• Easy to get comfortable inside
• Scratchy plastics galore but quality is good
• Lots of physical buttons are a big bonus

How is the quality and layout?

There’s no doubting the Hyundai Inster makes full use of its dinky dimensions, and that also extends to the interior. The dashboard is steeply raked, like you’d find in a van, and there’s very little wasted space.

There are two choices for interior finish: sensible, business-spec grey or bright and retro-themed beige. The former will disguise the spills, scrapes and brunt of family life well but it’s a little humourless, especially compared to the exterior. The beige interior on the other hand looks epic but those houndstooth seats will not stand up well with mess.

43

Some of the plastics, many of them containing recycled components, are hard and flat, but key touch points all feature a range of tactile finishes and fabrics. The metal column-stalks in particular feel premium, a trade-off for the door inserts which are vast expanses of cheap-feeling, scratchy plastic. A Renault 5 E-Tech has a more premium-looking interior, it hides its cheaper plastics better.

The Inster’s cabin works well on a number of levels – it’s intelligently configured, packed with interesting features and ideas but also built to a budget. It does get points for imagination and personality at least. We’re not sure about the interchangeable tonka-toy plastics filets on the door cards though – there’s cool and quirky, and they’re neither.

Infotainment and tech

All Insters feature twin 10.25-inch infotainment screens, one for the infotainment and the other for the driver’s display. It’s not running the latest Hyundai operating system but the graphics are still sharp, and the menus are mostly straightforward to navigate.

The central screen can end up set too far away for shorter drivers, but thankfully there is a full suite of physical shortcut buttons for menus, as well as more physical buttons to control the climate controls. It does lose points for not offering wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a cable is required and even then wouldn’t connect an aging iPhone 13.

Comfort

As you may expect from seats that fold completely flat, adjustability is excellent and it’s easy to get comfortable in the Inster. The seats are nicely cushioned, a two-hour drive left us no backache at all. Heated front seats and a heated steering wheel are fitted on 02 and Cross spec cars.

The fold down armrest for the driver is a nice touch for longer trips, especially with no centre console to rest an elbow. It does however perfectly get in the way of one of the cupholders when in place.