Hyundai Inster review

If good things come in small packages, then the Hyundai Inster promises big things. You see, it measures in at just 3.8m long and around 1.6m wide – just slightly larger than the tiny VW Up. 

That’s not all that’s small about the Inster. Its price tag is pretty diminutive too, putting it among the cheapest electric cars on sale today and in direct competition with the Citroën ë-C3, Dacia Spring and Leapmotor T03.

Does that mean the Inster skimps on all the important things? Well, as the spec shows, it certainly doesn’t, getting plenty of standard kit, the choice of two battery sizes with decent electric ranges and a standard-fit EV heat pump.

All that sounds a bit too good to be true, doesn’t it? So can the Hyundai Inster really draw people away from rivals including the Fiat 500e and Vauxhall Corsa Electric – or even the bigger but just as affordable MG4 EV? Read on to find out...

There are two versions of the Hyundai Inster to choose from – the Standard Range and the Long Range – and as you might expect, the distance they’ll go between charges depends which one you pick.

The Inster Standard Range has a 39kWh usable capacity battery and gives you a range of 203 miles. It's best suited to those who spend their time navigating around winding city streets. The 46kWh Long Range version, meanwhile, is quite impressive for such a small car, officially managing up to 229 miles.

That might not sound like all that much but, for comparison, the Dacia Spring will manage just 149 miles officially, the Citroën ë-C3 and Fiat 500e 199 miles, the BYD Dolphin 211 miles and the MG4 EV 218 miles.

As well as a better range, the Long Range gets more power, with 113bhp against 95bhp for the Standard Range. We’ve yet to drive the Standard Range, but the Long Range has plenty of zip around town, making it much easier to take advantage of gaps in traffic than it is in the less eager Leapmotor T03.

The Inster can get up to motorway speeds easily enough but starts to feel less nippy as you get above 60mph. Don’t get us wrong, you can compete with motorway traffic easily enough – it just doesn’t feel as responsive as the MG4 EV.

In fact, the Inster Long Range's 0-62mph sprint time of 10.6 seconds is quite a bit slower than the MG4 SE’s 7.5 seconds, and is just behind the ë-C3’s 10.4 seconds. The Standard Range’s 11.7-second official time suggests that it will lend itself to low-speed bursts of power around town but not motorway driving.

When it comes to ride, the Inster sits on the firmer side of things, but it’s still comfortable as you drive around town, soaking up imperfections pretty well and only ever giving a slight thud through larger potholes. Even as speeds increase, the Inster remains comfortable and is far better than the Dacia Spring, which tends to lose its composure once you get out of town. 

Now, it’s fair to say that the Inster isn’t quite as good as the softer ë-C3 at smoothing rough roads, but it's not far off, and it is more controlled over undulating roads. Indeed, where the ë-C3 can feel a bit wobbly, swaying you from side-to-side, the Inster’s firmness helps it to stay far more composed.

The Inster isn't the most engaging car in the world to drive, but it resists body lean slightly better than the ë-C3 and is perfectly easy to steer along a winding country road. That’s helped by the well-weighted steering, which gives you a good sense of what the front end is up to.

"Given its small stature you might expect the Inster to be unrefined, but it’s quite the opposite. I only started to notice wind and road noise above 50mph – and even then it wasn't bad." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

We have no complaints about the Hyundai Inster’s driving position, thanks to the seat lining you up perfectly with the steering wheel and pedals. It’s also relatively easy to get comfortable behind the wheel, with all Insters getting manual seat adjustment.

The car's small size and large windows mean you have plenty of all-round visibility, something that’s helped further by the fact that you sit quite high up within the interior.

You can easily see all four corners so parking shouldn’t be an issue, but to make things even easier, every Inster gets standard-fit rear parking sensors. Top-spec 02 trim adds front parking sensors and a rear-view camera.

You’ll be happy to hear that, unlike in the Leapmotor T03, you get physical controls on the centre console for the air conditioning, making it much easier to make changes while on the move. The Citroën ë-C3 and Dacia Spring also give you physical controls.

Everything else in the Inster is controlled through the 10.3in infotainment touchscreen on top of the dashboard. It’s high up, so it's easy to read, and the general quality of the display is pretty impressive. The software itself is the same as you’ll find other recent Hyundai car models, proving quick to respond to your touches as you prod around.

You get a good amount of standard features, including DAB radio, Bluetooth, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring, and built-in navigation.

The Inster’s interior is a pretty pleasant place to be but it is dominated by hard and scratchy plastics. It’s about on par with the Citroën ë-C3 interior but far better than what you’ll find in the Dacia Spring. It feels better put together than the Spring, with surfaces that feel like they should stand the test of time.

"Thanks to its size and its big windows, nothing is easier to park than the Inster. Indeed, I found that I'll seldom needed to use the parking aids while driving it." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

Given the Hyundai Inster’s size, you might be expecting this section to be over pretty quickly – surely it’s just all-round tiny? Well, surprisingly, that’s not the case.

Up front, two six-footers will find that they have plenty of space, with enough head and leg room to get comfortable. What’s more, the interior is wide enough to ensure that they don't rub shoulders. There’s less space than you get in the larger MG4 EV, around the same as in the Citroën ë-C3 and more than you get in the Dacia Spring. 

There’s more storage space than you might expect, with the Inster getting small door bins, a pair of cupholders between the front seats, two large cubbies below the air-con controls and a shelf in front of the passenger seat.

Rear space is quite generous, with plenty of head room and – if you go for the 02 trim and slide the rear seats all the way back – a surprising amount of leg room. Entry-level, 01 trim cars don't include sliding rear seats and are tighter on leg room in the back.

No matter which Inster you go for, you only get two back seats with plenty of shoulder room for a couple of adults. If you'll often have four passengers, you’ll want to consider the Citroën ë-C3 or MG4 EV.

The Inster's boot size depends on which version you go for. The Inster 01 has 280 litres of boot space – which is less than rival electric cars – while the 02's boot varies from 238 litres to 351, depending where you have the sliding back seats. That’s more than the BYD Dolphin and Citroën ë-C3 but less than the 363 litres in the MG4.

For some extra space, every Inster comes with rear seats that split 50/50 and fold flat with the boot floor. Again, the 02 version is more versatile, with front seats that can be folded flat. 

"It’s interesting that you can fold all four of the seats in the 02-trim Inster completely flat. In essence, you can turn the car into what I'd describe as a metal tent, which I'm sure has its uses." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

As a cash purchase, the entry-level Hyundai Inster Standard Range 01 will cost you less than the BYD Dolphin, Fiat 500e, MG4 EV and Vauxhall Corsa Electric. It's slightly more than the Citroën ë-C3 and quite a bit more than the Dacia Spring (the cheapest electric car in the UK) and the Leapmotor T03.

Predicted depreciation is much slower than for the Corsa Electric and slightly slower than for the Spring, but faster than for the ë-C3 and MG4. That should help to keep your monthly payments down if you’re buying on PCP finance. To check for the latest offers, see our new Hyundai deals page.

The Inster gets plenty of standard equipment regardless of which version you go for. Indeed, going for entry-level 01 trim gets you 15in alloy wheels, single-zone climate control, automatic windscreen wipers, an EV heat pump and battery heater, keyless entry and start, and other kit. 

Top-spec 02 trim – which is only available on the Inster Long Range – adds even more kit. That list includes bigger 17in wheels, heated front seats, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, a heated steering wheel, wireless phone-charging and sliding back seats. It brings the price close to that of an entry-level BYD Dolphin or MG4, but we think it’s worth the extra.

The Inster's maximum charging rates are 73kW for the Standard Range and 85kW for the Long Range. Both will go from 10-80% charge in about half an hour with a 150kW CCS fast charger. Meanwhile, charging from 0-100% on an 11kW home EV charger will take around four hours for the Standard Range and four hours, 35 minutes for the Long Range.

The Inster was too new to feature in the 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey but Hyundai as a manufacturer performed pretty well, placing 10th out of the 31 included brands. That’s below Dacia and Citroen, but above all its other rivals. Better still, the Inster comes with a five-year/unlimited-mileage warranty and an eight-year/100,000-mile battery warranty.

That’s much better than the fairly standard three-year/60,000-mile warranty that you get with most rivals, including the Citroën ë-C3 and Dacia Spring.

The experts at Euro NCAP have not yet tested the Inster for safety, it does come with plenty of standard safety equipment. That includes front, front side and curtain airbags, forward collision assist (which can recognise cars, pedestrians and cycles), blind-spot monitoring, lane-keeping assist, lane-follow assist and a driver monitoring system.

"Going through the list of standard equipment, I find it hard not to be impressed by how much stuff Hyundai has packed into the Inster while still keeping the price down." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

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