TLDR: has anyone bought a Hyundai or other small (in Japan) foreign manufacturer? Any advice?
So I've been looking at getting a small electric car. The Nissan Sakura doesn't have enough range and is overpriced. The just released Honda N-One e is much better (50% more range) at a similar price, and I was leaning towards it. It was pretty nice during a test drive (actually really nice!). And then I noticed that Hyundai has EV cars available in Japan, including the extremely well reviewed Hyundai Inster. I haven't been able to find a single negative review about the thing.
We test drove it, it's absolutely perfect for us (seriously the thing is amazing). It's obvious that Hyundai has expertise in electric cars, and the quirks have been figured out. The price is right (basically we can get the model we fancy at almost the same price as the N-One e model we looked at), except that the Inster is a superior car in all respects.
But it's a Korean car in Japan, so I'm a bit worried. Has anyone made the jump to one of the less established foreign makers here? (E.g. not BMW, Audi, Benz, etc.). Anything I should look into before rolling the dice?
—- some background, can be skipped —-
I've been driving electric since the original Nissan Leaf 24kWh, then went to the new Nissan Leaf e+ 62kWh, then my wife crashed it (she was fine – but it was the third time she had significantly damaged the car), it would cost a huge amount to fix, and I decided to let the dealership buy the damaged car from me and in exchange I'd get a kei gasoline car for next to nothing (Nissan Roox) – I wanted a car that was easy to drive for the wife (so she wouldn't crash) and that would get me from point A to point B.
The problem is, I hate the darn thing. I hate not being able to charge it at home anymore. I hate having to fill it up with gasoline, wasting my time to go to a nearby gas station. I paradoxically get more range anxiety on the highway than I did with the Leaf (seriously the nenpi is terrible). I hate the infotainment system that interrupts my audio books (without the courtesy of pausing them) with useless warnings I can't turn off (seriously there's no way to turn those damn warnings off, even when I'm not using the thing for navigation; I checked with Nissan).
So yeah, I want to go back to an EV but I don't want a much larger car that wifey could crash again. The Inster is tame for an EV, and small + maneuverable.
by iamonewiththeforce