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I was invited to a preview of the new Inster, Hyundais use of the EV3 underpinnings, so I thought I’d share my thoughts.
Firstly, this is anticipated to be around £0 AP for all models. It’s not an expensive car.
The reveal had both my wife and I looking at each other and saying ‘Panda’ as the general shape reminded us of the old 4×4 panda. That said, it has been built with a retro feel and still has many modern touches. It’s a mini SUV, which means small car at full SUV height (almost) with a wheel as close to each corner as is humanly possible given all the safety requirements. This means that a city car has the space inside for 4 adults to sit comfortably (they put 4 6 footers from the audience in there just to prove it). Whilst it’s a narrow city car the front feels relatively comfortable even for me and the space I take up. There’s lots of adjustment available on the seats, front can slide quite a way forward and back and the rear seats can also slide 6 inches (16 cm) forward to expand the boot. As you’d expect from a £20k car there’s a lot of manual adjustment on the seats but it’s still possible to adjust them to be comfortable even for our fussy backs.
The rear seats will fold flat. Not too surprising there. The front seats will also fold completely flat, meaning there’s a base for a blow up double bed if you want to go mini camping without tents. To add to that experience the Inster comes with V2L, so breakfast can be air fried.
There’s plenty inside to make you feel you’re in a modern car with Hyundai’s double screens and some physical buttons for heating and stuff. There’s USBs and wireless charging for the front seats.
There’s a few cosmetic touches that are on offer in the door cards, including picture frames or a storage net in a little card above the door handles.
Anticipation is that with all its adjustability, these cars will be popular with singles and couples on the scheme as you can change boot size to accept whatever mobility aids are required.
As an EV it comes in 2 battery sizes, although they’re not that different. The smaller is estimated at 208 miles and the larger 229 miles range. These are both before WLTP testing so are subject to change. If you’re looking at a second car in the family or if you mainly are going local trips, it’s ideal. Even at 150 miles on a run, there’s enough for you to drive a couple of hours before charging. The Inster does come with a heat pump as standard!! Well worth considering if you want to use it for that Christmas trip to family, or regular hospital visits over a larger distance.
All-in-all, it’s not going to compare with the bigger, posher cars on the scheme but, with the adjustability and heat pump it absolutely kills the Dacia EV and retails only a few £k more. Hyundai think this will appeal to the younger city people as well as those seeking a cheap second car as it can do so much and adjust so easily. Wheel position makes it very manoeuvrable and maximises the internal space, which typically feels like you’re in a bigger car than it appears to be – something drivers of the Ioniq 5 are very familiar with.
Unfortunately, the opportunity to get some sneaky pictures was lost in the crowds but there’s plenty of images online.
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
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Whilst it wouldn’t be for us, I have to say that excellent and balanced reviews such as this are one of the things that makes this forum brilliant. Thanks for taking the time to post it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I’ve already decided to go to a smaller car for my next lease car so I will definitely be going to have a look at the inster.
apart from the fact its electric it would be an option for me as theres just me and no kit to lug. just the charging aspect is the draw back at the moment.
apart from the fact its electric it would be an option for me as theres just me and no kit to lug. just the charging aspect is the draw back at the moment.
I know I have a rather pro EV reputation, and it’s fair I’m usually posting their positives.
If it’s not for you, that’s fine. I’d love to know what charging aspects you define as a draw back? I spend some time chatting with leaders in many fields of the EV world, if I can include your issues, maybe that’d point someone at a solution…
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
@mfillingham, pureley that i cant charge at home, my bungalow is 20 odd metres from the road we have to park half on the road half on the verge. no offroad parking. not sure the landlords would allow a charger anyhow. plans to install offroad parking spaces allbeit still 10m from the bungalow were withdrawn from planning no reason given. chargers are few and far between check s21 3wd on zapmap and you will see what i mean nothing that i would call conveniant. dobbies garden centre have installed a very pretty row of 10 chargers at one end of their car park and theyve been there several months but dont seem to be connected.
if they came on line they would work as i would be quite happy wasting a couple of hours in there whilst waiting for a charge lol. although maybe more expensive in the long run.
Thanks @mitch that’s totally fair enough. It’s a fair old charging desert. I found several instavolt chargers but you’d need a discount somehow. The hotel might be useful if you could park there for an afternoon a week otherwise it’s trash.
Yeah that’s pretty standard parking around here too. The prams, push chairs, wheel chairs and groups of pedestrians all use the roads as there’s no chance of walking end to end on any pavement. 🤦🏻
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
theres a couple of motorway services but i doubt theyre cheap, and i wouldnt like to spend much time there lol.
the annoying thing is that all there is between us and the road is grass and 5 trees. they submitted plans to take out 2 trees and put in 10 parking spaces. they would have still been about 8m away but a 10m cable would have done the job and only 1m would have crossed a public footpath so a simple gully could have been installed.
after a year on the planning website it suddenly disappeared. all they have done this year is bleat about how much it costs to cut the grass.
One idea but, highly unlikely the landlord would agree, is dropped kerbs and 2 rows of slabs going across the lawn. However, the cost burden would most likely fall on you, unless there was any chance of a grant such as a DFG.
The other option is something like Kerbocharge across the paveent but, then Ohme will highly likely reject installation, due to the distance from your bungalow to your car. Even if your landlord agreed to a post to mount a charger at the bottom of your garden, it would fall under a non standard install and no cheaper getting a charger fitted yourself but, putting the cost burden on you again, which you don’t want.
Landlords have to make reasonable exceptions for the disabled, alternatively have you thought of asking the forces charities for help?
i am in the process of writing to the landlord, the difficulty i think will be that the grassed area in front of the bungalow in the picture is owned by the landlord and is my responsibilty as far as maintainance is concerned.
then theres a footpath and another grassed area down to the pavement which is owned by the council,then the pavement and grass verge again council. so getting the 2 of them to work together is like herding cats.
my best hope really is that the dobbies chargers come online at some point at a reasonable price as they would fit my routine quite well.
my best hope really is that the dobbies chargers come online at some point at a reasonable price as they would fit my routine quite well.
We have a PHEV, yet I wouldn’t have remotely considered one, let alone a full BEV, without having the ability to charge at home. Having to rely solely on public chargers doesn’t sound like an issue until you have to live with it over a prolonged period when the novelty has worn off. As I have mentioned elsewhere, a nephew of mine (who cannot charge at home) went BEV two years ago. It was OK to start with, but two years on he now finds it to be a complete pain in the a@se and he can’t wait until his lease is up so that he can go back to petrol. Aside from the time commitment, the costs of public charging can wipe out most of the perceived cost savings and you can end up with all the hassle for no meaningful benefit. Unless you can secure a 100% cast iron guarantee that you can have a home charging solution (which, from your descriptions and photos, sounds highly unlikely), the furthest I’d go in your situation is a self charging hybrid. You’d get a little bit of electric driving but no worries about charging and probably one five minute petrol stop a month.
@Glos_Guy I actually agree, relying entirely on the public network is not the most cost effective way, especially to those of us who pay significantly less at home.
That said I know of several people who have enjoyed their BEVs for years without home or work charging. One is the guy behind one of the biggest EV groups on Facebook and he’s run his model S for 5 years and doesn’t charge at home nor has he installed one at work. Mind you the Tesla network has its advantages.
There are ways to get considerable discounts from charger providers, I’m guessing if you’re doing business type miles you simply pay those monthly fees and end the month better off for it.
Personally, I neither do the mileage to warrant paying the charge nor have the patience to sit at a charger just because I can’t charge from home. I still look at long journeys as having offset cost by getting 250 miles at home rates and being able to ‘refill’ at home after. Without that long trips would be rather expensive and I’m now way a sufficient environmentalist to drive electric regardless of cost.
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
currently i have the juke nconnecta hybrid and i am getting well over 50mpg. £63 per month on average.
looking at cars currently on the scheme with an ap less than 1500 it comes down to 2 nissna at the moment.
juke hybrid tekna and the quashqai epower nconnecta. the easy route is get the higher trim juke. i know it fits and it has some useful toys and some not so useful bings and bongs.
still it would be nice if something gorgeous that took your breath away came on between now and then lol.
we live in hope.
currently i have the juke nconnecta hybrid and i am getting well over 50mpg. £63 per month on average. looking at cars currently on the scheme with an ap less than 1500 it comes down to 2 nissna at the moment. juke hybrid tekna and the quashqai epower nconnecta. the easy route is get the higher trim juke. i know it fits and it has some useful toys and some not so useful bings and bongs. still it would be nice if something gorgeous that took your breath away came on between now and then lol. we live in hope.
There’s a fair few cars either being released or facelifted so you never know, then there’s the outside possibility of something that already exists joining the scheme.
I’m just beginning to think about our next car and I’m quite concerned. I always knew I’d not have the same budget for AP but was looking at an extended 5 year lease to build up some funds. It turns out I’ve 3 years and maybe a few months and all APs seem to be going the wrong way.
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
I was invited to a preview of the new Inster, Hyundais use of the EV3 underpinnings,
With the adjustability and heat pump it absolutely kills the Dacia EV and retails only a few £k more.
Great initial review! Quite detailed, very informative, and easy to read. However, a few small things; the Inster use’s Hyundai-Kia’s ‘K1’ platform, an architecture designed for models (like the Exter, Casper, Santro, and Aura) for sale in emerging markets.
While the Inster is indeed very technologically advanced and sophisticated compared to the Dacia Spring, it starts at £23,495 for the base ‘01’ and £26,745 for the top ‘02’. The starting price for a Spring is £15,995, a £7,500 difference. Comparing the Inster to the i10 purely on price, the base i10 starts at £16,030, which a difference of £7,465 or around 31%, which is quite difficult for me to swallow.
Motability cars:
2015 RR Evoque AWD 2.0 TD4 SE Tech - written off
2017 Toyota CH-R 1.2T Dynamic CVT AWD - written off
2019 BMW X2 2.0L Sport
2023 Nissan Qashqai e-Power N-Connecta
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