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The Cupra Tavascan is an electric SUV with a sporty twist. It has a sloping roofline in an attempt to disguise this high-riding and practical car as a slinky coupe. It’s not as fun to drive as the design would suggest, but it’s still a comfortable cruiser which is spacious enough for family life.

Underneath the sleek Spanish bodywork the Tavascan shares its batteries and motors with other electric cars like the Skoda Enyaq Coupe, the Volkswagen ID5 and the Audi Q4 Sportback e-tron. It’s a bit like having different clothes for different occasions. The Skoda is a sensible cardigan, the Audi is a sharp tuxedo and the Cupra is a sporty tracksuit.

There are plenty of other coupe-esque electric SUVs to choose from, including the Ford Capri, Peugeot E-3008, Lexus RZ and the BMW iX2.

The Cupra stands out from these alternatives with its sporty appearance. It has flared wheel arches and a muscular stance, as well as a smattering of bronze details which are something of a Cupra trademark.

Cupra Tavascan: electric range, battery and charging data

Range: 299-352 miles
Efficiency: 3.7-4.1 miles per kWh
Battery size: 77kWh
Max charge speed: 135kW
Charge time AC: 8h, 11kW, 0-100%
Charge time DC: 28mins, 135kW, 10-80%
Charge port location: Right side rear
Power outputs: 286hp, 340hp

It may be very similar to the Skoda Enyaq under the skin, but you’d never tell when you step inside because the interior has a much more striking design. The massive infotainment screen is similar, but the Tavascan’s cabin is split in two by a big spear-like divider, and there are more copper accents across the dashboard. It may not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s certainly not boring.

Design aside, the Tavascan feels nice and spacious in the front, and you get loads of rear legroom as well. Taller adults may struggle for headroom in the back thanks to that sloping roofline, but it shouldn't be an issue for most.

You get a big boot as well. At 540 litres it’s larger than a Volvo EX30, although the mechanically similar Skoda Enyaq Coupe has slightly more carrying capacity. Still, the Tavascan’s load area is a nice, square shape and you get a completely flat floor when you fold the rear seats down.

There’s just one battery on offer, but you can choose between two motor configurations. There’s a rear-wheel drive single-motor car which is best for maximising range, or there’s a dual-motor model with all-wheel drive and more power. The basic car has a claimed range of up to 353 miles. Not bad, but the Peugeot E-3008 can manage up to 435 miles.

Driving the Cupra Tavascan is pretty relaxing. It’s not as sporty as the looks would suggest, but it’s easy to manoeuvre around town and it’s comfortable on the motorway. The suspension does get a bit jiggly over broken surfaces, but it’s not too bad. What does frustrate is the brake pedal, which has a really inconsistent travel making it difficult to judge.

If you can look past these minor drawbacks, there’s a lot to like about the Cupra Tavascan. It offers a great blend of head-turning style and everyday practicality. Fancy making this your next car? Check out Á«»¨Ö±²¥â€™s latest Cupra Tavascan deals as well as Tavascan lease deals. Browse used Tavascans as well as other used Cupras to grab a second-hand bargain. You can also sell your current car quickly and for a fair price through Á«»¨Ö±²¥.

The Cupra Tavascan is not cheap, with prices starting around £47,000 and rising above £60,000 for a fully loaded all-wheel drive model.

However, that’s not totally unreasonable among alternatives, sitting on the slightly higher side of average. Entry-level models are around the same price as an equivalent Audi Q4 e-tron Sportback and Peugeot E-3008, while the Skoda Enyaq Coupe is a bit cheaper.

If you want a more prestigious badge, the Lexus RZ and BMW iX2 are a bit more expensive than the Cupra, as is the Ford Mustang Mach-e.

Things are less clear cut at the top of the range, though, with top-spec Tavascans considerably more expensive than similar versions of most alternatives.

Comfortable to drive, but the brake pedal is really tricky to get to grips with

In town

The Cupra Tavascan gets all the usual electric car benefits around town, namely smooth yet punchy acceleration and near-silent progress. Where the Tavascan stands out is that it’s a bit more comfortable than most alternatives over bumps. The big negative is the brakes, which are perfectly capable of stopping the car, it’s just really difficult to judge how much pressure to use and therefore tricky to come to a steady stop.

Visibility forward is pretty good, but the view over your shoulder isn’t great thanks to the chunky pillars necessitated by that sloping roofline.

You get some useful equipment as standard, such as an intelligent parking system that lets you move the car remotely, or train it to remember the path into a space to take the strain out of any tight manoeuvres you’re regularly faced with. Base models get a rear-view camera but higher trims come with a useful bird’s-eye view.

On the motorway

The Cupra Tavascan is a quiet and comfortable thing to drive on the motorway, with limited wind and road noise. It deals with bumps really well, even on the huge alloy wheels you get with higher-spec trims.

Power is ample enough, particularly from lower speed, so it’s no issue getting up to speed on a slip road. However, you don’t feel the power quite as obviously from higher speeds, so overtakes need a moment’s thought.

Adaptive cruise control comes on all versions, which means that not only does it maintain your speed and your distance to the car in front, it can also slow you for corners. This can be a bit too safe sometimes, slowing you a bit too much too early, but it’s nice to have.

On a twisty road

If you’re looking for an electric SUV with a sporty edge, the Cupra Tavascan is a good shout. It doesn’t feel quite as sporty as, say, the Ford Mustang Mach-e, but the Cupra is good and capable on a twisty road.

The steering is direct so the front of the car turns in quickly, and because the suspension soaks up bumps nicely, you have plenty of confidence that the car won’t bounce out of its lane when you’re pressing on. Again, though, the weird brakes can be difficult to judge on the approach to a corner. Sport mode is also best avoided because the only tangible difference it makes is to the throttle response, which becomes overly sharp.

It’s spacious and practical throughout, but the Cupra Tavascan doesn’t get a front boot

The Cupra Tavascan is pretty spacious up front, with plenty of adjustment in the driving position to get comfortable. The divider between the front seats does make it feel less airy than something like a Hyundai Ioniq 5 though. You do get really comfortable sports seats as standard, which are ideal for longer journeys.

There are loads of places to keep your bits and bobs as well. The cubby under the centre console is deep enough to lose your arm in, and there’s another area beneath the divider. You get a couple of handy cupholders and big door bins, however the glovebox is only average.

Space in the back seats

Again, space in the back is largely impressive, with loads of legroom to the seats in front. Despite the sloping roof, headroom in the back should be fine for most, so long as you’re not much over six feet tall. The middle seat is fine, but the cushion is quite firm and you feel a little perched.

Storage is okay with door bins and two cup holders in the arm rest, but the sporty bucket-style seats have no pockets in the back. Still, at least there are a couple of USB-C ports so your passengers can keep their devices charged up.

Fitting a child seat is pretty easy. The ISOFIX covers are easy to access, although you’ll have to take care not to lose the removable covers, and the doors open wide enough to manoeuvre the seat into place. That sloping roofline can lead to you banging your head on the way in and out though.

Boot space

At 540 litres boot space is more than adequate. Because of the shape of the roof you can’t store large items upright, but the boot has a nice square shape and a large load area. You can fold the rear seats and there’s no ridge, but they don’t lay quite flat.

If you really need maximum space consider the Peugeot E-3008 (588 litres), Skoda Enyaq (570 litres) or the Tesla Model Y, which has a massive 854 litres to offer. Unlike the Tesla, the Cupra doesn’t have a front boot.

Bold design won’t be for everyone, but the infotainment system is super-slick

If you think car interiors are getting boring, the Cupra Tavascan is here to offer you a welcome reprieve. There’s a lot going on, with a sweeping line of copper splitting the dashboard horizontally across the car and running through the doors, with a mixture of dark and light materials either side. The way the centre console shoots up beneath the main screen is like little else, and the striking design is backed up by largely quality materials.

The 15.0-inch infotainment screen is a big improvement on Cupra systems of recent years, with crisp graphics and much-improved processing speed. Navigating between menus is fairly logical, but you get Apple CarPlay and Android Auto so you don’t need to use the native software for most things. There’s also a small instrument display that’s fairly basic but tells you everything you need it to.

Charging your phone on the go is easy as well, because you get a wireless charger as standard as well as a couple of USB-C ports beneath that central divider, which is ideal for hiding your cables out of the way.

Sporty yet comfortable cloth-upholstered seats come as standard, and you also get a heated steering wheel on all models too. Step up from the entry level model and you also get a useful head-up display, as well as heated front seats with a lovely microfibre cushion.

There’s just the one battery capacity (77kWh) in the Cupra Tavascan, but it’s offered with two different power outputs, that will appeal depending on your needs.

The first is a rear-wheel drive model with 286hp. Being the lower-powered of the two, and only being two-wheel drive, means it’s more efficient, and therefore has the longest range at up to 353 miles in the entry level trim. VZ models get dual motors and all-wheel drive, upping performance to 340hp and dropping the range to 299 miles in the top-spec version.

Go for the long-range version and the Tavascan performs fairly well against alternatives, going further on a charge than the BMW iX2, Lexus RZ and Volkswagen ID5. However, the Ford Mustang Mach-e, Peugeot E-3008 and Skoda Enyaq Coupe all have variants that can go further in official tests.

Fast charging is about average among alternatives too. With a maximum charge speed of 135kW, you can get from 10-80% capacity in under half an hour, though the Kia EV6 demolishes this time.

Being an electric car, the Cupra Tavascan falls into the cheapest band for road tax and company car tax.

The Cupra Tavascan received maximum marks in Euro NCAP safety testing. Its five-star score came courtesy of an 89% rating for adult occupant protection, 86% for child occupant protection, 80% for vulnerable road users and 79% for its safety tech.

All versions get an active bonnet that pops up to soften the blow if a pedestrian is hit, as well as forward collision warning and a system that can help you steer safely away from danger. Top-spec versions get predictive adaptive cruise control.

Being a new model, it’s hard to know exactly how reliable the Tavascan will be. Cupra came 28th out of 31 manufacturers in the latest Driver Power customer satisfaction survey, which isn’t great. However, the Tavascan shares much of its makeup with various other electric Volkswagen Group models, which have proved largely reliable outside of software glitches that appear to be a thing of the past.

Every Cupra comes with a five-year/90,000-mile warranty in the UK, while electric car batteries are covered separately for up to eight years/100,000 miles and will be replaced if they drop below 70% capacity in that time.