Hyundai Inster Review 2026: The Sub-£25k City EV
Why it matters: Hyundai's Inster is now available through The Electric Car Scheme's salary sacrifice route from £219 a month, around 29% cheaper than a personal lease on the same car, with 4% Benefit-in-Kind applying for the 2026/27 tax year and employees typically saving 20-50% against a personal lease equivalent The Electric Car Scheme. For payroll and fleet teams building 2026/27 EV panels around cost-per-driver, that's a number worth running against whatever else is currently on the shortlist.
The underlying car undercuts the sub-£25k EV bracket at £23,755 on the road in entry-level 01 trim, and the Long Range version stretches to 223 miles WLTP on a 49kWh battery The Electric Car Scheme. For fleets stacking small-EV shortlists against budget and range anxiety in equal measure, that combination of price and usable range is the story, not the badge.
The trim ladder matters for spec decisions. Standard Range 01 gets 97bhp, 0-62mph in 11.7s and 203 miles WLTP on the 42kWh pack; stepping to the 49kWh Long Range lifts that to 115bhp, 10.6s and 223 miles on 17-inch wheels, for around £1,550 more on the entry trim The Electric Car Scheme. Move up the range and INSTER 02 starts at £27,005, with the Cross variant from £29,005 - useful headroom if drivers need more kit without leaving the Inster family The Electric Car Scheme.
The practicality case is unusually well thought through for the class. That sliding rear bench moves forward by 16cm, taking boot capacity from 238 to 351 litres - a genuinely useful trick for a car this size, and one that matters if it's doing van-adjacent duty on multi-drop urban rounds The Electric Car Scheme. It has also picked up recognition beyond the spec sheet: TopGear.com's Supermini of the Year 2026 and World Electric Car of the Year 2025 The Electric Car Scheme.
The catch is that none of this is fixed. BiK bands step up beyond 2026/27, and the 29% saving quoted against personal leasing is scheme- and provider-specific, not a guaranteed market rate. Range also drops meaningfully if a driver is put on the cheaper Standard Range car rather than the Long Range - 203 miles versus 223 miles WLTP - which matters for anyone running the Inster on multi-drop or rural routes rather than pure urban duty.
Model the Long Range 02 against the Standard Range 01 on your actual mileage profiles before defaulting to the cheapest trim on price alone.