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Pros: Well-built, well-equipped, good to drive, versatile.
Cons: Strictly a four-seater, quirky styling might be an acquired taste.
Hyundai Inster Design
The Inster is tiny but it has a lot of attitude. It’s higher overall than the popular Hyundai i10 city car so it has mini-SUV vibes, enhanced by the chunky roof rails on the Elegance trim level. The wheelbase is quite long for a city car, which is good for space on the inside. Quirky, circular LED daytime running lights at the front and the strips of pixelated lighting at the back give it a lot of character to help it stand out. There’s quite an extensive colour palette of nine different options. Alloy wheels also come as standard: 15-inch on the Signature and 17-inch on the Elegance.
Hyundai Inster Interior
The Inster feels grown-up inside with a solid fit and finish. It even gets the same steering wheel as the much larger and more expensive Ioniq 5. It’s easy to get comfortable behind the wheel with plenty of adjustment (reach and rake) and height adjustment for the driver’s seat.
What’s even more notable is the excellent digital tech onboard and its integration. There’s a crisp, full digital driver display and large touchscreen with plenty of features. Even better, there’s a stack of real buttons underneath to adjust things like the climate control and heated seats. There is Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, but it's a wired connection. Still, it’s very well-equipped with a heated, leather-wrapped steering wheel, heated front seats, parking camera, keyless entry and manual air conditioning. Elegance models add a wireless smartphone charging pad.
The Inster is incredibly flexible inside, especially if you opt for the Elegance. It is a strict four-seater, but it’s what you can do with those seats. For a start the rear seats can be folded flat, and it’s really easy to let them down even from the boot, if you quickly need a bit more space. The Elegance model adds sliding and reclining rear seats that can be used to create more boot space, while still leaving enough legroom for adults. Even the front passenger seat can be folded completely flat, ideal for carrying longer items.
The standard boot size is 280 litres, which is enough for a few bags. There’s a generous underfloor storage area, ideal for keeping charging cables out of sight. With the rear seats forward, the boot capacity can expand to 351 litres.
Hyundai Inster Performance & Drive
The Inster is offered with the choice of two different lithium-ion batteries: the 42kWh with up to 327 kilometres (WLTP) and the 49kWh with up to 360 kilometres. These are decent-sized batteries for such a small car, which translates to good range that means you can take the Inster out of town quite comfortably. It also supports DC fast charging up to 85kW for a 10-80% charge in as little as 30 minutes. 11kW AC charging allows for a full charge in four hours. The Elegance model includes a heat pump as standard and Hyundai quotes consumption as low as 15kWh per 100 kilometres – easy to replicate in real world driving.
What’s really astonishing about the Inster, is how well it drives. It’s not too noisy, it feels really solid on the road and it handles well. It’s largely comfortable for a small car, with just some bumpiness on rural roads. The Elegance uses a slightly more powerful 115hp motor sending power to the front wheels. 0-100km/h is 10.6 seconds, which sounds slow but the Inster is not underpowered and there’s no problem joining motorways or keeping up with traffic.
There are also loads of features you might expect from larger cars: adaptive cruise control and other driver assistance features; drive modes (eco, normal, sport and snow); there are even paddles behind the steering wheel to adjust the regenerative braking and a full one-pedal driving mode.
Hyundai Inster Pricing
The Inster is available from €18,995 for the Signature 42kWh and from €22,495 for the Elegance 49kWh.
Carzone Verdict
The Hyundai Inster is a brilliant small car and really shines for its versatility – and we don’t just mean the brilliant flexible seating. It’s designed as a city car, but it can do so much more. If you find yourself out of town on rural roads or motorways, that’s not a problem for the Inster with its good road manners, range and fast charging. It’s a likable and easy car to recommend.