An instant modern classic, the new Hyundai Inster is an all-conquering, all-electric city car

The Hyundai Inster represents the coming of age of the small electric car. Alongside rivals like the Renault 5 (and to a lesser extent the Mini E and Dacia Spring), it sets new standards for an EV designed from the ground-up to eschew combustion and focus entirely on silent, punchy electric power.

This new small car from the South Korean manufacturer does so many things right, navigating through the peaks and pitfalls of EV design with aplomb. It’s not too big, the range isn’t too small, the interior feels special, the exterior is quirky without being retro, the accommodation is flexible, and the equipment is good. In this sense, it’s a real Goldilocks car, fully deserving of its no-compromise approach to pleasing the middle ground without being bland or unforgettable.

How did Hyundai get here? With persistence of vision, we suspect. The company’s EV strategy has been shaped by its Ioniq series of EVs – Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6 and Ioniq 9 and the forthcoming Ioniq 3 – each of which is distinctly different yet shares a set of clearly defined elements. There is an element of retro, but it’s more retro-futurist than revivalist, because it looks back not to past glories but to past visions of tomorrow.

The Inster comes out of the same tradition. It also takes some of the DNA from the large Santa Fe SUV, and compacts everything down into a city car-sized package. You’ll notice the strong graphical forms of the front and rear headlights, with the latter following the pixellated style that debuted in the Ioniq 5. At the front, round daylight running lights flank a blacked-off lower grille, with additional lights slotted into a secondary grille along with the Hyundai logo. These twin components give the car a slightly confusing ‘face’ that code switches between small SUV and compact city car. Imagine the Hyundai ‘H’ in the centre of the lower grille and the car would change character substantially.

The Inster has a tall, upright body that rises up above chunky, squared-off wheelarches, within which sit modestly sized wheels with an unusual cross-style design. It’s a four-door, but the rear handles are hidden in the dark depths of the C-pillar, while the front door handles are body-coloured and defiantly prominent – no retracting or hidden units here. A distinct gutter at the top of the door above the B-pillar separates the physical form of the roof from the body, giving the car a utilitarian feel, further emphasised by a pair of roof bars.

Another purely positive attribute is the Inster’s interior, an eclectically assembled but still ergonomically sound space that does everything right. Screens are bolstered by physical buttons, including an actual volume knob. Vents too resemble something you might have seen in a car from the 1980s and they’re all the better for it. There’s also a welcome absence of gimmicky assistants and avatars, something that other small car makers seem to think is a shortcut to creating personality.

Upholstered in a fetching houndstooth fabric, the Inster also scores points for its idiosyncratic front ‘bench’, with integrated cupholders and an armrest. In addition, all four seats fold flat, transforming the interior into an extremely spacious load lugger or even a bed. The rear seats can slide backwards and forwards to maximum boot space, another piece of practical mechanical design that is a pure functional win.

The simplicity and utility is rounded off by the array of plugs and sockets inside the car, including wireless charging and even a conventional UK three-pin plug. Sockets are set at high level, in the illuminated shelf that runs along the dash, and at floor level, below a couple of useful cubbyholes.

At just over 3.8m long and 1.6m wide, the little Inster is excellent around town. It’s also perfectly accomplished to drive on the highway, with the useful urge of electrification readily available. Overall, it’s nippy but not sporty (leaving space for a high-powered version should the market demand it) and encourages smooth and economic driving. The cheapest Inster 01 model also offers the greatest range, thanks to its 15-inch wheels, at 229 miles. That’s not great, given that our real-world results were less than 200, but as a self-proclaimed city car, it’s hardly a deal breaker.

The range topper is the Inster Cross, which adds more rugged trim and larger wheels and between them sit the Inster 02 – the model we drove. This gets the fold-flat seat arrangement, as well as heated front seats and LED projection headlights, among other improvements.

The Hyundai Inster is an easy car to recommend. The company’s excellent reputation for reliability, as well as its now extensive experience with EVs, should make this little machine trouble-free to own as well as practical. The fact that the design is so well considered, inside and out, is icing on the cake.

Hyundai Inster, from £23,505, Inster Cross from £28,755, Hyundai.com