Back to the future

Minivans are as retro as mullets and Lion Lager, but all three (the buses, the hairstyle and the beer) are making a comeback in 2022. Pierre Steyn drove the new Hyundai Staria and Opel Zafira to see if the family bus still has some bite.

The popularity of the minivan peaked in the 1990s, spurred on by David Kramer’s iconic Volkswagen Kombi ads. Suburban parents scooted around in their vans, transporting half the cricket team and the whole netball team from practices to matches and home again. Every time I squeeze my mountain bike into the boot of my compact SUV, I long for my old 1996 3-litre V6 Dodge Caravan.

The turn of the century saw the increasing popularity of more practical SUVs, and the death knell sounded for comparatively clumsy minivans. They lived on as delivery vans, hotel shuttles and, of course, all-pervasive minibus taxis. (Without the Toyota Quantum, the South African economy would have imploded completely…)

But hang on, what’s this? The suburban minivan is back! Energised by an increase in sales in markets such as the United States, manufacturers like Hyundai and Opel have pitched their modern vans – the Staria and Zafira – at South African families again.