least finished with exposed wires in a couple of places and, except for the floor, bare metal all around.

Up front, the Toyota and the Hyundai have single bucket seats while the LDV has a bucket and quasi-double-seat passenger bench that doesn’t fold down to make a work area as they often do on light trucks.

The Toyota is the only one to get a centre console storage box, which is a handy two-level affair with a good amount of space.

In terms of warranty, they all get five years, with the Toyota’s distance cap being 160,000km, the Hyundai 130,000km and the LDV also 160,000km. The LDV eDeliver 7’s battery is covered by an eight-year/250,000km warranty.

Servicing is where owners of electric vehicles can save some of their initial outlay, as electric vehicles have fewer moving engine parts than diesels. It’s as simple as that. Electric vehicles also need fewer consumables like brake pads, for instance, as they have regenerative braking systems which lowers the demands placed on the standard hydraulic/disc service brakes.

Over a period of 90,000km, the LDV eDeliver 7 will set you back just $1165 in capped-price servicing while the Hyundai will cost $2854 and the Toyota $3263.

And over that same distance, the LDV will need to be off the road for just three services, compared to seven for the Hyundai and a whopping nine for the Toyota given its shorter 10,000km intervals.

Modern vans, like modern cars, have come a long way in recent years in terms of safety and these three reflect that. There are airbags aplenty, with the 2024 Toyota HiAce and the Hyundai Staria Load Premium having seven airbags each and the LDV eDeliver 7 not far behind with six.

All of our vehicles have what are considered standard safety features in modern vehicles like autonomous emergency braking (AEB), rear cross traffic alert, lane keeping assistance and the like, but there are anomalies.

The Hyundai, for instance, has a 360-degree camera view on its screen for improved parking and manoeuvrability in tight spaces, whereas the other two do not. And the LDV and the Hyundai have active cruise control while the Toyota does not.

Driver attention monitoring is present in the LDV and the Hyundai but not in the Toyota, but apart from those few things the three vans are fairly well equipped with safety features.

While the LDV is yet to be assessed by ANCAP – LDV Australia says it will be in the not-too-distant future – both the Toyota and the Hyundai have previously received maximum five-star ANCAP safety ratings, but some time back: 2019 for the Toyota and 2021 for the Hyundai.

These vans are all loaded with technology. Gone are the days of bare-bones work vans; the 2024 Toyota HiAce, LDV eDeliver 7 and Hyundai Staria Load Premium get nearly as much tech as modern cars.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard fare but it’s the wired version, not wireless as found in many passenger cars these days.

The Staria Load is perhaps the winner in the tech stakes, this Premium edition being the only van on test with wireless smartphone charging. It also has fully digital instrumentation and the aforementioned 360-degree camera for parking and reversing, as well as a blind spot monitor.

Both the Hyundai and the Toyota come with integrated satellite navigation, whereas the LDV does not.

The 2024 LDV eDeliver 7 on test is powered by a permanent magnet synchronous motor driving the front wheels via a single-speed transmission and a steering-column-mounted shifter.

It has claimed outputs of 130kW and 330Nm, three drive modes (Eco, Standard and Power) and three levels of regenerative braking.

The 2024 Toyota HiAce LWB is powered by the venerable 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel that has been around in various forms for over 20 years. It has claimed outputs of 130kW at 3400rpm and a hefty 450Nm of torque from 1600-2400rpm.

The Toyota’s transmission is a six-speed auto which is nicely mated to the engine and received no complaints from our drivers. The Toyota is the only vehicle on test driving through the rear wheels.

The 2024 Hyundai Staria Load Premium is powered by a 2.2-litre turbo-diesel which is arguably more modern than the Toyota’s. It has a smaller capacity but remarkably similar outputs to the Toyota, giving a claimed 130kW at 3800rpm and 430Nm from 1500-2500rpm. This is mated to a once-again more modern eight-speed auto driving the front wheels.

On paper, the diesel-powered 2024 Toyota HiAce LWB and Hyundai Staria Load Premium have similar outputs and similar economy figures, but real-world driving tells a different story.

According to their ADR combined-cycle figures, the Hyundai has consumption of 7.0L/100km while the Toyota manages 7.5L/100km.

In our real-world testing, however, with driver plus equal test loads of 325kg, the Toyota returned a figure of between 9.8 and 10.2L/100km and the Hyundai achieved between 7.4 and 7.7L/100km.

This would give the Toyota a range of over 600km and the Hyundai a range of over 900km.

The LDV eDeliver 7, meanwhile, with 88kWh battery, comes with a claimed WLTP driving range of 328km.

Over the course of three days of mixed driving and with the same 325kg test weight, our van returned an average of 25.6kWh/100km to give a theoretical range of over 300km on a full charge.

We found that charging it from 10 per cent to 80 per cent took about 50 minutes at a high-output DC fast-charger, which is also in line with LDV’s claims.

We should note that charging at public fast-chargers can be pricey, with the above charge costing just over $48. That’s approaching fossil fuel prices, but smart business owners will likely use their own charging infrastructure to take advantage of scheduled charging and off-peak tariffs to lower charging costs significantly, while also potentially leveraging the benefits of solar power and battery storage systems.

In the drive experience of these three vehicles, there is a clear winner that all our judges agreed on and that was the 2024 Hyundai Staria Load Premium.

The Hyundai is the more car-like of the three. It is the most comfortable and the one that we’d rather spend a lot of time in.

The dash is well laid-out and the inclusion of the 360-degree camera and the blind spot cameras looking down the side when the indicators are used adds to Staria’s safety and convenience.

The 2024 LDV eDeliver 7 is by no means a bad vehicle to drive, but it has its foibles.

I find the seating position too upright and struggle to get the seatback to go back far enough. The LDV is the highest of the three but it has no driver’s side A-pillar grab handle to aid ingress, and the lack of a foot rest or dead pedal for the left foot is a nuisance, albeit more so on longer runs.

The eDeliver 7 is also the most lightly sprung of three and, being heavy, this results in a small degree of wallowing in tighter bends that isn’t present in the Toyota or Hyundai.

Some of the controls like the drive mode button and the seat heating are obscured by the steering wheel at the straight-ahead position and you can only change the regenerative braking mode via the touch-screen, which seems needlessly fiddly.

The LDV is, however, quiet and smooth and the acceleration afforded by the electric motor is impressive. It’s swift enough in Eco mode and positively rapid in Power mode. We stuck with Eco for the most part, to help maximise the van’s range.

The fleet-spec Toyota, as expected, is workmanlike. It does what it has to do. However, it is certainly the noisiest of the trio and the harshest in terms of ride. That said, it doesn’t do anything wrong per se, and it has no shortage of torque, but it just isn’t outstanding in any one respect.

If I was a delivery driver getting in and out of these vehicles numerous times a day, I’d probably pick the Toyota simply because it has a grab handle and foot rest, although the Hyundai is the lowest and also very easy to slide in and out of.

But for the combined driving experience, comfort and ease, it has to be the Hyundai.

All three of these vehicles are designed to carry just over a tonne. Speaking in cubic metres, the 2024 LDV eDeliver 7 on test is a clear winner with 8.7 cubic metres (as you’d expect, being a high-roof version).

Next is the Toyota HiAce LWB with a claimed 6.2 cubic metres, followed by the Hyundai Staria Load with 4.9 cubic metres. This is measured using the VDA system; really, the Toyota and the Hyundai are very similar when it comes to load space.

Bear in mind that all of these vans can carry a standard Australian pallet between their rear wheel-arches, so they’re all fully functional one-tonne vans.

The LDV is slightly compromised by the lack of a second sliding door, but the door that it does have is large and wide, so if you don’t need doors on either side, this could be the van for you.

While none of our test vans had tow bars, towing weights are a mixed bag. The LDV has a maximum braked towing capacity of 1500kg which, surprisingly, is the same as the Toyota.

However, the Hyundai Staria Load is out in front here, with a braked towing capacity of 2500kg.

None of the vans on test have a bulkhead between the cabin and the load area, although our 2024 Hyundai Staria Load Premium was fitted with a non-standard mesh barrier.

And this presents a problem in Melbourne in the middle of winter.

Early-morning starts mean the whole of the van has to be heated up before the driver gets much benefit. I expect if a driver is using one of these vans commercially in a chilly (or hot) climate, a bulkhead would be a good idea, although we certainly do appreciate the LDV’s heated seating and heated steering wheel.

Seating is pretty good in all three vans, with the Hyundai having the best. Its seating is shapely, with good lateral support. The seats in the 2024 Toyota HiAce LWB look sturdy with durable covers; they are what we expect from what is ostensibly a fleet-spec van.

The 2024 LDV eDeliver 7’s seats are good for longish distances and look well-trimmed. This is the only one of the trio with an arm rest for the driver, which is a good inclusion.

Instrumentation is great in all vehicles with everything needed either in the form of gauges or scroll-through screens. I like the Hyundai’s digital gauges that are set forward in a sort of quasi head-up display. Very easy to see without having to lower the eyes. A nice touch.

The LDV looks the most modern inside with its 12.3-inch multimedia touch-screen and sweeping lines, but the screen is a bit fiddly to get to certain functions like the regen braking options (of which there are three) or the audio options, which included digital radio. (All three vans have DAB+ digital radio.)

Once again, my favourite here is the Hyundai, without taking too much away from the others.

As we work our way forward to lower emissions and a more sustainable transport industry, we have to consider electric vehicles. They’re not just coming, they’re here, and there are more on the way.

Right now, the 2024 LDV eDeliver 7 is a practical and easy-to-live-with example.

Sure, EVs are not for everyone and they won’t make a viable substitute for petrol or diesel in a lot of cases. However, in some instances, especially for businesses with repeatable runs and known daily mileages, an electric vehicle will slot in with ease.

And in the long run they can, and will, save money – not just in fuel savings, but in total cost of ownership.

So the future for vehicles such as the LDV eDeliver 7 looks bright, especially given this model’s reasonable sticker price.

In the meantime, though, if you need a diesel van that will serve the purpose of a work-a-day delivery van, either the Hyundai Staria Load or the Toyota HiAce LWB will do nicely, with the Hyundai Staria Load having a slight edge based on our testing.

2024 Hyundai Staria Load Premium at a glance:
Price: $51,740 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 130kW/430Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel economy: 7.0L/100km (ADR Combined); 7.5L/100km (as tested)
CO2: 183g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star ANCAP (2021)

2024 LDV eDeliver 7 High Roof 88kWh at a glance:
Price: $73,674 (drive-away)
Available: Now
Powertrain: Single permanent magnet synchronous motor
Output: 150kW/330Nm
Transmission: Single-speed reduction gear
Battery: 88kWh lithium-ion
Range: 328km (WLTP)
Energy consumption: 25.6kWh/100km (as tested)
Safety rating: Not tested

2024 Toyota HiAce LWB at a glance:
Price: $51,636 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 130kW/450Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel economy: 8.0L/100km (ADR Combined); 9.8L/100km (as tested)
CO2: 214g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star ANCAP (2019)