Cupra Tavascan Review & Prices

The Cupra Tacvascan is the Spanish brand’s second all-electric car, after the Born hatchback. As with the Born, it’s based on Volkswagen Group bits and pieces, and uses the same basic structure, batteries, and electric motors as the VW ID4, Skoda Enyaq, and Audi Q4 e-tron.

It’s best to think of the Tavascan as being basically the same as all of those, but with different shoes — the Volkswagen wears basic sneakers, the Skoda sensible boots, the Audi shiny patent leather dress shoes, while the Tavascan gets proper running shoes, with athletic shapes and brightly coloured laces.

It’s definitely more of an aggressive looking thing than any of its VW Group cousins, all sharp angles and a big mouth that appears to be filled with shark’s teeth. Or at least lots of grilles. The Tavascan also gets some jewel-like brake lights, and a big light bar that stretches across the boot lid, which includes a light-up Cupra ‘prongs’ badge in the middle.

As with other Cupras, the Tavascan (it’s named after a pretty little village in Catalonia) also gets lots of copper-coloured trim details, big alloy wheels, and the option of some very cool dark blue paint. It’s not what you’d call a pretty car, exactly — the way the roof wraps around to the tailgate looks downright weird — but it is striking and manages to look nothing like the VW, Audi, or Skoda.

Inside, the Tavascan gets a dramatic dashboard that looks almost as if a Sting Ray (the fish, not the Corvette sports car) is laying down in the cabin, with its tail pointing towards the back seats. It even gets a scale-like styling detail on the dashboard material. It’s a very stylish cabin, with a massive touchscreen right in the middle, but there are quite a few parts shared with Volkswagen cars, though Cupra has done a pretty good job of making its cabin look unique.

There are some very nice touches inside, such as a Porsche-style driving mode button on the steering wheel, and recycled plastics used for the seat fabric, but sadly Cupra has kept the awkward ‘slider’ controls for cabin temperature, and the touchscreen can be annoying and fiddly to use.

So far, all of the Tavascan models use the same 77kWh battery pack, and in the basic V1 model, with a 286hp rear-mounted electric motor driving the back wheels, that’s good for a claimed range of 352 miles. The minimum you should expect in the real world is around 300 miles.

There are more powerful twin-motor, four-wheel drive VZ1 and VZ2 models with 340hp, and for those the range drops to between 290 to 320 miles. You’ll have to decide if the sacrifice is worth it for the extra performance.

The Tavascan’s battery can be charged at up to 135kW on DC power from a fast-charger station, but that’s a bit slow compared to alternatives such as the Ford Mustang Mach-E.

We’ll drive this stylish SUV soon and update this review with our impressions, but if you can’t wait that long you can check out the latest Cupra Tavascan deals available through Carwow. You can also browse other used Cupra models, and when it’s time to sell your current car, Carwow can help with that, too.

Cupra’s being a bit brave with the Tavascan’s punchy pricing. Even allowing for very good standard equipment and the fact that it’s only available with the most powerful rear-drive electric motor, it’s quite a bit pricier than Volkswagen’s sleek ID5 and even the Sportback version of the Audi Q4 e-tron. It’s more expensive than both the sporty Ford electric models — the new Capri (which also shares its mechanical bits with the Tavascan) and the Mustang Mach-E, which is more fun to drive.