Hyundai Nexo interior

If the design of the centre console is unusual to behold, it’s equally strange to interact with while on the move. Hyundai should be commended for resisting the trend to remove all buttons in favour of touchscreen-based controls but, in reality, it has probably taken things too far in the other direction here. The sheer number of dials, rocker switches and buttons can be overwhelming on first acquaintance and learning where everything is takes a more than ideal amount of time.

That these controls – along with a number of the interior surfaces – are fashioned from materials that don’t quite feel expensive enough to belong on a £65,000 car is also a bit of a turn-off. No matter how futuristic the Nexo’s fuel cell technology is, it plainly shouldn’t feel at all low-rent when inspected by prodding fingers.

Still, the Nexo does win back some favour when it comes to roominess. We measured typical second-row leg room at 740mm, which means the Nexo trumps the Audi Q5 (720mm) and only just loses out to the BMW X3 (750mm). Head room isn’t quite as strong, coming in at 930mm versus 970mm for the Audi and 975mm for the BMW; likely a limitation of the packaging of the hydrogen tanks.

Overall, although you wouldn’t say the Nexo feels noticeably cramped, it’s difficult to ignore the feeling that there’s less room to move inside it than there is in those similarly sized conventional SUVs. A large battery beneath the boot floor means that theme continues when you get to luggage capacity. There’s 461 litres available in the Nexo, compared with 550 litres for both the Audi and BMW. While far from miserly, the compromise that comes with electing for the Nexo’s alternatively fuelled powertrain is still clear.