REVIEW | Hyundai Inster 2 - An Exceptionally Clever Small EV

Hyundai has joined the 'small EV league' to compete with the likes of the new Renault 5, BYD Dolphin, and Dacia Spring, but for its entry into the increasingly competitive market, the South Korean brand has a few tricks up its sleeve.

Meet the Hyundai Inster, a small EV designed for the city, yet one that's more than capable of occasional further excursions. There are three versions of the Inster available; the entry level model is the 'Inster 1' priced from £23,495. At the top of the range, the 'Inster Cross' is priced from £26,745, and sandwiched between the two models is the 'Inster 2', a happy medium priced at £26,755. It's the '2' (as tested) that Hyundai expects to sell the most of.

Battery, Charging Times and Range

The Inster 2 has a 49 kWh battery paired up with a single 85.5 kWh motor. This rewards around 115 PS (113 hp) and a 0-62 mph time of just over 10 seconds. With a 150kw charger, the Inster 2 will charge 10-80% in just 30 minutes, and for those plugging in at home, an 11kW 3-phase system, the battery will fully charge in just over 4.5 hours.

Once fully charged, the Inster 2 will reward a potential (WLTP) driving range of 229 miles with an efficiency rating of 4.1 miles per kWh.

Price and standard specifications

The Inster 2 is priced from £26,755 or, on a monthly PCP with a £3000 deposit, expect to pay around £316 thanks to a 0% APR deal from Hyundai retailers. For the money, buyers are rewarded with a pretty comprehensive list of luxury equipment as standard, including 17-inch alloy wheels, roof rails, a heated leather steering wheel, front heated seats, automatic LED lighting, automatic wipers, a self-dimming rearview mirror and privacy glass.

Convenience (included as standard)

Then there are the tech and convenience features, which include intelligent cruise control with a stop-and-go function, electric folding mirrors, electric windows (front and rear), parking sensors (front and rear), a rear parking camera, keyless entry, built-in navigation with smartphone connectivity and a 10.25-inch colour touch screen.

Safety (included as standard)

For safety and convenience, the Inser 2 also includes driver status monitoring, which keeps an eye on driver attention and checks for tiredness. It also features forward collision avoidance, highway driving assistance, hill-start assistance, intelligent speed limit assistance, lane keep assistance and tyre pressure monitoring.

Heatpump (included as standard)

Another feature that isn't standard on competitor models is the built-in heat pump, which helps set and regulate battery temperature for heating and cooling and is designed to help with preconditioning and charging times all year round.

Optional Extras

Given the platform's versatility, and thanks to the standard kit list, Hyundai has made life easy with a minimal selection of optional packages for the '2'. For £500, a 'tech pack' is available, which enables a digital key to be used from a paired smartphone, and if you want a colour other than white, an additional fee of £600 will be required for a black, green, orange or cream gloss paint job. If you like satin paint, two further options are available, both of which will cost you £800. In terms of optional extras, that's pretty much it.

Optional Accessories

The area where the Hyundai sales staff are likely to coax out a few extra pounds is in the accessories department. The Inster is an exceptionally clever little platform, and the designers have considered just about every possible scenario that potential buyers might want to fulfil. Beyond the additional cosmetics such as exterior decals, side trims and kick plate guards (all of which cost between £100-400) there is a vast list of interchangeable interior panels and additions inside the car which can house and accommodate everything from credit card holders, to photo frames, seatback tables, and even an umbrella stand for every eventuality. These extras range from just £30 to £125.

The Drive

The Inster 2 is designed primarily for the city; however, once out of your home town centre, it feels very much at home on faster roads and dual carriageways. At 60-70mph, there is a touch of wind noise and road rumble, but nothing beyond the realms of unacceptability. Despite its size, the Inster has plenty of road presence and for all the essential tasks of starting, stopping and getting around the bends, there is nothing negative to note. It does it all brilliantly. The Inster is a very comfortable car that can happily undertake a longer drive. Buyers in London, for example, could leave home with a fully charged battery, drive comfortably on the motorway to spend a day on the south coast, and return to the city again without any requirement to stop and charge.

The comfort isn't exclusive to the driver and front passenger either, due to yet more exceptionally clever design in the rear half of the car.

The Party Trick: Space and Seating

Something the design team at Hyundai have done exceptionally well is interior space management. In a fairly unique move for cars in this size segment, the two rear seats slide and recline, rewarding a surprising amount of space for rear passengers. Even with the front seats in the furthest back position, rear passengers over 6 feet in height can happily sit in comfort with plenty of legroom and headroom thanks to the adjustability of their seats. This adjustability also gives an adaptable boot space ranging from 238 to 251 litres, depending on rear seat position, or for the occasional flat pack furniture shop, the boot space can stretch to as much as 1059 litres once the rear seats are folded flat.

It's not just the rear seats that do the clever movements, both the driver and front passenger seat can also fold fully flat, too transforming the interior of the car to accommodate the potential for car-camping or, with the driver seat in the fixed position and the front passenger seat flat, the Inster can accommodate larger items such as a surfboard with ease.

Is the Inster 2 worth considering?

If you're in the market for a small EV, with considerations towards cars like the new Renault 5 and Dacia Spring, then the Inster 2 is absolutely worthy of the shortlist. Sure, the design language won't be ideal for everyone, but for many, it'll be perfect.

As a product, it's clever and intuitive and offers more than its rivals in terms of standard equipment. As a small car somewhere between the A and B segments, it provides everything a driver could hope for. It's the ideal city solution with superb occasional long-distance capability and has more talking topics and features than most drivers will ever need.