Cupra Tavascan review: Hot or not?

November 19, 2025 Matt Allan

We discover if the Cupra Tavascan can inject some Spanish colour into the sometimes drab family SUV market

It sometimes feels that I spend my life driving one nondescript C-segment SUV after another.

2025 has been the year of bland value-focused fare like the Changan Deepal S07, Leapmotor C10 and Skywell BE11 trying to carve out a niche in the space dominated by the Tesla Model Y. But it’s not all bad news. As well as some interesting newcomers such as the Xpeng G6 there are more established models out there that try to offer something a bit more.

Models like the Cupra Tavascan, which take a familiar hardware setup and apply their own twist to proceedings. But is that twist enough to make it stand out from the crowd?

Unusually, our test car was a European-spec model in which I undertook the Grand Tour of Switzerland, but a few trim details aside, it’s the same as the car Cupra will sell you in the UK.

Design, interior and technology

It’s no secret that the Cupra Tavascan is built on the same bones as the Volkswagen ID.5 and Skoda Enyaq Coupe, so it’s impressive how different it looks and feels.

That’s perhaps clearest inside. The whole cabin is much more stylish than its German or Czech cousins, from the almost stingray-shaped dashboard to the cool copper air vents and the carefully positioned ambient lighting. It makes it look and feel like a very different car and is far more interesting that the bland fare from China or America.

I was particularly taken by the snakeskin-effect lower dashboard that curves down to join the centre console. It might make it a bit harder to reach the bottom storage bin but it looks brilliant and echoes the shape of the Cupra logo.

Externally, I’m not so convinced. From some angles it looks edgy and aggressive, from others it looks a bit lardy and high-waisted. I think it’s colour sensitive and our test car’s back-of-the-cupboard grey (not its official name) did it no favours. Cupra’s colour palette is limited to more muted shades, but I’d like to see it in a lighter tone such as Tavascan Blue or Atacama Desert. What did work for me, despite my usual reservations about such things, was the animated light show, from the bonnet badge to the slimline taillights.

Back inside, the Tavascan offers impressive comfort and practicality. Those in the front seats have acres of space and plenty of adjustability, and even behind a tall driver there’s lots of legroom. The dipping roofline does make the rear seats feel a bit enclosed, although it’s really only an issue for adults. Behind the rear bench, there’s a decent 540-litre boot.

Despite looking so different, the Tavascan uses the same 5-inch instrument panel and 15-inch main touchscreen as the rest of the VW Group. It’s big, clear and easy to use, with simple widgets, a responsive screen and plenty of customisation options that put it some way ahead of many rivals. I still yearn for physical heater controls but the on-screen ones are at least easy to reach and permanently available. And the ADAS can be killed off in seconds via shortcut keys. There’s also wireless Apple and Android support alongside the usual connected services.

Battery, motor and performance

Cupra is the sporty arm of the VW Group, which means it doesn’t bother with the less-powerful drivetrains on offer from this platform.

The entry point to the Tavascan range is a 282bhp rear-wheel-drive model while above that is a two-motor all-wheel-drive variant packing 335bhp and 402lb ft.

That’s the one I drove and while you could certainly live with the RWD version there is something nice about the grunt and grip of the two-motor setup. Zero to 62mph takes just 5.5 seconds and thanks to the AWD arrangement power is delivered rapidly and without drama.

As with other cars using this tech, power delivery is easy and smooth right up to motorway speeds and there’s a spookily effective predictive braking regeneration function. This reacts to GPS data and road signs but can be easily overruled with a nudge of a pedal. It’s just a shame Cupra doesn’t allow you to select between more than two levels of braking regen.

I wouldn’t claim the Tavascan is sporty or nimble in the way some Cupra models are. It’s too big and heavy for that. But it is composed, controlled and capable, with excellent ride and road manners. It’s not something you’ll hurl into corners with gusto, but something you can cover hundreds of miles in with ease.

At heart, this is still a family SUV, so the fact it rides smoothly but maintains reasonable body control means you can carry the entire brood in comfort and confidence.

Every version of the Tavascan uses a 77kWh battery which, in the two-motor VZ offers up to 320 miles of range and charging at up to 135kW. Cupra quotes official consumption of 3.7m/kWh and during four days and 530 miles over 75mph motorways, flowing A-roads and vertiginous Alpine passes, I averaged exactly that. My average speed wasn’t massively high but that’s still damn impressive for a largish AWD SUV on winter tyres.

Price and specification

As mentioned, this particular test car was a Swiss rental spec which most closely resembles the UK’s VZ1 spec. That’s priced from £55,945, while single-motor models start at £47,350.

That’s a little bit more than an equivalent Skoda, VW or Ford Capri but even the lower-grade AWD model has virtually everything you need. Heated seats, a powered tailgate, keyless go, three-zone climate control and Matrix LED lights are all standard. Neat 21-inch alloy wheels, a panoramic sunroof, leather upholstery and a head-up display are also all part of the standard spec on UK models.