@expressmotoring Styled up to the Nth degree

THIS car, says Hyundai, contains some magic. It’s the new Tucson N Line and the magic that is being referred to is the N bit of its name. Last year Hyundai launched its first ever hot hatch and with it a new performance brand called N.

Earlier this year it followed that car up with the i30 Fastback N, a slightly more practical version of the hatchback.

Both are very good cars indeed, lots of fun to drive and very quick.

No doubt Hyundai will follow them up with more cars in the new N stable, especially as these first two cars have gone down so well with critics and customers.

Just as BMW does with the high-performance M brand and Merc does with AMG, Hyundai has been unable to resist slightly bastardising the high-performance brand by using its name on lesser cars.And theTucson N Line is very much a lesser car.

The cheapest model in the new N Line range is the petrolpowered model with, like all N Line Tucsons, a manual gearbox. Yours for £25,995.

Our test car is the second most expensive model and is fitted with a 136bhp 1.6-litre diesel engine and six-speed manual gearbox. On

Motor insuranCE/FinanCE the road this version costs £27,760.Also new is the mildhybrid system that’s fitted to our car (it’s only available with the diesel engine).

The system comprises of a small 48v 0.44kWh lithium ion battery that assists the engine with 12kW of power via a starter generator. The idea is to reduce fuel consumption by using the system to reduce the load on the engine.

When you’re slowing down in gear or braking the starter generator goes into generating mode to recharge the lithium ion battery. Give it two or three years and every new car, if it isn’t electric, will have a similar system.

All this is naturally done automatically and you can’t tell if any electric power is being used or not. Surprisingly, the manual version is more ecnonomical than