Hyundai Inster review

If good things come in small packages, 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 starting price is pretty diminutive too, putting it among the cheapest electric cars on sale today and in competition with the Citroën ë-C3, the Dacia Spring and the 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, including an EV heat pump, and a choice of two battery sizes with decent electric ranges.

Hyundai Inster video review

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

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

The Inster Standard Range has a 39kWh usable capacity battery and gives you an official range of 203 miles. It's best suited to those who spend their time navigating 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 218 miles.

As well as a better range, the Inster 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 Long Range 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 an MG4.

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.

Meanwhile, the ride is very good. The Inster’s relatively soft suspension means it’s comfortable as you drive around town, soaking up imperfections pretty well and only ever giving a slight thud through larger potholes.

That said, it’s worth noting our test cars have been fitted with the larger 17in wheels. The entry-level 01 car – with its smaller 15in wheels – might improve ride comfort even further. Even so, the Inster has a far better ride than the Dacia Spring, which tends to lose its composure once you get above town speeds. 

Now, it’s fair to say that the Inster isn’t quite as good as the softer Citroën ë-C3 at smoothing out rough surfaces, 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 is firm enough to help it 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 an ë-C3 and is perfectly easy to steer along a winding country road in a controlled manner. That’s helped by the well-weighted steering, which gives you a good sense of what the front tyres are up to.

"Given its small stature you might expect the Hyundai 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 driver gets a 10.25in digital driver's display that’s clear and much more impressive than the one in the Dacia Spring – although the top of it can be partially obscured by the steering wheel if you set it too low.

The Inster'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 version gets rear parking sensors. The 02 trim adds front parking sensors and a rear-view camera, while top-spec Cross adds a 360-degree surround-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 you're driving. The Citroën ë-C3 and Dacia Spring give you physical controls too.

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 sat-nav.

The Inster’s interior is a pretty pleasant place to be but 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 looks and feels better put together than the Spring, with surfaces that feel like they should stand the test of time. On 02 models you can also have a brighter beige option that lifts the interior.

"Thanks to its size and big windows, nothing is easier to park than the Hyundai Inster. Indeed, I found that I 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 have plenty of space, with enough head and leg room to get comfortable. What’s more, the interior is wide enough to ensure they don't rub shoulders. There’s less space than you get in the larger MG4, 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 too, with the Inster getting two cupholders between the front seats, two large cubbies below the air-con controls, a shelf in front of the passenger seat and small door bins.

Rear space is quite generous, with plenty of head room and – if you go for at least 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 rear leg room.

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

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 small electric cars – while the boot on 02 and Cross trim varies from 238 litres to 351, depending where you have the sliding back seats. That’s more than the BYD Dolphin and the 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 and Cross versions are more versatile, with front seats that can be folded flat too.

"It’s interesting that you can fold all four of the Hyundai Inster's seats flat on 02 trim and above. 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, the Fiat 500e, the MG4 and the Vauxhall Corsa Electric. It's slightly more than the Citroën ë-C3 and quite a bit more than the Dacia Spring (currently 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 keep your monthly payments down if you’re buying on PCP finance.

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. 

The 02 trim – which is only available on the Inster Long Range – adds even more kit. That list includes 17in alloy 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.

Top-spec Cross comes with a different alloy wheel design, and adds a sunroof and a few extra safety features, but it’s too expensive to recommend.

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 our 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 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 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 kit Hyundai has packed into the Inster while still keeping the price down." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

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