Overview What is it?

This is the first proper Hyundai performance car. There have been efforts before – mildly hot hatches and big-bumpered F2 editions of the pretty ’90s Hyundai Coupe – but nothing with circa 300bhp and a development programme overseen by a former BMW M boss.

Which is what you’re looking at here. The i30N has been developed at a depth far beyond any quick Hyundai before it, and you’ll tell before the wheels have turned an inch. An illuminated rev counter whose redline shifts as the engine warms up, the ability to channel your favourite mix of chassis settings into one button press, a manual gearbox and handbrake… this is a car that’s been honed by bona fide driving enthusiasts without yielding to the needs of marketing departments and the like.

The churlish among you might point out many of those nods are nicked wholesale from BMW M cars of the last decade. We’d respond by pointing out there are worse places to take inspiration from, and that Hyundai’s N boss Albert Biermann – as a former M Division chief – is perfectly entitled to bring the best bits of his old workplace across to his new one. Rumours he also took a bagful of Sharpies and file dividers from the stationary cupboard on the way out can be neither confirmed or denied.

So what of the i30N’s spec? It won’t win a game of Top Trumps, but in an increasingly mad hot hatchback market, there’s lots to like about that. Its 2.0-litre turbo engine drives the front wheels only, through a six-speed manual gearbox only. You’ve a choice of two specs. The base car costs £25,995 and produces 247bhp, boasts sports seats and 18in alloy wheels and gets the full suite of adjustable driving modes with launch control. Another £3,500 adds a Performance Pack with a rowdy sports exhaust, a limited-slip differential for more precise handling and 19in wheels with stickier tyres. It’s also the only i30N that offers the dazzling blue paint pictured here.

Oh, and if a sensible old five-door isn’t quite your style, the i30N also comes in Fastback form. It’s still a hatchback, but is designed to resemble a saloon car. It’s Hyundai’s attempt at cracking the Mercedes CLA market, and adds £500 to the asking price, but brings more boot space with it.