We review the Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell from price to economy and all its features

YOU gotta feel a bit sorry for South Korea.

All the Western world ever hears about is their antisocial neighbour, North Korea.

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While prat Kim Jong-un throws his toys out of the pram over a mediocre comedy film, or whatever's getting under his chubby skin that week, South Korea keeps its head down and quietly gets on with things.

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It is like the well-behaved kid who doesn't get any attention because their older sibling is always having a strop.

But if we paused to look at what South Korea is all about, we'd see a jolly clever bunch of folks who are making our lives better in the West.

South Korean manufacturer Hyundai is on the verge of unleashing the first wave of fully hydrogen powered cars in the UK — the ix35 Fuel Cell.

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This can effectively do 60mpg and has zero — yes zero — CO2 emissions.

So what does this car mean to you and me? Well, mainly, it has the potential to be cheap as chips to run.

I say potential, because right now there aren't enough hydrogen vehicles and filling stations to bring the price down at the pumps. So it costs about the same as regular petrol.

But considering it's fully renewable, no messing around in the North Sea required, it should one day soon cost very little.

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Because it's based on the normal i35, the Fuel Cell is a dream to drive. It's spacious, space-age and sparkly.

Push the pedal and you wouldn't know you're in an eco-car. There's a 29kW battery which boosts the engine when accelerating and gives it a punch forovertakes.

The power is smooth and, as you'd expect, very quiet, and it commands the road with a supreme ride position.

Hyundai — a manufacturer unfairly thought of as cheap and cheerful — has spared nothing inside the cockpit, with buckets of technology. There's Bluetooth with voice recognition, iPod connection, rear-view camera. The lot.

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Bods at Hyundai are promising to have 10,000 units in the showrooms very soon, but they're being tight-lipped on price. It took me a whole afternoon to get an estimate out of one of their top chaps, and he told me: "It will cost around the same as a mid-priced Tesla."

I reckon that's about £30,000-£40,000. But don't quote me on it.

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But then you add in the fact that you won't pay tax, and it's a delicious prospect.

The question is, should you buy one now? Yes, but only if you don't need to make long journeys.

Although you can get 400 miles out of a tank, you'll need to be strategic. End up miles away from a pump and you're bang in trouble.

Even so, hydrogen power is something you need to keep a close eye on.

Big boys Audi unveiled a hydrogen hybrid at the LA motorshow last year and Toyota are offering their own hydrogen fuel cell patents for free until 2020, to get the ball rolling.

Which all proves that fuel cell technology is the future, and Hyundai — and South Korea — are undoubtedly on to something.

This is the country which gave us Gangnam Style, after all.

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