HYUNDAI INSTER CROSS

Quirky 3.8m-long EV half-heartedly masquerades as an off-roader

- ILLYA VERPRAET

With some test cars, I expect the attention. When I stop for petrol in a bright orange McLaren, I take it as a given that the person next to me will want to talk or take pictures. However, when I drove the Hyundai Inster Cross to the recent Festival of the Unexceptional, it came as a bit of a surprise just how interested people were in it. Any time I went near it in the car park, people were checking it out or asking me about it.

A similar thing happened when I had a Renault 5 earlier this year. So clearly there is plenty of enthusiasm for affordable-ish, originally styled, sensibly sized cars, and I don’t think it matters that much whether they’re powered by batteries.

So, is the public’s enthusiasm for Hyundai’s smallest EV warranted?

This particular one is the Cross, the priciest version of the Inster, which we haven’t tried before.