diff --git a/lib/buffer.js b/lib/buffer.js
index b6928c18f8ded3..d4f6ccff7e2fe2 100644
--- a/lib/buffer.js
+++ b/lib/buffer.js
@@ -531,12 +531,10 @@ Buffer.prototype.equals = function equals(b) {
 Buffer.prototype[internalUtil.customInspectSymbol] = function inspect() {
   var str = '';
   var max = exports.INSPECT_MAX_BYTES;
-  if (this.length > 0) {
-    str = this.toString('hex', 0, max).match(/.{2}/g).join(' ');
-    if (this.length > max)
-      str += ' ... ';
-  }
-  return '<' + this.constructor.name + ' ' + str + '>';
+  str = this.toString('hex', 0, max).replace(/(.{2})/g, '$1 ').trim();
+  if (this.length > max)
+    str += ' ... ';
+  return `<${this.constructor.name} ${str}>`;
 };
 Buffer.prototype.inspect = Buffer.prototype[internalUtil.customInspectSymbol];
 
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-buffer-prototype-inspect.js b/test/parallel/test-buffer-prototype-inspect.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..5f65a9bb288f16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-buffer-prototype-inspect.js
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+'use strict';
+require('../common');
+
+// lib/buffer.js defines Buffer.prototype.inspect() to override how buffers are
+// presented by util.inspect().
+
+const assert = require('assert');
+const util = require('util');
+
+{
+  const buf = Buffer.from('fhqwhgads');
+  assert.strictEqual(util.inspect(buf), '<Buffer 66 68 71 77 68 67 61 64 73>');
+}
+
+{
+  const buf = Buffer.from('');
+  assert.strictEqual(util.inspect(buf), '<Buffer >');
+}
+
+{
+  const buf = Buffer.from('x'.repeat(51));
+  assert.ok(/^<Buffer (78 ){50}\.\.\. >$/.test(util.inspect(buf)));
+}