Stars in game balance are reversed

Usually more stars means that you did better or that you did it in a more difficult more. However in this game each truck you add gives you more stars, so if you complete, for example, a map with 7 stars it means that you did choose the easiest setup INSTEAD of the hardest, which would be currently 1 star (a single 469).

My suggestion is that 7 stars should be starting with an uaz only.

Its nothing important... But this game is filled with "nothing important" small annoying things that could be polished, and tbh it wouldnt cost much fixing them.

I thought it clearly states "done with balance on X mode" and updates from easiest to hardest. Latter is "done on Hardcore" and 1star truck in the beginning. Yes, it may be confusing that it's not usual "the more the better", but for this game it's more simple and clear direct approach.

Except that the balance is meaningless, once you're playing on hardcore with any experience, you're going to find the other trucks with the UAZ, and they're so good and easy that it doesn't matter that you didn't choose a good truck. On my games, they had enough fuel and condition to make it to the garage.

It doesn't matter. Just don't focus on the stars being stars. Think of them as "assistance points".