Book your car

Nine seats usually means a workhorse van with hard plastics and a bench, and the Hyundai Staria 2025 is the pushback against that. We rent it in Dubai with 250 km a day included, which matters for a vehicle people book to move a group across distance rather than around the corner. It's a big petrol MPV with a 3.5-litre V6, a tall glasshouse and a cabin full of light, seating nine. This page is about a single decision: whether a vehicle this size is right for your trip, or whether you'd be better sizing down to a seven-seat SUV or up to a plain cargo van. When the group is the whole point, the Staria is the comfortable answer.

Who the Staria is actually for

Picture eight people landing at DXB with a week of cases between them. One Staria takes the group and most of the bags in a single run, and everyone arrives together instead of splitting across two cars. That's the job it does better than almost anything at this rate. The same logic holds for a multi-family weekend, a wedding shuttle, or relatives visiting from abroad who all want to travel as one. Two adults and a couple of kids don't need this much van. For six to nine who move as a unit, the Staria earns its length.

Cabin, seats and luggage

Nine seats sounds like a lot until you load real people into them, and here the Staria is honest. The first two rows are genuinely comfortable for adults, with proper head and shoulder room under that high roof. The third row is usable for adults on shorter Dubai hops and fine for kids over longer stretches.

Luggage is the part people get wrong. With all nine seats up, the space behind the last row takes soft bags and a few small cases, not a full set of hard-shell suitcases for everyone aboard. For the full DXB run with a large group, plan to fold one section of the back row or travel one seat down so the cases have somewhere to go. Drop the rear seats and the load bay is large enough for a serious airport haul or a Carrefour stock-up for a villa full of guests.

The spec table

How it drives, and what it costs to feed

The 3.5 V6 makes 249 hp, and on Sheikh Zayed Road that's enough to merge and cruise without drama when the van is lightly loaded. Fill all nine seats and a boot of cases and the character changes. It's a relaxed cruiser, not a quick one, so you settle into a steady pace, leave more room to overtake, and stop thinking about the fast lane. For its intended job, that's exactly right.

A big petrol V6 hauling two-plus tonnes was never going to sip fuel. Expect around 10.5 litres per 100 km on a mixed run, more in heavy city traffic, less on an open E11 cruise. With the roughly 75-litre tank you're looking at about 700 km between fills, so a week of school runs and mall trips means filling up maybe once or twice. For an airport group transfer that's a non-issue. For daily solo commuting it's the wrong tool, and the running cost shows it.

Heat, parking and Dubai realities

Cooling a cabin this size matters more here than the brochure lets on. Park a Staria in open sun in July and it bakes, but the system pulls it back to comfortable within a few minutes of driving, and rear vents mean the people in rows two and three aren't left to suffer while the front stays cool. For a loaded family run at 45 degrees, vents reaching every row is the spec that actually counts.

Size is the honest trade-off. At over 5.2 metres long and nearly two metres tall, the Staria is a deliberate vehicle in a Marina parking structure or a tight mall bay. Some multi-storey car parks post height limits below two metres, so check the barrier before you commit to a ramp. U-turns need a wider arc than you're used to, and speed bumps want a gentle approach with this much vehicle behind you. None of it is hard once you've driven it for a day. It's just not a car you fling into a gap. Salik tolls run on the renter's account, RTA fines pass to you, and child seats are required for under-fours.

The recommendation

Rent the Staria when the group is the whole point. Six to nine people, an airport transfer, a multi-family trip, relatives in town who want to ride together: this is the comfortable, airy, modern way to move all of them in one vehicle. If your group is four or five with normal luggage, a seven-seat SUV is easier to park and cheaper to fuel, and you should take it instead. If you're moving cargo rather than people and don't care about a nice cabin, a plain workhorse van does more for less. But for a large group that wants to enjoy the ride, the Staria is the pick, and we'll have it at your door within one to two hours.