Toyota Mirai or Hyundai Nexo: Which is the Best Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car?

The Toyota Mirai and the Hyundai Nexo are two very different cars but with an unbreakable bond

To be able to face the new Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo It is necessary to make a brief summary of both hydrogen fuel cell electric cars.

Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo, face to face

The first generation Toyota Mirai was introduced in 2014 as a sedan measuring almost 5 metres (4,89 m) that used an electric motor dependent on a hydrogen storage cell as an energy source, with a range of 550 km, one of the pioneering cars in the efficient car industry to use this gas as fuel but which was not available for the market in our country.

Now, in 2019, the Japanese brand has already shown, in broad strokes, what its update will be like as 2020 Toyota Mirai whose dimensions are set at 4.973 mm long, 1.885 wide, 1.468 high and a wheelbase of 2918 millimeters that gains both in dimensions and in superior autonomy of up to 600 km and that Yes, it will be on sale in Spain.

Regarding the Hyundai Nexo arrived in 2018 within the second generation of FCEV vehicles mass-produced by the brand, after the Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell of 2013, as an SUV whose dimensions are set at 4.670 millimetres in length, 1.860 in width and 1.640 in height, and whose wheelbase is 2.790 mm, it surprised the world by offering the greatest autonomy as an electric car at the time of its homologation, in the WLTP cycle, with a capacity to travel up to 666 km with a tank of hydrogen.

Now, these two cars, so different in terms of their architecture, are directly related and, even worse, faced in the small market of the FCEVs.

The interior of the Toyota Mirai

Taking into account that the images presented show that of a car described by the brand as a prototype, they do not fail to show us a very close interior, not only to production standards, always more modest than those shown in the concept cars.

A cabin that is inexorably reminiscent of that of the Toyota Camry that we enjoyed during its test driving experience and even has reminiscences of the Lexus ES. A Elegant, sober and functional configuration and with a distinctive touch thanks to the use of subtly inserted copper tones.

The use of large screens is in line with the technological level that is expected of a new car and that delves into research into new solutions for the efficiency and sustainability of mobility.

The habitability of the Hyundai Nexo

As it happened to us after making the Hyundai Kona electric test, the interior, The finishes and quality of these cars are hard to justify in terms of value for money.

Even, considering the design that looks dated, the unattractive layout of a central console whose buttons appear so perfectly aligned that they saturate the entire dashboard.

The feel and materials used for the dashboard and steering wheel, and the inclusion of a pair of screens whose quality is lower than what the Toyota Mirai appears to offer, leave the Hyundai Nexo behind in terms of on-board comfort.

Conclusion

Even without knowing the price of the new Toyota Mirai, we are sure that it will not be within the cheaper electric cars, especially when the few units that arrived for Toyota partner fleets in Spain did so with an approximate price of 80.000 euros.

The one that is sure to be left out of the group of more affordable electric cars is the Hyundai Nexo, which with a RRP from €72.250 It is difficult to find incentives to buy of either of these two models, especially if we take into account the general difficulty in finding points of hydrogen recharge, as we mentioned in the article on the subject.