Cupra Tavascan review: A little Gaudi goes a long way

Business Times

02-05-2025

'Cupra Tavascan' might sound like a medieval incantation, something you mutter to conjure up a dragon with a puff of smoke, but it's merely what the eye-catching electric car you see here is called.
That seems fitting, because the Tavascan looks like something St George would have tried to run through with a spear, only in vehicular form. It's a dramatic, brooding machine with sculpted haunches and a glowing crest, with enough presence and attitude to make small animals skulk away.
The illuminated Cupra logo on the nose pulses gently when you unlock the car, adding a sense of life that's equal parts theatre and personality. And from the front, it glares at you through a narrow set of headlights, with creases that seem almost organic, as if they were grown rather than stamped.
Apparently, the Tavascan got its name from a village in the Spanish Pyrenees, tucked high in the Catalan mountains near the French border. I've never been, but I like to imagine it's a high-altitude place full of rugged terrain and defiant people who feel like they live above it all, because this is a fierce car, especially in dual-motor VZ trim.
It's built on the same MEB platform as the Audi Q4 e-tron, Skoda Enyaq and Volkswagen ID.5, but the tuning and temperament are entirely its own.
The interior, in particular, makes its corporate cousins look downright drab. It's full of textures and classy, muted tones, with some mouldings that look as if they were pinched from La Sagrada Familia. The dashboard and even the front seats look like Antoni Gaudi himself rose from the grave to design them, only this time he stuck to the client brief to make things wild but logical.
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If the dashboard trim resembles dragon scales, it's only apt that the VZ breathes fire. Its dual-motor, all-wheel drive setup delivers 340 horsepower and 545 Newton-metres of torque, giving the Cupra enough thrust to hit 100 kmh in 5.6 seconds. That's properly fast in real-world traffic, and it has the taut suspension to go with the rapid acceleration. With active dampers, it rides comfortably enough, turns in keenly and resists roll impressively.
The brakes feel slightly soft, which seems to be a quirk the MEB platform cars all share, but overall the Tavascan VZ marks itself out as an engaging car simply by being hard to drive slowly.
It's not great in car parks, however, because the visibility is poor enough that the 360-degree camera is less of a luxury and more of a coping mechanism. There's also a curious silence hanging over the whole experience, literally. That's because the Tavascan VZ doesn't offer any artificial engine sounds, which feels like a missed opportunity.
Plenty of other EVs add a bit of aural drama to match the performance, and in my view it adds to the experience. You could always have the option to switch it off, giving you both excitement and serenity.
In fact, the Tavascan's game is strong when it comes to the daily commute, too. The 15-inch infotainment screen is easy to use, and between the 12-speaker Sennheiser sound system and the ambient lighting, it's anything from rolling nightclub to quiet lounge when you want it to be.
There's also a thoughtful scheduled climate feature that lets you cool the cabin before you get in, which suggests that the good folk at Cupra's Barcelona HQ understand what tropical heat does to humans.
There's good news on the practicality front, too. The Tavascan is genuinely roomy in the back, with plenty of legroom and a flat floor that makes long rides more comfortable than you'd expect from something that looks this dramatic. The boot is sensibly shaped and decently sized, which means the Cupra is as useful as it is stylish.
With a range of up to 521 km, the Tavascan VZ should fit comfortably into a once-a-week charging routine, even if you're a bit heavy-footed, but the single-motor Endurance version can apparently squeeze 568 km out of the same 77 kWh battery capacity.
It's not much slower, needing 6.8 seconds to hit 100 kmh, and is probably the better buy, especially since it costs S$20,000 less.
In either form, what really sets the Tavascan apart is the sense of theatre, which is rare in the cold world of electric cars. While battery-powered cars tend to be all about clinical efficiency, this Cupra has some ability to cast a spell.
Cupra Tavascan VZ Motor Power/Torque: 340 hp / 545 Nm Battery type/Net capacity: Lithium-ion/77 kWh Charging time/Type: 8 hours (11 kW AC), 28 minutes 10 to 80 per cent (135 kW DC) Range: 521 km (WLTP) 0-100 kmh: 5.6 seconds Top speed: 180 kmh Efficiency: 17.2 kWh/100 km Agent: Cupra Centre Singapore Price: S$246,900 with COE Available Now