Hyundai Inster

Small electric cars have finally started to arrive in numbers. Hyundai’s entrant is the Inster a five-door hatchback that certainly stands out in a crowd. Finished in Sienna Orange with a black roof we spent a week in the Inster 02 just as Autumn arrived

Model choice

The Inster is offered with two batteries & in three specs all with a single front wheel drive motor.

So entry level  Inster 01 comes fitted with either the 42kWh Standard Range battery or the larger 49kWh Long Range battery. Inster 02 is only offered with the Long Range battery & finally there’s the Inster Cross also fitted with the larger battery.

Performance

Standard Range offers 96bhp for 0-62mph time of 11.7 seconds & a top speed of 87mph. Long Range is marginally quicker with 113bhp, reaching 62mph in 10.6 seconds with a top speed of 93mph. Cross is the same as Long Range but has 116bhp.

Specs

All versions are fitted with an 11kW on board charger. Inster 01 includes a 10.25″ digital instrument cluster, the 10.25″ touchscreen with SatNav, climate control, smart cruise with Stop & Go, battery heater & 15″ alloys. 

Inster 02 adds 17″ alloy wheels, full LED projection headlamps, sliding & reclining rear seats, flat-folding front seats, heated front seats & a heated steering wheel.  

Prices

Battery range

Exterior

Don’t expect any tactile finishes, it’s mainly smooth, hard plastics finished in black with the occasional grey or chrome finish. However, you can specify a beige interior with a houndstooth fabric for the seats which would certainly brighten this up.

Infotainment

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, as is the 10.25″ touchscreen. The operating system is a couple of gen’s old, so you’ll need to connect your phone via a cable to connect to CarPlay or Android Auto. Some of the menus are slower to load than in Hyundai’s newer software.

Cabin practicality

First & foremost even with a slim footprint the tall, upright shape offers massive amounts of headroom. Despite having envelope thin door pockets the rest of the Inster has been cleverly designed for space. There’s a neat armrest that moves with the drivers seat, as do the centre twin cup holders. A good sized glove box, a storage area above, a low down centre cubby, twin front USB’s a single rear USB & a 12v socket are all on offer.

The steering adjusts both fore & aft & whilst you sit quite high the bonus is an uninterrupted forward view, although the large ADAS set-up behind the rear mirror is magnificently large.

Boot space & practicality

The sliding rear bench is also a clever inclusion, although it only comes with higher-spec models. This increases the boot space from 238 litres to 351 litres whilst reducing legroom. However if you leave the boot as is, the knee room is brilliant matching headroom in the back which is also excellent. The only negative is it’s strictly a two-seater in the back.

The flat boot floor hides storage below perfect for the charging cables & the fabric parcel cover can be attached to he back of the seats if you fold them down releasing a more than useful 1,059 litres of boot space, another clever addition.

Safety

Plenty, including seven airbags as standard, Lane-Keeping Assist, plus a Driver-Attention monitoring System, Forward Collision Avoidance Assist & Autonomous Cruise Control were all fitted to our 02 test car.

Charging & range

We plugged in overnight on a number of occasions & the Inster range showed as 199 miles each morning when fully charged.

The maximum charging speed is 85kW, or 73kW in the smaller-battery model, so a 10-80 % charge on a public fast charger will take just 30 minutes. Charge at home as we did on  7.4kW wallbox  & it will take just over six hours to fully recharge the Standard Range Inster, while the Long Range version takes around 7.5 hours. Our five hour night time discounted rate of 9p/kWh meant adding 37kWh to the range for just £3.30

Driving

First things first. The driving mode & regeneration levels offered are the same as you get on other Hyundai, Kia & Genesis models so are first class. Eco is usually our default option as it offers plenty of power in town, whilst selecting the highest regeneration option the  i-Pedal, means you don’t really need to use the brakes. You can toggle through the regeneration levels of which there are five using the steering wheel paddles.

Even though the acceleration to 62mph is slow, thanks to the electric drive train, nippy urban driving is possible & with the regeneration set on max, you can accelerate fast then let the car bring itself to a stop, all whilst adding some battery range.

The Inster may be narrow but it’s tall & the clever seats mean that even six footers will have plenty of room in the rear unless you move the seats forward of course.

In damp late October, road noise was noticeable onece you hit 40mph or above & the downside of the cars upright stance is that wind noise is also a bit more obvious than in similarly priced EV’s. Neither though are loud enough to spoil the experience nor the Inster’s light & nimble handling, which coupled to accurate steering make it fun to drive.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s a bit of damp squib on the motorway but you’d be wrong. There’s more than enough power on offer with the larger battery to keep up with motorway traffic & the inclusion of cruise control with Intelligent Cruise Assist means autonomous driving, which is a seriously good inclusion on a car at this price point, take sth hassle out of variable speed limits.

A couple of supermarket trips & the purchase of a leaf blower, demonstrated that the boots bigger than you think & as I drove around the Inster drew smiles from passers by a sure sign that it’s kooky looks have kerb appeal.

Real world range

Real world driving saw us averaging 3.8 miles a kWh & our longest 90 mile drive all on the motorway, saw us use up 110 miles of range, so we’d guess at a combined driving range of 170 miles for the Long Range model , 200 miles if driving just in town would be about right.

Pros

Distinct exterior make’s it stand out in a crowd. Some incredible premium features such as autonomous driving & the i-Pedal are available. The interior is like a Tardis. 3% BIK.

Cons

We like it’s looks, some may not. Interior is a little plasticky. The ADAS housing on the windscreen is enormous.

Verdict

The Inster is a great small electric car & a worthy addition to the sector. There’s plenty to like too. Premium safety & regen features are offered, the exterior puts the ‘F’ in Funky & the cabin is cleverly designed & spacious. Not so good are the interior finishes which are a little cheap whilst turning off driver warnings is a bit of a chore. But, we are being highly critical because the Inster is one of the best small electric cars we’ve driven.

 4/5