Hyundai Inster review and buyer's guide
If you’re considering an electric vehicle, start with solving one of the critical problems all conventional EVs have: too much. Where most EVs are too big, too heavy and too expensive, Hyundai Inster solves all these problems. Here’s what you need to know…
The Hyundai Inster is a compact EV that makes it one of the best examples of battery-motor powertrain being used in a package that makes the most sense for the technology.
The Inster is a profound change in the Australian market for electric vehicles because it offers value the consumer hasn’t yet seen from the major carmakers.
Until now, electric vehicles haven’t made rational, economical sense to the sparse nature of our road network. The Inster might be a number of years old in global terms, but it’s taken several years to get this Mini- or Smart-sized electric vehicle to Australia.
The fact is Hyundai Australia is offering the Ister here in 2025 when the number of EV sales are down over 60 per cent compared to the first half of 2024. This is largely due to the drying up of government-offered subsidies via novated leasing.
But that doesn’t stop the Inster actually being a clever piece of design and good value due to its capabilities as a transport device and what few compromises it has compared with other EVs.
It’s physically very small and not just in a subjective sense when you stand next to it.
Inster is exactly 3.82 metres long, which means it literally fits inside the wheelbase of most dual-cab utes and almost inside that of the Kia Carnival. Having said that, it does in fact fit inside the total length of most large SUVs and even some medium SUVs.
The Hyundai Tucson, for example, is 4640mm long or 21 per cent longer and at 1814kg (the ‘Premium’ variant with a full tank) it’s also 27 per cent heavier - while costing about $20,000 more - than the Inster.
Having said that, obviously you do get more vehicle for your money, that’s an objective fact. But the true question about value is how much of that notional Tucson goes complately unutilised? As on, how much extra vehicle are you getting for your extra $20K that goes completely wasted in your day-to-day driving?
How many times have you seen a big 7-seat LandCruiser or some enormous, girthy Tesla dropping a sole kid or even a pair of kids at school, with an empty front seat, empty footwells and probably empty boot?
Of the 582 litres of luggage space in the boot of a Tucson, how much do you suppose you would actually use at all times? Let’s imagine it’s 280 litres worth; that’s 48 per cent of the boot in use on a constant basis. That’s 100 per cent of the available cargo space in the Inster - a fully utilised boot, compared with a half-empty one.
What’s also fascinating about the Inster is just how remarkably compact it is when you take into context how much safety equipment, technology and fundamental R&D is baked into this little car and yet it is still so immecably small in an age where cars have become overgrown, slobbish mass transport.
So much so, the Inster is only 775mm longer than a classic Leyland Mini - that’s 77.7cm - meaning an Inster is only 25 per cent longer. Yet an Inster contains a full suite of curtain, front and centre airbags, an electric motor that allows it to do 0-100km/h in about 10 seconds, which is ab out the same as the original Mini Cooper S from 1959, except the difference being you aren’t going to suffer anything like the same injuries if you’re in an identical crash with the Hyundai.
Now that you’re convinced the Inster is a good-value all-electric runabout, let’s get into the details of exactly why it’s also the best EV on sale in Australia right now, starting with the pricing and features.
FEATURES & PRICING
INSTER Base | $43,300 (approx. driveaway)
15-inch alloy wheels
10.25-inch full digital instrument cluster
10.25-inch multimedia touchscreen
Satellite Navigation with live traffic + ‘Over-the-Air’ updates
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
Dual Bluetooth connection
Bluelink connected car services
Smart key with push-button start
6 speaker stereo system
Recycled PET cloth seats
Compact centre console
Rain sensing wipers
Heat pump
Battery conditioning system
Internal and external Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) capabilities:
Leather steering wheel
Shift By Wire
LED Daytime Running Lights
LED interior lighting
Roof rails – bridge type
50:50 split folding rear seat
INSTER Cross | $49,530 (approx. driveaway)
Cross
Roof Basket
Powertrain & transmission
Extended Range 84.5 kW Motor Electric Single Speed Reduction Gear FWD
Key Specifications
Vehicle Range - 360km
17-inch alloy wheels
Rear privacy window and backlite glass
Sunroof w/ manual sunshade
Heated and ventilated front seats
Heated steering wheel
Ambient mood lighting – 64 colours
Flat folding seat backrest – driver & passenger
Bio artificial leather seats
Smart temperature comfort control system
Electronic Chromic Mirror (ECM)
10.25” full digital instrument cluster
10.25” multimedia touchscreen
Satellite Navigation with Bluelink™ live traffic
Apple CarPlay™[P5] and Android™[P6] Auto compatibility
Multi-Bluetooth® Connection
Bluelink™ [P4] connected car service
Over-The-Air (OTA)[P13] navigation update capability
Smart Key with push button start
6 speaker audio system
Wireless charging pad[P7]
Compact centre console
Rain sensing wipers
Heat pump
Battery conditioning system
Internal and external Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) capabilities [P3]
i-Pedal mode
Leather steering wheel
LED Daytime Running Lights
LED interior lighting
Roof rails – bridge type
INTERIOR
There’s no denying that taller, wider gentlemen are going to find the Inster a little cramped if, perhaps you for example, have been used to bigger SUVs and sedans for most of your life. But once you adjust the seat correctly, and then the steering wheel, and your mirrors, even people on the taller size, closer to 6-foot are going to be relatively okay driving this thing.
But if you’re of normal height, which is the majority of the population, you’re actually going to find the Inster surprsingly roomy - for its size. The fact pretty much all modern cars’ ergonomics are designed so the 90th percentile human can adjust the seat, steering wheel and mirrors to accommodate their height suggests the Inster is absolutely not going to be ‘too small for the tall’.
Having said all that, let’s talk the rest of Inster’s funky cabin, because it has so much to like, such as the sublime first-order positioning of all the primary driving equipment. Nothing is in a weird spot, the screen is nice and close so that even people with shorter arms can reach the ‘Home’ icon (which is still positioned on the farthest side of the screen; a legacy from LHD markets that has never been adressed by Hyundai).
Because this platform dates back to 2017 there are lots of buttons. Hooray for buttons. There’s a button for each individual HVAC function, there’s a button for the entertainment stuff, and there are buttons for the heated and ventilated (cooled) seats on the Cross variant.
For once, the transmission stalk actually kind of makes sense in this vehicle because it removes any central transmission lever that would make the cockpit feel less spacious. Therefore, because the automatic park brake actually is automatic and faultless (it works every single time) you don’t have to worry about getting your hand off the stalk and onto the electronic park brake switch to get going seemlessly.
The centre armrest which folds up and out of the way is a neat little touch that make a single share bench front seat feel slightly more commodious (somehow) by dividing up the official designated elbow room, and the cupholders built into said bench seat base is a clever use of the restrictive real estate in here.
The phone tray (that’s the bit that looks like a surprised mouth) is grippy so your phone doesn’t fling out under sporty acceleration and there’s and additoinal storage tray underneath it which is surpsingly deep for hidding anything valuable from prying eyes.
With this in mind, there aren’t any generous door bins with bottle holders, due to the limited space, but there is a small slot for putting things in like rubbish.
There is, however, a neat little stowage compartment fore of the passenmger where you’ll also find a combination of USB-A and USB-C ports, meaning your old USB-A cables don’t need to lay waste and can simply be plugged into your Inster permanently so you always have a charging option when you get in, even if your charger is someone else or simply out of reach.
ENGINE
You get two batteries in the Inster range. There’s the Inster base model (not given any specific moniker in addition to ‘Inster’) and the ‘Cross Extended Range’ come with a 49kWh battery with a claimed 360km of maximum range. Or there’s the Inster ‘Standard Range’ which gets a 42kWh battery and a claimed 327km of range.
If you get the optional roof basket pack on the Cross, that additional weight reduces the potential range to 293kg - but at least you expand the practicality envelope significantly.
The ‘Standard Range’ battery version makes 71 kilowatts , and the ‘Extended Range’ version makes 84.5kW, both with the same 147Nm of torque. Having a relatively low amount of torque available comapared with plenty of other more-powerful, faster accelerating EVs is actually a point of difference here - for the better.
Having huge amounts of torque available from zero revs might be intoxicatingly exciting, which it is, but it’s extremely arduous on the hardware. There’s no such thing as a free lunch in physics, and the harder you make that battery discharge, and the harder you make that AC electric motor spin, and the more torque you send through the rear axle and put onto the road via the tyres - the sooner things wear out.
The rate of tyre wear alone on bigger, gruntier EVs is preposterous. And the amount of invisible (to the naked eye) emissions that big-tyred Teslas and Taycans and Mercedes and Kias make when you put your foot down, courtesy of all that torque, negates all the tailpipe emissions they allegedly save.
Inster is ‘worth it’ because its conservative outputs, its modest footprint - literally and figuratively - makes it far less of an economic impost on you and less of a environmental impost on everyone else.
If you’re plugging into a DC fast charger because you’re getting very low, then Kia says you’re looking at roughly a 30 minute wait to go from 10 to 80 per cent. Plugging it into the 10amp external wall outlet at home is going to take the best part of an entire day to get from 45 per cent to full. But obviously this depends on the state of charge.
If outright performance is what you’re seeking from the Inster, firstly, that’s not the point of this vehicle at all and you might actually find the straight-line acceleration quite dull - especially if you’re used to Teslas, or most of the EVs from other brand.
But for the sake of stating the facts here, the Cross Extended Range is the better option in this regard, but not by much, offering a power-weight ratio of 60kW per tonne. The base model and ‘Standard Range’ Cross offer 59kW per tonne, so it’s hardly night and day between them.
And for what it’s worth, soemthing like a fully electric Kia Niro ‘S’ offers 86kW per tonne, albeit starting at $72,000 driveaway. So again, the Inster is not about performance, it’s about convenience.
The thing that makes an Inster so ideal for running around is the nature of short driving trips, particularly for combustion vehicles. They have to firstly make big energy draws on their starter battery when cold (hence batteries are measured in cold cranking amps), and this is a very energy intensive job which demands a lot of work from that battery.
Then there’s the nature of combustion engines which can take a little while to ‘warm up’, although not in the way carburettered vehicles used to require lgnthy warming up in the morning. Today it has more to do with lots of daily cold starts where there’s the tiniest bits of engine wear right in the first few seconds of start-up before oil and fuel makes its way around the motor.
Generally this is okay if you’re then driving a long distance where the fluids all get up to temperature and their optimum viscosities.
Batteries might be compromised in extreme heat and cold, but they’re the ideal tool for frequent short trips where combustion is sub-optimal.
But if you’re only driving a few kays up the road before switching off again, where the motor starts cooling down again before it’s even got warm, and then you do the same start-up to come home again 10-15 minutes later. This offers repeated opportunities for the tiniest, microscopic wear and tear to happen.
There’s also the issue of water condensing in the oil when it arrives home warm, turns off, and that heat condenses overnight to form tiny water droplettes. Doing this every day and only going short trips can dilute the oil very gradually over time. Driving long distances helps burn away this kind of contaminents, but if you’re doing this daily it can be hell for some engines.
The point of considering an Inster for this kind of running around is you don’t have any of this kind of inherent cold-start, short-trip consequence to running up to the shops for a tub of ice cream or picking up the take-away.
There are considerations to make regarding the battery life in extremely cold or hot climates, but in general and in most moderate climate cities and major towns in Australia, this isn’t going to be a major issue thanks to Hyundai having designed a robust dedicated cooling system for its batteries that goes back to the first generation Kona Electric back in 2016-17.
What’s important to know about how the battery in an Inster is going to last long term has everything to do with the way it drives, that is: not like a Tesla or BYD or MG or any of the other EVs that thinks it’s a high performance vehicle.
The harder a battery has to discharge its contained energy, which is directly linked to how hard you mash the throttle, the hotter the battery’s internals become. This heat is generally fine in the short term because it is cooled by whatever thermal management system it has.
But that heating and cooling process degrades the battery’s internal chemistry over time, which is why the idea of using EVs for long-term reliability doesn’t make sense when the vehicle is aimed at performance, which is why small short-trip EVs are the perfect tool for all the local running around you might do with a second car.
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SAFETY
It’s very easy for you to be led to believe the Hyundai Inster is some unsafe third-rate deathtrap courtesy of ANCAP’s outstanding job making new car safety ratings hard for consumers to understand.
But the Inster is quite a safe vehicle by modern standards, but it’s designed for a period with different crash testing protocols, which is one of the knock-on effects to ANCAP testing it in 2025 to 2025 protocols.
What the 4-star rating fails to capture is that the inherent nature of Inster being a particularly heavy mirco/city car means that it actually fares much better in car-to-car crashes than a conventionally lighter equivalent. Weighing over 1300kg and hitting a medium SUV is much better than hitting the same medium SUV weighing just 900kg, for example. The Inster’s mass is, effectively, much better as pushing back, as it were.
You do get the actually-useful collision avoidance/driver assistance featuers, like adaptive cruise control, auto emergenecy braking (three different types of AEB, in fact) and despite being older in design than plenty of other vehicles today that lack it, the Inster also gets a front-centre airbag.
EuroNCAP said the Inster isn’t perfect, but is “creditable” for such a small vehicle against 2025 crtieria. It gets decent crash performance results without being perfect, and it offers decent crash protection for child occpuants, again without being perfect. For such a small caar, it does quite well.
For contrast, the 2025-tested MG3 got a 4-star rating from EuroNCAP rating as well, but it has a glaring and genuinely dangerous design defect where the seat base broke during crash testing and somehow ANCAP (which copied the crash data for both Inster and MG3) saw fit to allow it anything more than 3 stars because it has superficial driver assist features. MG3 is also a similar weight and actually slightly bigger than Inster, so it’s not like there’s any excuse for the fundamental engineering behind both vehicles.
The seat base in Hyundai Inster did not break off - in fact EuroNCAP says Inster:
“…emerges with a creditable four-star rating, yet with some room for improvement”
It’s also important to note the natural safety benefits of a smaller vehicle, particularly to pedestrians, which is another area in the EuroNCAP rating where Inster did quite well not just as a city car, but compared with more popular, bigger SUVs.
The low centre of gravity makes it dynamically stable in emergency swerving scenarios, as well as allowing it to brake in a shorter distance than a leager heavier vehicle travelling at the same speed. The smaller profile makes it easier to avoid objects and debris, while also being easier to see out of thanks to better sight lines from the driver’s position.
But just on balance here, if two vehicle crash into each other, the biggest heaviest one will always fare better than the smaller one. So in the case of the Inster, it’s best to avoid the crash completely by improving your driving software and remaining vigilant behind the wheel at all times (rather than slacking off like most drivers do). This is how you should drive by default. Driving is not the benign exercise it gets treated as.
FUNCTIONALITY
What makes the Inster so advantageous as a daily transport device is the compactness. You’re not paying for more vehicle in the case of most SUVs, sedans, utes and people movers… you’re paying for the least amount of vehicle possible, because that’s the benefit you derive.
The whole point of this vehicle is not to be an SUV that claims to be small but in fact has less boot space than an orindary small sedan. It’s to be able to get the kids to school, get your backside to work and then pick up the shopping on the way home after you’ve collected the kids again.
It’s quite bizarre that the Hyundai Inster shares an ‘SUV’ categorisation with the Hyundai Venue, despite the Inster being exactly 3mm higher in ground clearance than a Kia Picanto and the Venue being about 30mm (we’re talking 3cm remember) higher than the Inster.
Inster is not really an SUV in any of the typical metrics that make an SUV unique or practical. It doesn’t have the ground clearance, it’s no easier or harder to get into than a regular small car or small SUV, and the boot is optimistic.
Being only 3 metres long means it fits into regular parking spaces with about 20 per cent more margin than a medium SUV like Kia Sportage. And then there’s the width advantage.
Being only a smidge over 1600mm wide, much like the Kia Carnival is advantageous in carparks because of its sliding rear doors that avert your kids’ wayward disregard for wildly swinging open the doors next to other parked cars, the Inster’s doors often open quite okay within the bounce of your parking space. So the doors generally won’t even reach the neighbouring car.
Although you do have to still watch that other vehicles’ longer, higher doors don’t swing into your Inster.
Below the primary boot floor is a secondary luggage compartment which offers a secondary ability to hide anything of value. Although the little black pull-tab does stick out and kind-of ruin the secrecy.
In a bid to keep the price as low as possible, there aren’t many amenities like map pockets, door holders for bottles or even cup holders for that matter. But this only reiterates the purpose of the Inster. It’s meant to be simple transport. Kids in the back are rarely going to have an actual cup that needs holding when they tend to have drink bottles instead, which generally sit in a backpack anyway.
There are two pairs of ISOFix anchor points with corresponding top tether anchor points, and both of these are ridicurlously easy to access. Pluck the seatback forward with the top-mounted release, thread the seat anchor through the headrest and clip it onto the midway mounted anchor point, and reposition the seatback. Done.
The ISOFix points are equally as easy to find, latch onto and adjust the tethers. Headroom is inittially a bit limited for larger adults trying to get a head and shoulders in to, but once you’ve grown used to where everything is, it’s not hard at all.
What’s intersting to notice is that in fact getting in and out of the Inster, like in a public carpark where there are cars parked bumper-to-bumper and door-to-door like sardines, is surpsingly less stressful than most self-aware parents might typically find with bigger cars where kids have a preference to swing the doors open into the neighbouring vehicle.
Inster, being about 10-15 per cent narrower than a typical SUV, means there’s more precious inches to carefully open the door, wedge your fingers betwen the door and the car beside you, and your kid can exit without denting the car beside. Same thing applies for anybody living in a small apartment with strict basement carparking or even townhouses or detached homes with single-car garages.
Squeezing between an Inster and a wall is less likely to see zippers and studs scratch a line down the clearcoat.
Having that additional clearance betwen you rear bumper and the towball-wielding dual-cab ute pulling into the Bunnings carpark is a blessing.
As for packing the shopping, there’s actually ample room for multiple big shopping bags and thanks to the drop-down boot floor, they can sit quite low and be less susceptible to tipping over in the corners. Footwells are also going to get a workout when/if you do bigger bulkier Costco type shops, which is exactly what you want. You want to be utilising every available space in your compact electric second-car.
DRIVING
Smart regenerative braking and a dedicated i-Pedal mode mean you can effectively operate the Inster with just your right foot.
In fact, you’ll often find yourself enjoying the thrill of trying to keep the vehicle rolling on approach to lights, junstions and down slopes so that you can recoup as much of the sweet reverse generator charging… it’s just a shame it doesn’t give you back much thanks to the second law of thermodynamics.
What the regenerative braking does is effectively reduce how much battery you’ve consumed overall in a journey. Let’s say you drive 10km and manage to capture as much kinetic energy as possible via the brakes (which is the process taking place when you ease up on the throttle to coast, ease off rolling downhill, let off completely, or push the brake hard).
If you’ve got the regen setting set to aggressive, which you adjust using the paddles on the steering wheel, then you might capture a kilometre’s worth of range, so you effectively did 10km using only 9km worth. But one hard acceleration from the lights is obviously going to consume a massive chunk of stored battery energy, moreso than just gently getting going, and this is going to cancel any meaningful energy conservation you did in the first 10 kilometres.
If you’re not an aggressive driver, then you’re probably going to derive the most benefit from the gentle regenerative braking setting. If you are a more assertive driver, then you’ll probably find the third most aggressive regen-braking setting more your style where this system effectively becomes your method for reducing speed in most cases.
But having said all this, the Inster is also quite a smooth little car to drive, especially in dense traffic. Being so much smaller than most SUVs you’ll be able to find gaps you couldn’t otherwise fit in, and in general it just means there’s less vehicle taking up the road, so you’ve got more margin to the vehicles in front and beside you.
Inster doesn’t accelerate hard, but it’s still got that torquey, linear shove from the powertrain, without being anything close to ferocious like a Tesla in Ludicrous Mode. It’s a very different kind of car in this sense. It’s much more civilised and there’s a lot less of that need to think for the other drivers who aren’t expecting you to overtake so quickly (as is the case in faster EVs).
In many bigger, higher-performance EVs, if you stand on the throttle for a blinding start, the powertrain wrenches hard on the tyres and you can feel the rubber twisting under the immense torque. But in the Inster, it doesn’t do that. It just briskly and smoothly whirrs itself up to the desired speed. It’s very impressive, controlled and that’s going to mean a much longer interval between tyre changes compared with other more aggressive accelerating EVs.
Despite Inster’s small size, the ride and handling is also remarkable. Bump and rebound over speed humps and potholes feels well managed by the dampers and cornering feels like the springs don’t feel too soft or too hard. You can tell this car’s had Hyundai Australia’s suspension tuning geniuses work their magic.
It doesn’t feel cumbersome and tram-like in the corners where many EVs have that heavy skateboard feel when making turns. It feels very much like a knitting needle being sewn through laneways and suburban streets.
The brakes are also quite bitey, stopping very hard when used to their potential - but it’s all very undramatic. Again, that lack of size and bulk means braking is nice and short, while also feeling stable and progressive.
DRAWBACKS
Without labouring the point, the Inster is small: short in length, it’s kind of narrow and isn’t as tall as most vehicles.
There’s no centre console, there’s no door bin to stow a drink bottle and the cupholders are moulded into the front seatbase. There’s also no pull-down centre armrest with moulded cupholders for the rear seats, but only because there’s no rear-centre seat position to fit one to. Inster is not a 5-seater - it’s strictly a 4-seater only.
The rear door handles are designed into the upper section of the window frame which is quite clever but wholly impractical for smaller kids who can’t quite reach that high yet - or parents with lots of stuff in their hands who need to open the door with their pinky.
It goes without saying that luggage space in the boot is as a premium, but that’s the point of the vehicle - it’s not a Kia Carnival, it’s a second run-around car for whisking kids off to sports practice and dropping them at school. It’s not an Easter long-weekender down the coast for a family of five.
If you commute a lot, you’ll probably want to spending about $2000 to have a proper fast charger installed in your carport or in an appropriate location (not in a sealed-up garage if you can avoid it). This is will overnight full-charge turnovers much more feasible because the supplied charging brick with requisite cable and 240-volt general outlet plug is okay for casual, occassional use (or if you work from home). But for repeated heavy use, you’ll need that 6kWh charger box for convenience.
MAIN COMPETITORS
There are two kinds of competitor for the Hyundai Inster. There are similarly sized vehicles, and similarly powered vehicles - both with cost being the common denominator.
So for this competitotrs secion, let’s look at three alternate vehicles from each category so that you can add them to your shortlist for researching and test driving, in that order.
KIA PICANTO
In these financially challenging times, the Picanto makes buying a cheap second-hand city car economically irrational. A Picanto is how you can do household cost-cutting without skimping on functionality or quality.
You get the choice of a conventional automatic transmission or an old-school manual gearbox if you want to teach your kids how to ‘drive stick’. The engine is small but just punchy enough to still be a fun, functional city car with some pep in its step.
The interior is fairly bare bones, but that’s how they keep the price down and the build quality high, but reducing complexity (the enemy of reliability).
Picanto is certainly one of the most characterful small city cars you can buy and it still gets plenty of toys to make it a cool first car for your young drivers, while being small enough to fit in any car space with margin to spare.
MAZDA CX-3
The Mazda CX-3 combines elegant styling with smooth powertrains and quality interiors. It’s very compact, at just 4.2 metres long. (CX-3 shares its platform with the Mazda2). This compact SUV is perhaps the perfect of its kind for getting around town in comfort and style.
The CX-3 is a conservative all-rounder, being more subtle than the more outlandish South Korean offerings. There’s just a little more prestige and polish all round.
Your teenage kids might think other cars are cooler, but they’re not the ones spending the cash, frankly. The CX-3 presents itself dressed ‘smart-casual’ in a segment where ‘torn jeans’ are the norm.
MITSUBISHI ASX
If you need an affordable, decent quality suburban SUV that’s affordable to run and service, then the Mitsubishi ASX is a great option for you.
While the ASX is certainly not the most innovative in terms of styling, layout or functionality, it’s right up there on value, and that’s backed by solid customer support and a strong 5 + 5 year warranty proposition (the latter five being dependent on servicing at a Mitsubishi dealer).
Equipment levels are acceptable, without being excessive or opulent. Luggage space might be a bit tight, but the ASX is still family-friendly while managing also to be compact and manoeuvrable - that’s a plus in multi-storey carparks and inner-city laneways.
ELECTRIC ALTERNATIVES
KIA NIRO
The Kia Niro is basically the Kona Electric underneath, but with a different look and specification. It’s the size and quality of a Mazda CX-30 SUV, or like a fat hatch, basically.
It’s something of a quiet achiever, not getting nearly the same media attention, but is absolutely worth your consideration in the current market of high-priced EVs. For the quality, affordability and daily practicality envelope it offers, Niro doesn’t get nearly enough consideration.
Where an MG ZS EV feels like a lower-end EV on the quality front, the Niro feels appreciably premium, without going over the LCT threshold, which is good for you and certainly you don’t have to be a Kia cult member unlike some brands. Niro also offers extremely useful vehicle-to-load capability to charge and power appliances.
Kia sits comfortably inside the top 10 car importers in this country, and their commitment to customer support is among the best in the market.
HYUNDAI KONA ELECTRIC
The Kona Electric arrived in Australia with bold, retro-themed yet futuristic styling and is the ideal option for semi-regional driving without leaving nearby fast chargers in capital cities.
It’s a reasonably compact run-around vehicle for shopping, school drop-offs and with heaps of driving range for a typical week’s worth of commuting before charging from a home power point over the weekend.
Kona Electric offers more legroom, luggage space and head/shoulder wriggle room. So it’ll be a great option for small families, or as a second town-based car where an SUV might be the vehicle of choice for weekend sports games, camping or long-distance roadtrips.
This new generation has been designed as an EV first and adapted to fit the combustion powertrain, unlike the old Kona which was the other way around. This means Kona Electric is, dynamically, a hoot to drive.
MG MG4
All-new MG4 promises to be the small, simple, affordable electric vehicle consumers have wanted for years.
It should do what the Toyota Corolla did for combustion cars, being able to do a great deal of short journeys in relatively good-enough comfort while being modest in how well equipped it is.
A small battery is what’s been missing from the majority of electric vehicles, and the bigger it is, the higher the price. This battery is gonna be capable of being recharged at home in a matter of hours because the 64kWh battery is small enough to get the day’s driving done before topping up overnight.
At $48,000 before on-road costs for the Essence, it’s a compelling value proposition and hugely appealing for those who don’t love filling up with fuel and trying to get the smell off their hands afterward. It’s just not beneficially small like the Inster.
CONCLUSION
The Hyundai Inster is undoubtedly one of the best-value electric vehicles on the market because it offers short-range ease-of-use for tight carparks, laneways, school drop-offs, weekend running around to sporting complexes and the convenience of plugging it in at home to charge overnight.
If you already have solar, this is going to dramatically reduce your dependency on foreign-owned oil companies and fossil fuel supply chains, it’ll divorce you from the rigmorole of having to stop to refuel and it’ll do all the basic local running around typical of a middle-income household.
But it’s also made by a legitimate car company in Hyundai which has a good, long, solid history of reliability, excellent customer support, and a massive commercial footprint here in Australia. Inster isn’t made by a completely new and unknown car company, and it feels superbly well-made.
It doesn’t creak or rattle or vibrate, it’s not the fastest or most ludicoursly expensive electric vehicle - and that’s all the better for you, especially if you’re perhaps unsure about EVs and looking to buy your first. Equally, if you are already living the EV life, the Inster is an alternative to the norm; it’s not some pinnacle of minimalistically-styled luxury. It’s just minimalist.
Inster is also one of the best EVs on the market because it sutis the powertrain best. There isn’t an enormous battery connected to two enormous motors at each end to propel you into the distance. It’s modest, refined, reserved and designed to be used frequently in a bustling, jostling urban environment, which is exactly what batteries and motors do best.
And if you do need a small new car, but you want to have the least impact on the environment, then consider how much less raw material went into building an Inster compared with anything bigger, more powerful and more luxurious.
Hyundai Inster empbodies the expression ‘less is more’, for all the right reasons - especially the price.
If you want the best price on an Inster but you don’t want to go face-to-face with a car dealer, click the link below.
