Hyundai Inster review

Our opinion on the Hyundai Inster

The Hyundai Inster is a very charming and lovable small car that’s so spacious it feels almost like a Tardis on wheels – the cartoonish proportions and boxy shape help achieve that, and turn heads in the process. Meanwhile, the effortlessly efficient powertrain highlights Hyundai’s expertise in the field of electric cars once again. However the plastic-heavy interior is a letdown, and based on our time behind the wheel, we feel the similarly priced Renault 5 is a more refined and sophisticated car all round.

About the Hyundai Inster

Ever heard of Casper? Not the friendly ghost, the Hyundai Casper. It’s a small, quirky city car that the brand only sells in its home market of South Korea. We actually got to drive the boxy little bundle of fun back in 2022, when we first heard rumblings about an electric version that might come to Europe to rival the reborn Renault 5 and Volkswagen’s entry-level EV, which we’re still waiting for.

Nearly three years on, and rather than the Casper, the new, still rather adorable Hyundai Inster has finally arrived in the UK. It joins the brand’s very successful line-up of electric cars, including two former Auto Express Car of the Year winners: the space-age Ioniq 5 and the very capable Kona Electric. There’s also the Ioniq 6 saloon, and the Ioniq 9 seven-seat SUV that’s coming very soon.

If it wasn’t obvious, the Inster is now Hyundai’s entry-level EV, and is available from £23,505. That’s a few hundred pounds more than the base R5, and a little higher than the Citroen e-C3, which won our 2024 Car of the Year award and now starts from just over £22k. Meanwhile its much funkier sister car, Fiat Grande Panda EV, is priced from under £21k.

Ordering an Inster should be a straightforward process, because there are only three trim levels to choose from – 01, 02 and the 4x4-inspired Cross – and two battery sizes. The most basic model gets a 42kWh ‘Standard Range’ unit, while the rest feature a 49kWh ‘Long Range’ pack. However, it’s worth noting that the Inster is strictly a four-seater, like the Dacia Spring.

Standard equipment includes a heat pump that helps to preserve range in the colder months, dual 10.25-inch displays, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, 15-inch alloy wheels, climate control, keyless entry, a rear-view camera and adaptive cruise control, among other safety systems. 

We strongly recommend springing for the 02 model, which is available from £26,755, and adds the bigger battery as standard plus extra kit including 17-inch rims, LED lights, roof rails, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, a wireless charging pad, ambient interior lighting, fold-flat front seats and a sliding rear bench. Higher-spec models are also available with the option of black or beige-and-khaki-brown interior colour schemes.

For a rugged look, the Inster Cross adds chunkier front and rear bumpers, skid plates, embossed black side cladding, roof rails and a special set of wheels. The interior gets a unique colour scheme of grey cloth upholstery with lime-yellow accents that are echoed in the dashboard trim. An exclusive Amazonas Green Matte paint finish is also available for an extra £800.

Add the optional Tech Pack for a further £500 to any version of the Inster and it gets vehicle-to-load (V2L) charging capabilities, meaning you can use its main battery to power other electronic devices via a three-pin plug inside the car.

The Inster benefits from not only Hyundai’s expertise when it comes to producing excellent electric cars, but also the simple fact that this is a very narrow car. Much narrower than its French foes, in fact. Its slim figure makes you feel like you can thread the Inster through any gap in traffic or sneaky side road you fancy. Although its decent motorway manners mean you needn’t feel confined to the city.

Performance, 0-60mph acceleration and top speed

The 42kWh battery is paired with a 96bhp electric motor that drives the front wheels, and is good for 0-62mph in a somewhat lethargic 11.7 seconds. By contrast the 49kWh powerback comes with a slightly more potent 113bhp e-motor, which cuts the sprint time down to 10.6 seconds. Top speed is less than 100mph for both versions.

We tested the more powerful Inster and acceleration feels peppy off the line, and up to around 30mph, which is perfect for a car born to tackle city streets. It can’t deliver the same punch as a Renault 5 because it has only half as much torque on tap; performance drops off significantly as you approach motorway speeds and overtaking can take a while.

You can hear a faint whine from the electric motor when you’re accelerating too, but it’s not too bad and you could easily drown it out with the radio.

Town driving, visibility and parking

One advantage the Inster has over the Renault 5 (for now anyway) is the paddles behind the steering wheel that allow the driver to toggle between several strengths for the regen braking, including a proper one-pedal driving setting that’s perfect for constant stop-start traffic. 

The turning circle is 10.6 metres, which is decent and the same as the Citroen e-C3. But we’d expect it to be tighter, especially considering that the Skoda Elroq – a much larger family SUV – has a 9.3-metre turning circle.

The upright windscreen and huge side windows, combined with the stubby front end with its flat bonnet, mean the view of the road ahead is excellent. Rear visibility is good too, but the thick C-pillars create a sizable blind spot when looking over your shoulder. Hyundai’s solution are exterior cameras that show what's in that blind spot when you indicate, which is terrific, but for some bizarre reason this feature is only found on the range-topping Inster Cross.

The ride in the Inster is nice and soft, but hitting a pothole can send jolts through the cabin. This is partly due to the dinky wheelbase, but also – we suspect – partly due to the relatively unsophisticated torsion beam suspension at the rear. 

B-road driving and handling

Venture outside the city and the Inster’s soft, busy ride results in occupants being jostled about a lot in their seats, and the car rolls in corners too. But you can carry some speed through them if you’re in the mood, so while the driving experience isn’t particularly thrilling, your passengers will be having a good laugh.

Motorway driving and long-distance comfort

As we mentioned, the Inster takes its time getting up to motorway speed. Once it’s cruising, it’s fairly loud inside because of the wind noise – no surprise given the size of the mirrors or the bluff front end of the car – but we also noticed some road noise and tyre roar too. Overall, the Renault 5 is noticeably more refined at high speeds. 

Adaptive cruise control (which is standard fit) can help make long journeys more relaxing, while another handy feature is the ability to briefly activate maximum regen when exiting the motorway by holding down the left paddle on the steering wheel.

Although the Inster’s battery sizes are called ‘Standard Range’ and ‘Long Range’, there isn’t a vast difference between them. Hyundai says the 42kWh battery used by the most basic model (which we’ve yet to sample) will provide up to 203 miles of range, while the 49kWh unit is good for 229 miles on a single charge. 

Key rivals like the Renault 5 and MINI Cooper Electric offer more range on paper, but the Hyundai makes up for that by being very efficient on the road. We weren’t trying to maximise range when we put the Inster through its paces, mostly on winding country roads and dual-carriageways with the air-con on max, yet the car still achieved 4.0 miles per kWh – better than we’ve been seeing from the Renault 5 on our test fleet.

Based on that average, the Inster could offer a real-world range of 196 miles from the 49kWh battery. Spend a little less time with the pedal to the metal and we can guarantee that efficiency figure will climb even higher.

Most people buying a car like this won’t be too worried about lightning-fast charging speeds, which is good because the maximum charging speed is 85kW, or 73kW in the smaller-battery model. That fails to match the 100kW or so rivals can hit, but it still only takes around half an hour to go from 10-80 per cent on a suitably speedy rapid charger, or overnight using a conventional home wallbox.

Insurance groups

The Hyundai Inster sits in insurance groups 21 to 24 (out of 50), depending on which version you go for, so it shouldn't cost a huge amount to get cover. The Renault 5 will be cheaper, though, because it manages to slide into groups 18 to 22, while the Citroen e-C3 should cost about the same, given that it falls into group 24.

Tax

From April 1 2025, electric cars attract the same annual rate of Vehicle Excise Duty or ‘road tax’ (£195) as any other car, although the Inster does avoid the £425 expensive vehicle supplement because it costs less than £40,000. The Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) company car tax rate for EVs is three per cent for the 2025/26 tax year. 

Depreciation

Our latest expert data suggests that the Inster will hold onto around 40 per cent of its original list price after three years and 36,000 miles of ownership, which is slightly less than the Dacia Spring and Citroen e-C3 are projected to retain over the same period. However, the Renault 5 is expected to hold onto about half of its value.

Check the price of a Hyundai Inster with our free car valuation tool...

The boxy shape, bulbous wheelarches, comically large circular lights and extremely short overhangs were all features of the original Casper, however the square pixel lighting on the front and rear is taken from Hyundai’s other electric cars, such as the Ioniq 5 and Kona Electric. The charging port being located in the nose is something else we’ve seen in the brand’s EVs before.

We like the rather cartoonish design of the Inster, which reminds us of the Suzuki Ignis, and some of the wacky kei cars that are sold exclusively in Japan. This is a car that suits a more vibrant paint finish than the standard black, and thankfully Hyundai offers various hues and finishes, with the stand-outs being Sienna Orange and Buttercream Yellow. Base models are fitted with 15-inch wheels, while the rest of the range get a more impressive set of 17-inch diamond-cut rims.

Interior and dashboard design

Of course, plenty of other small electric cars have ‘quirky’ or ‘funky’ styling. The ace up the Inster’s sleeve is that its interior that prioritises functionality, space and versatility. The most obvious sign of this is the sea of physical buttons littering the dashboard, including all the climate controls. There are more physical buttons on the steering wheel, and just behind it is the column-mounted gear selector.  

Much like with the paint, the Inster’s standard black interior is very dull and doesn’t really suit this car’s personality, which is why we recommend opting for the beige and khaki brown colour scheme, which is a no cost option with 02 trim and adds houndstooth seat upholstery, like you can get in a Porsche 911. Although that’s probably the only thing those two cars have in common.

Materials and build quality

There are next to no soft-touch materials throughout the cabin, which is disappointing as rivals like the Renault 5 manage to pepper in some fabrics or other materials in places. At least build quality is solid and we couldn’t hear any rattling or squeaking from the plastic trim in our test car.

Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment

Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, as is the 10.25-inch touchscreen stuck on top of the dashboard, which we wish had been mounted lower down to make it easier to reach. 

The Inster doesn’t feature Hyundai’s very latest software, instead it uses an infotainment system that’s actually two generations old. Sure, it doesn’t look quite as slick or modern as the stuff in the brand's newer models, but the benefit of using older software is that Hyundai has ironed out all the kinks and bugs. It also gets the job done and the graphics are clear, although there are a lot of menus to navigate through and they can be quite laggy.

Hyundai has squeezed every possible millimetre of cabin space out of the Inster, and  managed to create a 3.8-metre-long city city that six-foot adults can comfortably sit in the back of. It’s honestly Tardis-like. There are only four seats, however, and cabin storage is neither here nor there, with spaces on the dashboard and in the centre console, but the door bins are only large enough for a wallet at most. 

Dimensions and size

Measuring 3,825mm long, 1,610mm wide and 1,575mm tall, the Hyundai Inster is a little bit longer than the Dacia Spring, but shorter than its more direct rivals such as the Citroen e-C3, Renault 5 and Fiat Grande Panda. 

Driving position, seats & space in the front

There’s plenty of adjustability in the steering wheel and captain’s chair to find a comfortable seating position. In between the front seats, which at a glance look like they’re one big bench, are a pair of cup-holders and a rather tiny armrest. Headroom is superb and the view out is great, thanks to the tall body and large glasshouse. 

The beige and khaki brown interior theme in our test car helps make the cabin feel even more airy and light, though there’s no escaping the fact that this is still a narrow car, and it feels it when there are two adults up front. The Renault 5 feels like a generally more spacious car for those in the front seats.

Seats & space in the back

There’s an obscene amount of headroom in the back too, and the completely flat floor maximises all the available space. There are two sets of Isofix child-seat mounting points in the back, or if you’ve got adults to ferry around, go for a higher-spec model and the rear seats recline.  

Boot space

You have to upgrade to 02 or Cross trim in order to get the Inster with the 50:50-split sliding and reclining rear seats, which can be pushed forwards by up to 16cm. When they’re positioned for maximum rear legroom, the Inster offers just 238 litres of boot space, which is only slightly more than a MINI Cooper can muster, and a lot of that space is also found underneath the boot floor. 

Sliding those seats all the way forwards will give you a significantly better 351 litres of boot space to play with, which is more than you get in the larger Citroen or Renault. Plus there’s a clever board attached to each rear seat that fills the void left when you push them forward, to prevent loose items falling down the cracks.

The Inster 01 doesn’t get any sliding rear seats, so just has a 280-litre boot, which is smaller than most of this car’s rivals. Even the Dacia Spring can carry more junk in its trunk – 308 litres, to be exact.

When you need maximum cargo space, you can fold the front passenger seat down as well, and load items up to 2.2 metres long. 

The Hyundai Inster hasn’t received a crash safety score from Euro NCAP yet, but it’s fitted with seven airbags as standard (the Citroen e-C3 gets six) along with a smattering of driver-assistance systems, including lane-keep assist, driver-attention monitoring and forward collision avoidance assist with car, pedestrian, cyclist and junction turning detection. Based on owners’ feedback from our most recent Driver Power satisfaction survey, Hyundai finished 17th (out of 32) in the best car manufacturer rankings. Most of the praise was for its cars’ infotainment, running costs and value for money.

• Best buy: Hyundai Inster 49kWh 02

The entry-level Hyundai Inster comes well equipped with dual 10.25-inch displays, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, keyless entry, a reversing camera and a smattering of safety kit. But we recommend upgrading to 02 trim, because this adds a bigger battery for extra range, a sliding and reclining rear bench for maximum versatility, and even more equipment including heated front seats and a heated steering wheel.

Alternatives

The Inster is Hyundai’s champion in the small electric car class, which is more competitive than ever right now. The newest contenders include the reborn Renault 5 and incoming Renault 4, the MINI Cooper Electric, BYD Dolphin and our 2024 Car of the Year, the Citroen e-C3. There are also Citroen’s numerous siblings to consider, including the funky Fiat Grande Panda, the more practical Citroen e-C3 Aircross, and the Vauxhall Frontera. The Peugeot E-208 and Vauxhall Corsa Electric are also still on offer, but are a bit long in the tooth now.

Hyundai Inster pictures

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