Hyundai Reviews

We’re not sure exactly what was going on in Hyundai’s marketing department at the end of the first decade of this century, but somebody was definitely having two bob each way. Up until 2010, the Tucson had been Hyundai’s mid-sized SUV entrant, but that badge disappeared the same year as the ix35 hit showrooms as the Tucson’s replacement. But after just five years on sale, the ix35 was itself replaced by none other than the Tucson. Confused? Us too, but to keep it simple, if you’re shopping for a Hyundai-made mid-sized SUV built between 2010 and 2015, the ix35 is the badge you need to look for. Meantime, leaving nomenclature out of it, the LM (as it was known internally) ix35 was a bread-and-butter kind of family SUV with familiar overall proportions and nothing too confronting mechanically. It could be had in three trim levels (Active, Elite and Highlander, in that order) and with a range of driveline options. There was a 2.0-litre petrol engine with 122kW, a 2.4-litre petrol with 130kW and a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel with 135kW and lots more torque than the petrol variants. The 2.0 petrol was available with either a five-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission and was front-drive only. The 2.4 petrol and the turbo-diesel were fitted exclusively with the six-speed automatic and were all-wheel drive, although they used on-demand AWD, and operated as front-drivers in most conditions. Conventional wisdom says late-model Hyundais are pretty stout things, even if they don’t offer much in the way of driving excitement. The ix35 makes sense if all you want is a roomy (for its size) box with which to move people and their belongings. But even then, there are some reliability problems to note, and driveability was never anything better than average. Overall, there are better, more entertaining choices in a second-hand SUV of this type. Again, it goes against the mood for this brand, but the ix35 did have some serious reliability issues that, even though they didn’t affect every example, should make you weigh things up carefully before making a purchasing decision. Something very wrong was going on in Hyundai’s engine department at this point in history. All three of the ix35’s engines suffered (to some extent) with some serious issues that saw Hyundai replacing entire engines under warranty in an attempt to stay in favour with its customers. The problems mainly centred around engines that consumed excess oil (to the point where some owners were caught out with empty sumps between services) and rattling engines that were signalling their death knock. The consensus is these problems were caused by poor manufacturing accuracy, leading to cylinder scoring, at which point the engines became noisy (particularly when cold) and started to burn oil. The fix was to either rebuild the engine with a new crankcase or, more commonly, replace the whole engine. Other issues reported over the years have been interior trim peeling (most notably steering wheel covers) and flaking paint caused by a bad batch of paint that affected other carmakers (including Toyota) and was traced to the top coat not adhering properly to the undercoat at the factory. This model Hyundai has had its share of recall notices over the years, some of them more serious than others, but a couple posing a definite safety risk. They include a recall to check the seat belt tensioning system, and a driver’s airbag that could have been assembled incorrectly and not deploy as it was designed to. Leaks were another ix35 recall theme, with oil leaks from the sump, fuel leaks and transmission fluid leaks all creating recall notices. There was also a recall to check some cars for a brake system that could allow brake fluid to contaminate the ABS module, leading to braking problems. You can check out the full details including what batches of cars were affected at: https://www.vehiclerecalls.gov.au/ If you’re buying a petrol ix35, the ones to avoid on the basis of the engine problems and oil burning were the ones from the first generation built between 2010 and 2013. If, however, you’re after a diesel version, the post-facelift cars (2013 to 2015) seem to be the problematic ones. Either way, you’d want to know the service history of any second-hand ix35 and be prepared to shell out for a pre-purchase inspection which would include a compression test and perhaps even a bore-scope examination of the engine. The number of ix35s still floating around with 250,000km on board, or even more, suggests the engine problems were a bit random and clearly didn’t affect every car. We’d still be a lot happier, though, with an example with less than 160,000km on its odometer, along with an up-to-date and complete service history as some proof of it having a chance at going the distance. A car with a factory replacement engine (and documentation to support this) would also be preferable to one with no history. The turbo-diesel ix35 was always the better one to actually drive thanks to its beefier power and torque delivery. The added safety of all-wheel drive only reinforces this view. The petrol versions do the job, but they can feel breathless and stretched a bit tight at freeway speeds when fully loaded. Right now, you’ll find sellers with early-built, high-mileage examples of the ix35 with an asking price of about $5000 or even less. But these are best left to speculators. Better value is to be found in the $8000 to $10,000 price range where you start to find diesel examples with much more moderate mileage showing. Don’t forget that service history. Hyundai is a big brand not just in Australia, but globally. So, spare parts are not hard to find. Neither is a workshop that can navigate what is, fundamentally, a pretty straightforward vehicle. There’s a huge online market for parts to suit cars like this one, but be wary of online sellers you haven’t used before. Don’t rule out parts recycling yards for spares like body panels and some mechanical parts. Despite the problems some owners experienced with this car, Hyundai managed to sell plenty of them here, with sales peaking at about 18,000 per year at one point. That gave it a huge chunk of the market in its segment, but those mechanical problems took their toll, leading to the badge being replaced by the revived Tucson model in 2015. Some owners were forced to walk away from their ix35s when the cost of repairs became more than the value of the car itself. But the sheer sales figures when things were looking good mean there are at least a couple of hundred ix35s for sale on the bigger online sites.

For a long time, there has been ‘proper’ off-road SUVs and then everything else. If you were an off-road enthusiast, you’d only ever consider a ladder frame offering, like a Prado or an Everest, for example. Big, rugged, diesel and sometimes not the most comfortable thing to keep, they offer unmatched capability. Meanwhile, if you just wanted a comfortable family SUV there are no shortage of options, but almost all of them, AWD or not, are close to useless when the gravel gets loose or the mud is rutted. What if you wanted something in between, though? A comfortable family SUV with just enough ability to get you to some of the more adventurous places? That’s what Hyundai is asking with this new Palisade XRT Pro. This more capable version of the Palisade heralds a new era for Hyundai in Australia. It introduces the XRT Pro badge to our market, which Hyundai says is the off-road equivalent of its performance N division. Standard XRT cars will be option-packed to look a bit tougher, while XRT Pro versions will be distinct model grades with genuine enhancements to off-road ability. To that end, the XRT Pro sits in the middle of the Palisade line-up. Priced at $79,900, before on-road costs, it is more expensive than the base Elite hybrid, but below the luxury-spec Calligraphy grades. It is only available in the mainstream eight-seat (2+3+3) layout. It’s tough to pick rivals for the Palisade because it’s unique in the market now the Nissan Pathfinder and VW Touareg are gone. It offers more interior space than a Ford Everest (Tremor - $79,990) or Isuzu MU-X (X-Terrain - $77,100) which it competes with on price, but doesn’t quite offer that level of off-road ability despite its enhancements. This new Palisade has a raft of enhancements and changes from the Elite or Calligraphy. One of the biggest ones is that it introduces a new engine option. Gone is the 2.5-litre turbo-petrol hybrid set-up (245kW/460Nm combined) paired with a six-speed automatic. In its place is a more traditional 2.5-litre turbo-petrol non-hybrid (207kW/422Nm) and eight-speed automatic transmission. To enhance its off-road abilities, the XRT Pro also gets an automatic electronic limited slip differential on the rear axle, increased clearances (see table below), additional traction modes in the software (Mud, Sand and Snow), topped off with some excellent Continental all-terrain tyres from the factory, cladding modest 18-inch wheels. It even has real chassis-mounted recovery hooks as part of its revised bumper design. In addition, its eight-speed auto allows additional towing capacity, but only by 200 kilos to a new total of 2200kg (albeit with a 160kg tow ball download). Outside, it gets a unique bodykit to help enhance its clearances, while inside it gets synthetic leather trim with XRT graphics and seat stitching. So, do all those enhancements make a difference, and does it compromise the Palisade on-road to get there? We sampled the car on- and off-road to find out. The big SUV’s upgrades make a big difference. While it might not have the same wheel travel and lacks low-range gearing or a manually-lockable rear differential which define the ability of most diesel ladder frame options, the XRT Pro will get you in and out of some tough terrain. The enhancements to ground clearance gives it a surprising amount of ability to clamber over objects, while the tyre package offers a much better level of grip on loose surfaces than the usual SUV tyre which ships on a car like this. The limited slip rear differential is the real star of the show, though. It’s a shame it is automatic, as a manual locking mode would allow more control in hairy situations, but it was the main factor for the big SUV climbing up slippery, angled surfaces, including muddy and rocky ones we tested it on. The drive modes help alter the traction response, how quickly the diff locks, and how keen the SUV is to shift, which can all help make a difference on particular surfaces. They are no substitute for low-range gearing, though. In addition, while the bodywork has been tweaked to help offer a bit more clearance, this isn’t quite the same as offering rock sliders, underbody protection or frame rails to take big hits. Getting outside the Palisade’s ability could end in expensive damage. With knobbly all-terrains, a switch away from electrified hybrid power, and tweaked suspension, it’s easy to see how this XRT Pro could be compromised as a big luxury tourer. However, I was largely impressed to find this isn’t the case. The Continental tyres are super quiet, offer good grip on dry tarmac and don’t seem to impact the well-weighted steering, the locally-tweaked ride is excellent, and the turbo engine is very quiet at the lower end of the rev range and shifts nice and smoothly with the eight-speed auto. The 2.5 turbo is noisy and harsh at high revs, but the biggest downside is fuel consumption. At 11.5L/100km officially (and what I saw in my limited testing) it’s painful in an environment of fuel costing $2.00+ a litre. At least it takes 91 RON. The Palisade XRT Pro is covered by the brand’s seven year/unlimited kilometre warranty, with a matching service price schedule. It comes to an average of $536 a year which is neither cheap nor expensive for something in this class.

Hyundai has recently introduced a hybrid powertrain option for its popular Staria Load van but does this new petrol-electric technology offer the right mix of performance and economy to win new customers in the mid-size commercial van market?

Facing the competitive vortex created by more than a dozen new brands from China arriving in the local car market in the last couple of years, Hyundai has clearly embraced the adage ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join em.’ That’s because its pure-electric Elexio mid-size SUV is made by Beijing Hyundai, a Chinese joint-venture company the South Korean giant operates with state-owned carmaker, BAIC. The single-motor, front-wheel drive, five-seater launched here in February this year in a single Elite grade to take on ‘Made in China’ rivals like the BYD Sealion 7 and Tesla Model Y. And now it’s been joined by an entry-grade version, simply called Elexio, that drops cost-of-entry from $61,990 to $58,990 (both before on-road costs) bringing it closer to similarly priced, sized and specified alternatives like the previously mentioned BYD Sealion 7 (from $54,990) and Tesla Model Y (from $58,900) as well as the Deepal S07 (from $53,990), KGM Torres EV ($58,000, drive-away), Mazda CX-6e (from $53,990), Renault Scenic E-Tech (from $55,990), Cupra Tavascan (from $60,990) and Zeekr 7X (from $57,900). The good news is, while saving three grand you’re not giving away much in terms of standard features. Big ticket items like dual-zone climate control, a six-way power driver’s seat, all LED exterior lighting, a giant 27-inch multimedia touchscreen (more on that later), Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, wireless charging, a head-up display, six-speaker audio, alloy rims and a full-fat safety suite are all included.   For an extra $3.0K the Elite adds heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, a power tailgate, 20-inch rims, leather-appointed seats, extra power adjustment for the driver’s seat and power adjust for the front passenger seat.    Proving a car’s looks are always subjective, I read the Elexio’s design as 1990s concept car. There’s something about those slim horizontal headlights with four cube-like LED units across each that says retro-futurism circa 1993. Other than that the car doesn’t stray far from the typical mid-size SUV template although a broad grey band running up the D-pillar and across the roof above the tailgate adds some visual pizzazz to the rear end. The interior is clean and functional but kinda boring, at least for me. The gigantic screen, filling around half the dash dominates things visually, but the otherwise predominantly grey colour palette feels flat. There’s plenty to like in terms of practicality, though, with lots of head, leg and shoulder room for me (at 183cm) front and rear and plenty of storage including generous door bins, a centre oddments box, glove box and a flying buttress style front centre console that creates additional space underneath it. There are multiple USB-C ports and a 12V socket. Also worth calling out is a simple device attached to the centre console cupholder unit. A frame with cup-sized detents in the centre either sits over the two cupholders on the left or flips over the storage tray to its right to create another pair of cupholders. Genius. The boot is a useful 506 litres with the 60/40 split-folding rear seat upright, expanding to 1540 litres with it lowered. No spare wheel, though, just an inflator repair kit, which isn’t good enough in Aussie conditions. The Elexio is powered by a single electric motor sending 160kW/310Nm to the front wheels. Decent outputs, although in a car weighing around 2.1 tonnes acceleration isn’t eye-widening. But this SUV has ample oomph in the city and suburbs as well as for easy highway cruising and overtaking.  Ride comfort is more than acceptable, which is a stand-out in the EV era where newcomers often miss the mark on compliance and chassis dynamics. And even the steering passes muster with decent road feel and accuracy. But… then there’s ‘the screen’, confirming bigger isn’t always better. IMAX-like in width, it’s markedly offset to the left with key readouts like speed, battery level, time and climate settings located towards the right-hand end. There’s also a slender head-up display in front of the driver repeating key functions. But if, for example,  you need to adjust the air con on the move you have to take your eyes well and truly off the road and fiddle with on-screen controls. At which point the driver distraction warning slaps you over the wrist with an audible ‘bing’ and visual alert. Grrrr.  Physical dials for at least the climate control would be a more user-friendly, safer set-up. An audio volume knob (other than the steering wheel scroll wheel) would be welcome, too.   And speaking of bings and bongs, safety is an Elexio strong suit with a maximum five-star ANCAP rating and nine airbags as well as every monitor, assist and warning known to human kind. But the lane-keeping assist and overspeed warning are overly intrusive, although amazingly, if you decide to switch these features (including the driver fatigue monitor) off, they stay off. No default reset on start-up. Hallelujah! Just to keep the whinging going for a minute, I’m not a fan of the flush-fitting exterior door handles. They pop out at an angle and are awkward to use. And I banged my left knee more than once on the chunky gear selector unit on the right-hand side of the steering column when exiting the car. Annoying and painful.     Claimed range from the 88.1kWh LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) battery is 562km (WLTP), with a 150kW DC fast-charge time from 10-80 per cent of 38 minutes. The Elexio also has 10kW AC charging capacity and V2L (vehicle-to-load) capability onboard, the latter accessed via a three-pin connector in the boot. Hyundai’s official combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle energy use figure is 18.2kWh/100km and over a week of city, suburban and freeway running we saw a real-world average of only 15.1kWh/100km, which is as unusual as it is impressive.   Warranty is a competitive seven years, unlimited kilometres and service intervals are two years or 30,000km. Hyundai’s service plans will see you paying $779 at the two-year mark, and another $1118 at four years, which puts your average annual cost at a category competitive $475.

Hyundai’s Staria people mover seemed destined to live in the shadow of its segment-dominating cousin, the Kia Carnival. Now though, Hyundai is rolling out a serious overhaul to the Staria van range, including the long-awaited introduction of fuel-sipping hybrid variants. The new Lounge grade we’re looking at seems expressly targeted at Carnival buyers. But in a people-mover segment that's suddenly been re-invigorated by a range of options from new brands, does the Staria have what it takes to stand out? Let’s take a look. First and foremost - pricing. While you can get a hybrid version of the cargo-hauling Staria Load delivery van at an appealing price point compared to some rivals, the people-mover version is only offered in this new top-spec Lounge variant, for now. A higher trim level than ever before, the Lounge moves the Staria into previously unseen levels of luxury, but it comes at a steep price. At $73,740 before on-road costs, the Lounge is nearly a $20,000 jump over the base people mover, making it a tall order not just to justify the leap to hybrid, but also among its core rivals. This is especially true since Kia has rolled out its version of the same hybrid technology to its Carnival, and you can now get into a base Carnival S HEV from just $56,310. Like-for-like when it comes to spec though, you’d be looking at a Carnival GT-Line, which costs $76,840. If you’re keen on what this taller and in some ways more spacious Hyundai offers, it might be worth waiting for more affordable versions. Hyundai will need a wider range of hybrids at more affordable price points imminently as it's facing tough fines under Australia’s recently implemented New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES). Standard kit on this new Lounge grade includes refreshed LED headlights with an integrated light bar across the front and unique 18-inch alloy wheels.  Inside it scores Nappa leather seat trim, heating, ventilation, and power adjustment for the first two seating rows, near fold-flat relaxation mode for the second row, suede headlining, privacy glass, acoustic lamination for the windscreen, and integrated sunshades for the windows in the rear rows. It’s a lovely place to be, and that’s before we mention the overhauls to the dash design. The pre-update Staria was already ahead of the pack, but the new version takes it to new heights with a fresh sporty steering wheel, a bigger digital dash, the re-introduction of physical buttons for the multimedia and climate controls (previously they were touch-capacitive), a stalk-mounted gear shifter from the brand’s EV range, and an update to the all-new software suite. The Lounge also gets a few extra bits of the interior clad with soft-touch finishes compared to the cargo van, particularly in the door cards, although this comes at the cost of dash topping and overhead storage areas. On the practical side, the Staria Lounge and its high roof and seven-seat layout (2 + 2 + 3) means access to the third row is one of the easiest of its contemporaries. You can just stroll between the second-row captains' chairs and room in all three seating positions is more than generous, with all three rows on rails for adjustability. The boot, as is the case with many van-based people movers, is not long, but it is tall and wide. This can be a challenge with baggage when all three rows are in use, as you’ll need to stack upward, but more room can also be found in the cabin behind the front seats. Some brands offer a shelf accessory for the boot to help with this. Hyundai does not. The Lounge only offers a tailgate rear. It provides nice shelter in the rain, but it's sheer size means there are limits as to where you can open it. One dire cost of the hybrid powertrain is its lack of any kind of tow rating. On the road, the Staria Lounge is unmistakably a van, missing out on the passenger-car feel of its Carnival cousin, but it’s still by far one of the best vans to drive. Visibility is commanding from the front two positions, while the inputs come with all the panache of other Hyundai vehicles. There’s nice organic steering and good feedback from the pedals, making it surprisingly confident on curvy stuff.  The suspension, specifically improved for this version of the Staria, improves ride quality all-round, and the front-drive hybrid powertrain (180kW/304Nm) offers both strong electric torque and whisper-quiet operation at commuter speeds. Like other plugless hybrid systems though, the 1.6-litre turbo-charged four-cylinder engine can be noisy under load, at freeway speeds, and when travelling up steeper hills. It’s certainly more refined than any diesel offering though, and significantly more convenient than having to plug in as you do with rivals from China like the GAC M8. Fuel consumption isn’t as low as some hybrid SUVs, rated officially at 6.5L/100km. It’s a huge improvement on the 10.5L/100km of the previous V6 petrol version, but only a little better than the diesel (7.2L/100km), which can also tow. If you’re spending a lot of time on the freeway, the diesel may actually be better. Something to ponder. A boost to ownership costs, the hybrid costs an average of $487.80 per year under the five-year service schedule, which is slightly more affordable than the petrol or diesel. The warranty is seven years or unlimited kilometres, unless used for a commercial purpose, then it reverts to five years or 160,000km. Hyundai is conducting testing for the hybrid version with the hope it will be covered by the Staria’s maximum five-star ANCAP rating. It comes packed with all the expected safety gear at this price.

This month we farewell our Hyundai Inster after several months. Are we glad to see it go or is this a pleasantly charming little city car? Before we continue, it’s worth noting that we did get the Extended Range variant back after it had been crashed into shortly after our second month of testing began. Read our second chapter for more on how it compared to the Standard Range, but we managed to finish our testing with this version of the car which, at least on paper, seems to be the pick of the range. As mentioned in the previous chapter though, the Standard Range version (which is $3500 cheaper than the $42,500 Extended Range we have) is completely fine, and in some ways superior. Having recently driven many of this car’s more price-savvy rivals from China, I noticed how nice and relatively unobtrusive the Inster is to drive. While some more affordable cars, even a size up from the Inster, are full of invasive driver aids, annoying ergonomic features or controls, and sub-standard software, the Inster is refreshingly easy to get along with, and does a bunch of the no-brainer EV driving stuff really well. For example, there are four levels of adjustable regenerative braking, from barely noticeable, to full single pedal mode, and these are nicely tuned so that they feel natural, whatever level of electric motor feedback you might be comfortable with. I’ve already mentioned the nice steering and ride in previous chapters, which makes this car feel a cut above its size bracket let alone its price bracket. The active safety features which helped the Inster earn a four-star ANCAP safety rating (harder than you might think for a car this small) are relatively unobtrusive, or at the very least, easy to turn off. The lane keeping aid, which at times can be a bit heavy handed, can simply be turned down by holding a button on the steering wheel for a few seconds, rather than having to dig through menus on the touchscreen. The rest of the safety kit is relatively tame, saving you menu-diving time on start-up. Then there’s the cabin practicality on offer. The Inster is a car seemingly very aware of its limited footprint. To that end, while you don’t get a centre console box, there are bag hooks hidden everywhere, like on the passenger side of the dash and there are fold-out hooks hidden at the edge of the armrest. Clever. I mentioned in the first chapter how surprisingly spacious the cabin feels in both rows of seating, but one trick this car has is a second row on rails. This means you can roll the seating row forward to either reduce or entirely remove legroom and expand the boot capacity massively. It’s a rare feature on most city cars delivered to Australia, but much more common on Asian-market models, like Kei cars from Japan. It means you can have kids or pets in the second row which don’t need as much space, while maximising boot space, or passenger room when you’re not carrying as much stuff. This makes it versatile, but as you might imagine the airport run isn't it's strong suit. Upsettingly though, there’s no frunk. While it might seem gimmicky, frunks can actually be a useful place to put charging cables when the under-floor storage is hard to access because you’re carrying luggage. I took the Inster for a spirited drive before I returned it to really test out its driving chops, and walked away impressed. The amount of grip on offer and the solid feeling of the suspension is backed up with a good amount of agility in corners. It combines nicely with a bit of drivetrain punch in Sport mode to make for a fun little car to really push, even if the Hyundai N-style carbon-fibre-look digital dash overhaul is a bit ill-fitting. It took a significant amount of work to get the tyres to eke out a squeal, to my surprise, and the suspension travel is limited enough that much of the uncomfortable feeling when the battery starts to ‘float’ the whole body of the car on undulating roads isn’t present. Sure, it’s not objectively fast, but probably quicker than you expect, and it’s always better to drive a slow car at 110 per cent than a fast car at 10 per cent. Efficiency wise, the Inster did pretty well. The final number I pulled from the car after around 1500km behind the wheel was 13.8kWh/100km. It’s lower than many of its larger rivals, which do between 14.5 and 17kWh/100km. As for charging, it can be annoying that the port is on the front of the car, because it means you need to go nose in to some spots. At least it’s on the kerb side for when you're using outdoor roadside chargers. The maximum charging speed is quoted at 120kW, but I’ve never seen it go faster than roughly 70kW, even on stacks capable of 150kW. For what it’s worth, it doesn’t need it. The battery is so small it still charges in half an hour or less. Ownership looks like a decent story, too. Not only will this car cost a lot less in charging compared to a fuel alternative, but the Inster only requires a service every two years or a whopping 30,000km. Unfortunately, Hyundai charges $655 per visit. A head-scratcher given a combustion alternative like the Yaris Cross with so many more expendable fluids and moving parts is more affordable to look after.

Hyundai has just updated its Staria people mover and despite the imminent arrival of new electric and hybrid variants, is this diesel workhorse version still worth considering?

Tragedy strikes, as our Inster from chapter one gets side-swiped. Thankfully, not while I was driving it, and also, the damage, mechanically, was fairly minimal even though the torn-off bumper looks a bit dramatic. So, what happens next? The car goes back to Hyundai to be repaired and in the meantime we were offered up a Standard Range version in its place. It’s the perfect opportunity to see the difference between the two grades, and evaluate whether it’s worth spending the extra to get into the Extended Range we started with. The price separating the two cars? Just $3500 with the main difference being the battery size. The regular Inster we’re hopping into has a 42kWh battery, which according to the more accurate WLTP standard offers 327km of driving range, while the Extended Range gets a 49kWh battery pack, offering a 360km range. However, the Extended Range also comes with bigger wheels, and can optionally have the brown houndstooth interior the previous car had. I kind of prefer the black pack interior on the Standard Range model we've substituted into, and I even think you’re better off with the smaller wheel and larger tyre package, as it makes the ride noticeably more comfortable and probably contributes to additional driving range despite the smaller battery. There is also a slight difference in the tune of the electric motor, with the Extended Range scoring slightly more power to compensate for its modest weigh increase. For what it’s worth, the increase in power is barely perceptible due to the change in weight. I do wonder what the point of having both grades is in Hyundai’s range, as the battery sizes and even the prices are so close together. It’s not as though anyone considering even the more expensive version of the BYD Atto 1 at $27,990 is going to be convinced to buy an Inster at nearly $10,000 more. Then again, there are some things which you should be thinking about at this entry-level part of the EV market. For example, as alluded to in my first chapter, the underpinnings of the Inster feel far more sophisticated than pretty much any city car I’ve driven in the past, with robust steering and good suspension calibration. And there are finer technical details which should make this car age better than some of its contemporaries. The primary one is its liquid-cooled battery, where the Atto 1 gets only an air-cooled unit (with some assistance from the air conditioning). If you’re not across the differences, liquid cooling is generally associated with much better battery ageing over time. The older-generation Nissan Leafs (Leaves?) and Mitsubishi Outlanders had air-cooled units which cut their range in half after 15 or so years. Plus, the relatively tame tech in the Inster is actually to its benefit. Sure you can get bigger, fancier screens and software in a whole list of new Chinese cars at this price point, but a lot of them are quite annoying to use in the real world. For all its last-gen visual appeal, there’s something to be said for simple software and an array of physical buttons and dials which just work. Back to the difference between the two Inster grades, and I’m quite surprised to find I don’t miss the Extended Range version at all. I’m using the Inster in a way I assume it was intended to be, either as a city-exclusive vehicle, or as a second car. In the midst of a fuel crisis, it’s very nice to be able to hop into something and not have to think about how much it is costing you just to drive to the shops which are otherwise just outside of walking distance. I prefer driving the Inster anytime I’m in or around the denser parts of the city where I know parking will be at a premium. It’s great to leave my personal Forester, or any other vehicle I might have on loan which is larger, at home when I know I’m going to be hunting for kerbside parking. In this context, the Extended Range version of the car starts to make less and less sense. I’m doing comparatively so few kilometres and charging so infrequently despite the lesser range. When it comes to charging, Hyundai’s spec sheet earmarks an impressive 120kW charging ability, but the fastest I’ve seen, even on a 150kW stack is around 70kW. With such a small battery though, you turn around and it’s half charged. It won’t be convenient on a road trip, perhaps, but most people buying this diminutive hatch as a second car won’t notice because they’ll spend most of their time charging it seamlessly overnight. Other benefits of the Standard Range include better ride quality, as previously mentioned, and still plenty of pep, with the lack of weight (for an EV) and skinny tyres making it chuckable around corners. It also uses a bit less energy. I’m seeing 11.4kWh/100km on the dash, compared to the Extended Range, which was doing closer to 14kWh/100km. As to what others are thinking of the Inster, it’s a real love/hate divide, with the styling make-or-break for family and friends who seem to either love it or hate it. Nobody is a fan of how plasticky the interior feels, however I’m yet to receive a complaint that the screens are too small… In good news for me, the Extended Range version will be returned to me for next month’s chapter after being repaired. I did 457km in the Standard Range, only needing to charge it twice, and get this, according to my calculations, I was going to get exactly the claimed range of 327km from a full charge. I don’t think that’s happened before. Tune in next month for our farewell chapter and video. Acquired: March 2026 Distance travelled this month: 467km Odometer: 5207km Average energy consumption this month: 11.4kWh/100km

Hyundai has taken its well-established three-row large SUV and given it a hybrid powertrain. Is it the winning combo?

Has Hyundai turned its 'ugly duckling' into a beautiful swan? The all-new Hyundai Ioniq 6 N gives the brand's polarising electric sedan a high-powered makeover. Featuring supercar levels of performance and a raft of groundbreaking technology, the Ioniq 6 N is a technical masterpiece. But is it an exciting and engaging performance car to drive? We test it on road and track to find out.