2025 Hyundai Inster electric car review

This car giant responsible for making some of Australia’s most popular cars is throwing down the gauntlet to China’s cut-price car manufacturers.

Stephen Ottley

3 min read

June 2, 2025 - 4:06PM

Motoring

On the Road

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Cheap Chinese cars have flooded the Australian market in the past few years – now the established automotive empire is striking back.

The Hyundai Inster has just arrived in Australia and is the cheapest new electric vehicle you can buy that’s not built by a new Chinese brand (and not a very old Nissan Leaf).

2025 Hyundai Inster. Picture: Supplied

This is a significant moment for the establishment, as Chinese brands including BYD, GWM and MG have made massive inroads into the Australian market, largely thanks to aggressive pricing that has simply been too good for buyers to ignore.

The catch is, despite being the cheapest non-Chinese model, the Inster is still more expensive than its direct rivals – and not by a small margin.

The Inster Standard Range model is priced from $39,900 (plus on-road costs), which puts it well above the $29,990 drive-away BYD Dolphin and $33,990 drive-away GWM Ora.

While the extra asking price doesn’t bring more size, it does bring Hyundai’s reputation and experience – something none of its rivals can compete with.

MORE: Hyundai’s mission to beat Chinese EVs

The entry-level Hyundai Inster. Picture: Supplied

Hyundai has spent more than three decades building up a reputation for value, dependability and, in recent years, some of the most dynamically capable cars on the market (thanks to its local suspension and steering tuning program).

Hyundai has also invested heavily in design, and there’s no question from the moment you lay eyes on the Inster, this is a more thoughtful and more premium offering than its Chinese challengers.

MORE: Why Hyundai brought in the Inster EV

Hyundai’s Inster works well in town. Picture: Supplied

Instead of being shaped for less resistance through the air, Hyundai has given the Inster the find of fun, funky face that it hopes younger buyers will be drawn to.

The clever design carries over to the interior, where Hyundai has managed to liberate a surprising amount of space for such a pint-sized car. Remarkably, it manages to have more interior space than the bigger (petrol-powered) Venue small SUV, with enough room to fit four adults in relative comfort.

The catch is, the boot is quite small, but Hyundai has come up with a solution for that – the Inster Cross.

Hyundai’s more practical Inster Cross. Picture: Supplied

The clever design carries over to the interior. Picture: Supplied

This is a more “adventure-focused” (Hyundai’s words, not ours) version that has a more powerful engine and is more expensive but is available with a roof basket as a no-cost option.

The full line-up consists of the Inster Standard Range, Extended Range and the Cross (both $45,000 plus on-road costs). The Standard Range is powered by a 71kW/147Nm front-mounted motor, paired to a 42kWh battery that provides up to 327km range. The Extended Range and Cross get an 84kW/147Nm motor as well as a bigger 49kWh battery, which takes the range to 360km range (although if you add the roof basket to the Cross the official range drops to 293km, but you can get it without the basket and with a sunroof instead).

While none of those figures scream ‘hot hatch’ the Inster is surprisingly fun to drive.

Its compact dimensions and relatively long wheelbase means it feels agile but stable either zippy through traffic or on a winding road.

And this is another area where it justifies the extra money, because it feels more enjoyable and interesting to drive than any of its Chinese peers, but it also pulls up hills with more ease than a petrol-powered car of this size.