This week it was a worry-less week with the 2026 Hyundai Tucson HEV N-Line. Built for the every day, this was the ideal daily driver at an affordable price that pays for itself in savings at the pump.
This is Hyundai’s mid-level sedan, an easy blend of modern luxury, rugged sport, and hybrid electric technology. The sleek body design was eye catching with great angles, adding to the sport appeal. The name and N-Line brand was visible on badges, splashed across the door frame, and embossed on the leather portion of the otherwise cloth seats.
For seating there was electronic seat adjustment, but manual wheel adjusting. You got a significant amount of lumbar protrusion to keep your back firm and curved.
Similar to the seats, the rest of the dash was a mix of elements: fabric intermingled with plastics. I liked the inset shelf built above the glove compartment. With a rubber pad and edges this was a good place keep knick knacks from sliding. As a whole there was plenty of storage with a deep arm rest compartment and a bin between the feet of the two front seats.
The flat wireless charging pad was in the perfect position for your phone. It was easy to access and quick to charge. Included were three bars of green that steadily pulsed to indicate how much there was left to charge.
This was located on an island that was the centre console, alongside cup holders and driving keys positioned just above, at your fingertips. The latter made for easy toggling between drive and terrain modes, plus the ability to control the cameras.
The 2026 Tucson only has 3 drive modes: normal, sport, and eco. Once any of them were set they stayed there and didn’t need reseting when I turned the car off. So I didn’t have to remember to switch it back to eco mode the next drive. Therefore, after a week of driving I was still left with half a tank. 670km+ between gas and battery.
The Tucson HEV was so easy to charge, when coasting down hills and between rush hour starts and stops. A gauge indicated when you were using the battery life and when it was charging, to help with more mindful driving patterns.
As for the way it drove, this was easy to climb into and drive away with, as a smaller vehicle. There was no learning curve. Everything about the 2026 Hyundai Tucson HEV was intuitive. It was fairly nimble with the light steering, sensitive petals, and offered mindless driving with ease.
