Cupra Tavascan

Report 1: Entering the Electric Age

We welcome the new Cupra Tavascan to the Honest John fleet for the next three months.

Date: 3 April 2025 | Current mileage: 2310 | Claimed economy: 4.1 miles/kWh | Actual economy: 2.9 miles/kWh

As part of my job, I’ve driven more electric cars than I can remember. But I’ve never actually lived with one. Usually, I’d be presented with a fully charged test car, head out for a few hours and then hand it back. Or I’d have it at home for a week and simply plug in the three-pin charger that came with the car in order to get more juice.

As a result, I know all about the instant response from the accelerator and the freedom from the traditional constraints that an electric platform gives designers. But I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve never used a public charger and never had to think about range anxiety. All my own cars and my previous long-term test vehicles, have used combustion engines, the foibles of which I’m well used to.

So it’s with no small sense of intrigue that I welcome my new family car for the next three months. This Cupra Tavascan had just 2000 miles when it arrived at my house and I’ve now had a few weeks to get acquainted with it.

I confess, it’s been rather exciting. And confusing. Whether we like it or not, the automotive world is going electric, so the journey I’m embarking on is one that others will have to take sooner or later. There are lots of things to get one’s head around.

But before all the infrastructure, however, let’s talk about the car. This is the top-of-the-line Tavascan in VZ2 trim, which means it comes with the more powerful twin-motor setup, with 340PS and 545Nm of torque, and all-wheel drive (AWD). The battery is a 77kWh unit and efficiency-wise, Cupra says it’ll do up to 3.5 miles per kWh used.

The colour? Tavascan Blue. Unoriginal, but accurate in name. It was a no-cost option – in fact, there are no options on my car at all, meaning it can be bought off the shelf for £60,835 at the time of writing. While the Tavascan is an all-wheel-drive SUV it’s got no off-road inclinations at all. In keeping with the Cupra brand, it’s a sporty number with the aim of slapping a smile on your face when you’re behind the wheel.

All that power and instant torque will certainly help that, with an official 0-62mph time of 5.5 seconds despite its hefty weight – 2267kg in this AWD form. In my short time with the car so far I can confirm that it does indeed feel quick, with all the torque available as soon as your feet touch the pedal. There are various setup modes to play with to imbue the Tavascan with different characters, including the everything-to-11 Cupra mode, and I look forward to playing with them.

While it’s in my care, I’m aiming to have the Tavascan take over day-to-day family duties from our 2018 Seat Leon ST estate. Early signs are promising – the 540-litre boot, with an electric tailgate, is capacious and has easily held a child's scooter, bags and various other accoutrements for a day out over a weekend. There’s loads of rear legroom and it was easy to install a child seat using the Isofix mounting points.