2025 Hyundai Inster Cross revealed: MG ZS rival looks good, but don’t believe the pictures

October 16, 2024November 18, 2024 Iain Curry 9185 Views hyundai ev, hyundai inster, hyundai inster cross, inster cross, inster ev

The new 2025 Hyundai Inster Cross revealed by the Korean brand today is an EV with the off-road ability of a garden salad.

But because we buyers like our SUVs to suggest they can scale Everest or cross the Amazon, car manufacturers are more than happy to dress them up to suit.

Hence this tiny EV features front and rear skid plates, more rugged-looking bumpers and cladding, roof racks and optional roof basket.

And, as the pictures prove, promises of adventuring into the deep unknown. Which, of course, it really won’t be able to do.

What you don’t get is anything to realistically make it any use over the rough stuff.

Darkened 17-inch rims look the goods, but are shod with very on-road-looking tyres.

2025 Hyundai Inster Cross – those tyres won’t help you cross the Canning Stock Route.

There’s no mention of any additional ground clearance, specific off-road driving modes, extra performance or something really useful like, you know, four-wheel-drive.

But it’s hard to be too critical about something that looks this fun and cool.

The Inster Cross launches in Australia in the first quarter of 2025, swiftly following the debut of the less-adventurous looking Inster city EV SUV.

For those wanting to take their Insters outside the urban jungle and into the proper one, this Cross is the one that most looks the part, especially if optioned in Amazonas Green matte paint – exclusive to the model.

You can also adventure-up the cabin with the Cross’ unique trim – grey cloth with lime-yellow accents, plus more lime-yellow for the dashboard. Have a bit of a think before ticking this box, mind.

It appears the Inster Cross will be otherwise identical to the normal versions. That means a 42kWh battery, 71kW/147Nm e-motor and WLTP range of 305km; or an Extended Range with 49kWh battery, 85kW/147Nm e-motor and range around 350km.

It public charges up to 120kW, the battery taking 30 minutes to go from 10-80 per cent. An 11kW on-board charger is standard for slower home AC charging taking around four hours.

The pre-production Insters we tested in Korea a few months ago were pleasingly high spec, with solid driver assist, V2L capability, brace of 10.25-inch screens, wireless phone charging and, for the top spec, heated faux leather seats.

Despite the Inster Cross really being nothing more than a styling exercise, this little EV does have reasonable credentials as a sustainable camping car.

2025 Hyundai Inster — Hyundai Inster’s four seats fold flat for potential in-car camping.

Why? All four seats fold down, including the front two just about dropping flat. You could squeeze some sort of mattress in, keep the climate on all night and it’s basically a hard-topped mini camper van.

With the additional storage afforded by the roof box, you could head to some adventurous spots loaded with camping kit up top. But only if you’re certain the trails won’t be too testing.

Pricing remains a mystery for both the normal Insters and this new Inster Cross.

We reckon around $40,000 to be likely for the Inster, and ticking the Cross box would add a few more grand to the bill.

Iain Curry

A motoring writer and photographer for two decades, Iain started in print magazines in London as editor of Performance BMW and features writer for BMW Car, GT Porsche and 4Drive magazines. His love of motor sport and high performance petrol cars was rudely interrupted in 2011 when he was one of the first journalists to drive BMW's 1 Series ActiveE EV, and has been testing hybrids, PHEVs and EVs for Australian newspapers ever since. Based near Noosa in Queensland, his weekly newspaper articles cover new vehicle reviews and consumer advice, while his photography is regularly seen on the pages of glossy magazines.