Cupra Tavascan 2026 review Australia: Is this Spanish electric car a better family EV than Model Y?
It’s a great time to be in the market for an electric midsize SUV. After all, there are now so many options and at so many different price points, it’s hard to stand out. And yet, that’s what Coopra’s Tavveriscan aims to do. Yet, despite its outlandish styling, enviable specs, and a pretty competitive price tag, this Spanish-designed and Chinese-built SUV is really failing to set the sales charts on fire. So, what’s going on? Are the other options really that much better? Or is Koopas Taviscan an overlooked gem? Well, to find out, I’ve been living with this one here for 3 months and a few thousand KS. What did I like? What didn’t I like? How much does it cost me to run? And who do I think it will suit the best? Well, keep watching to find out. Okay, first up, price tags. At the time we shot this video, the Tabascan range is made up of just two variants. the topsp spec VZ allwheel drive and the one we’ve been living with here, the entry-level endurance. And here’s the thing, while it might look all Euro and performance spiced, this version of the Taviscan comes across as something of a bargain starting from a touch over 60 grand. Sure, it’s not as basementpriced as the J EX5, Leap Motor C10, or Xpang G6, but it packs more power and more range than the equivalent Kia EV5 or Hyundai Ionic 5, positioning it nicely as a genuine rival to the Tesla Model Y rear wheel drive, which itself is excellent value in this space. It also compares well to other mid-market offerings with competitive range but more power than the Toyota BZ 4X or Subaru Sulttera with maybe its stiffest competition other than the Model Y coming from the more tamel looking Volkswagen ID4 with which it shares a platform. Base equipment in the Taviscan is already pretty good with highlights including the massive touchscreen, sporty seats, tri-zone climate, contrasting design touches. The list goes on. But our car costs an additional 4 1/2 grand, adding a 360° parking camera, heated and power adjusts with the patent microfiber trim, extended interior lighting, 20-in wheels, and an awesome 12 speakeraker Sennheiser audio system. Now, look, I’m not always about option packages, but this one feels about on the money. There may be a lot of midsize electric options then, but to me it’s still a bit of a puzzle why this Koopra isn’t doing better considering where it sits in the market. Well, one reason for this could be its really outlandish design, but actually I think this is one of the things that I like the most about it. The more I look at it, the more I find cool little details all over this car’s body. Little things like that snout bonnet and stuff like that. You just don’t see it on any other car, particularly at this price point. And even amongst a field full of crazy electric midsize SUVs with all sorts of wacky sci-fi styling, this one still manages to stand out. The bronze might not be for everyone, and I get that. But the distinctive 3D effect in the front and rear lights looks awesome, as does the functional spoiler pieces in the nose, which we usually only see on much more expensive sports machines. And I’m a fan of the Tritone Arrow look on these wheels. The inside is also quite literally out of this world with the spine piece raising up from the center console to give the feeling that it’s holding up the dash. And there’s a crazy array of textures and unusual materials throughout which really make this car feel distinct, not only from its rivals, but from its platform contemporaries inside the Volkswagen Group, too. And that’s not to mention that this is a car which seems like it was designed to be experienced at night. So much care and detail has been put into the lighting features in the interior which make all the three-dimensional patterns and textures which adorn the doors and dash come alive. So it looks really cool in here. But this does bring us to one of my major dislikes of this car. And that’s how over time I’ve noticed how not very practical this interior actually is. And that’s the thing because if you went and test drove this car at a dealer, you’re not going to notice it straight away because what you will notice is how good the ergonomics are. So, these seats are really nice. They’re made of this like recycled material. You sort of sink into them. The steering wheel can be positioned really nicely. You’ve got this digital dash here, which you don’t get on a Tesla, for example, and it’s all just feels really good initially, and then you drive it for a while and you start to realize some things about it. So, for example, the bottle holders, there’s two in the doors, but they’re small and they’re on like a really aggressive angle. So, if you had a bottle that has a leaky top, it’s just going to leak out. And then there’s this center console area. This cool spine thing, which looks like it’s bursting out of the flesh of this center console, is all very cool, but it makes the cup holders really small. So, yeah, sure, it fits my bottle, but I couldn’t have another one next to it because they overlap a bit. And then there’s this area down here. So, there’s a wireless charger that’s all very cool, but it’s centered. Very aesthetic, but it takes up all of the room. So, where there could be quite a useful storage bay, there’s just no room left for anything other than your phone. Now, one thing on wireless chargers, I will say that this one is actually quite good because some of them just have like a plastic finish to them and your phone slides around out of the charging area, but this one actually holds it in nice and tight. So, yes, it does take up all the room, but at least it’s actually good. Um, you’ve got another storage bay here. It’s only really good for keys. And one of the things I like maybe the least about this area generally is this split opening center console. It looks kind of cool, very premium, very plush, but and it’s quite deep, too. But have a listen to this. So, when I close it, grab my mic here. And you notice that because every time you get in the car, you’ll lean on it and it’ll make that creaking noise and it just feels like a little bit of a miss when it comes to fit and finish. That’s a bit of a shame. Let’s go have a look at the back seat. Oh, actually before we do, I forgot to mention this big multimedia screen. So, the design of this car makes it feel almost Teslaike in that it’s quite minimalist, all centered around this big screen. It’s slightly driver oriented, which is very sort of cool, and it’s very close to your hand, so it’s actually easier to press all of the buttons on it. However, again, you’ve probably noticed there’s no actual physical hardware on here. So, you have to deal with these touch panels, which Volkswagen was widely criticized for when it launched these new touchscreen panels in a lot of its cars, including in cars from brands that it owns like Cupra. Um, the screen though, like wireless Apple CarPlay, has been flawless in the entire time I’ve had it, and I’ve definitely used worse menus. Uh when it comes to the actual design of the user interface, there is just a few small things. You have to deal with the climate through mainly touchscreen based things if you don’t want to use these sliding uh temperature controls. And the shortcut for Apple CarPlay is tiny and all the way up in this top corner. So it can be kind of hard to touch when you’re trying to concentrate on the road. And there’s another quirk of this car’s development where these little touch panels on the steering wheel. We don’t love them as much as we love real buttons, but I will say I’ve gotten used to them with the exception of one thing. So, there’s a um button on this side uh which controls the head-up display which this version of the Tavveris Scan doesn’t get. And it’s so close to the edge of the steering wheel that you press it sometimes and the car just reminds you that you didn’t pay enough to get the head-up display cuz it you touch it and it just says function not available. Let’s go have a look at the back seat now. So, in the backseat of the Taviscan, you really don’t want for space. There’s heaps of room here. That’s behind my own seating position. As you can see, I’ve got leagues of knee room, heaps of headroom, and these comfortable sort of sustainable neoprene trim things. They really do continue back here, keeping these back seats just as comfortable as the front ones. There’s also quite a few amenities back here, too. There’s nice pockets on the backs of the front seats. There’s adjustable air vents and an entire rear climate zone. That’s a signature Volkswagen group thing. And there’s two USBC ports down near the floor as well. This center position is actually quite useful for an adult, too, because the floor is completely flat through here. So, that’s a nice touch. And as well, bottle holders. So, you’ve got one in the door, but it’s got the same problem as it does in the front door in that it has to sort of sit on this kind of angle. And you’ve got a further two in the drop down here, but they don’t have adjustable ridges, so your bottle will move around. That’s a little bit of a shame. However, one kind of very fancy European touch you do get is a ski port for all of your snow sports needs. The boot measures in at 540 L and the space is almost a square. It’s proven to be plenty spacious in my time with the car and it hasn’t had any weird issues with the luggage shelf rattling or getting in the way, which I’ve had with some long-termers in the past. Sadly though, there’s no spare wheel under the floor with the Taviscan only being equipped with a repair kit. Now, like other Volkswagen Group EVs, there’s no frunk under here, just a whole bunch of hardware. And I’m a bit torn on frunks really because sometimes it’s easy to see them as a bit of a gimmick. But the more I drive EVs, the more I find I use them just because it’s somewhere to put your charging cables. If you put them under the floor of the boot, sometimes you’ve got luggage in there and then it’s hard to get them out when you need them. soft front can actually be quite useful in that circumstance. Regardless, all this hardware under here helps cool the battery, which is under the floor, but the drive is sent to the rear wheels via a motor on that rear axle. Power figures look good on paper, but despite that, I’d hardly say that this car actually is as fast as it looks, but we’ll talk more about that in the driving section. Before we do though, let’s talk charging. Because having this car for 3 months and a few thousand ks now I bet you wondering how much has it really cost me to run. As the name suggests, this is the longrange version of the Koopra Taviscan offering up to 534 km according to the usual quite accurate WLTP cycle, but the trip computer on my car has predicted up to 577 km on a full charge based on me primarily driving it around in city conditions, which is pretty impressive. Now, I do often wonder this, and this is about most EVs, not just the Taviscan, but if you are in the market for a midsizer, I don’t know why anyone would pick something more than the base rear wheel or two-w wheelel drive version. And that’s because not only are they the most affordable version, but they’re almost always by far the more efficient one, too. Koopra says the Endurance will do a little over 16 kW hours to 100ks, and our car has landed almost exactly on the money, which is excellent. And to give you an idea of how far electric cars have come, this Kra SUV is significantly larger and heavier than the Nissan Leaf with more motor power. And yet, it’s just as energy efficient. Charging is a pretty good story, too, with the Koopra topping up fast, under half an hour at the maximum speed, which sits at around 135 kW, of which I saw about a max of 120 in my travels, which again is not bad. Meanwhile, on an AC standard, it can charge at a useful 11 kW, making it worth plugging in at your local shops. In fact, the amount of range that the Taviscan has is one of the things I like the most about it because in the entire time I’ve had it, I’ve only had to charge it a handful of times. And it’s cost me around about a h 100red bucks. And keep in mind, I can’t charge at home. So that’s on the public network where charging is at its most expensive. Okay, so before we set off in the Taviscan, I should mention the startup procedure for this car because it is kind of cool. You just sort of hop in it and there’s a pressure sensor in the seat and the car is ready to go. You just put it in drive with the stalk mounted shifter and off you go. There is an override. There’s a a stop start button on the column of the steering wheel, which is good cuz you can manually turn the car off if you don’t want it on or you can manually turn it on if you don’t want it to turn off as soon as you get out of the car. And it’s one of those nice things with EVs that they don’t really need a stop start button, but it’s good that this car has both cuz it’s a bit unsettling in Teslas when you you don’t have one. Anyway, let’s set off. Okay, so driving the Tavveriscan has actually been one of my highlights because not only is it so easygoing in terms of just hopping in and being able to drive it straight away, but in terms of electric SUVs, there’s so little that this car has done wrong in my entire time of driving it. It’s just lots of little things that it actually gets quite right. And I think it’s one of those cars that if you’re hopping out of a combustion midsize SUV, it’s a really easy swap because it’s not doing anything outrageous or outlandish. It’s really quite familiar and easy to drive. But that’s not to say that there aren’t standout elements. And a few for me include the steering. So every Taviscan gets the signature progressive steering tune as standard. Now, this will be familiar from other Volkswagen group vehicles, but Coopra gets its own version of progressive steering that is really nicely balanced. Now, it’s not Porsche levels of crazy in terms of driver connection, but it’s a really nice balance of electrical assistance and also communicating enough feeling back through those front wheels to you so that you know what’s going on. It’s an excellent steering tune and really helps set the Taviscan apart from other electric midsize SUVs, many of which are overly electrically assisted or simply too firm. And almost the same story goes for the ride in this car. I think generally Volkswagen Group vehicles are pretty good when it comes to ride quality, but the Tavveriscan is excellent for a midsize electric SUV, too. And that’s just because with 77 kW hours of usable battery under the floor here, I mean, that’s a lot of weight being tossed around. And it’s not as though you can’t feel that. There is an element of this car tossing its weight side to side in the corners sometimes. But overall, I think it strikes such an excellent balance of immediate bump response and controlling that weight. It does have a slight spongginess to it, so it doesn’t feel too firm when you’ve got the suspension loaded up, but at the same time, it’s also got a firmness to it to try and control that weight. Again, it’s a really tough balance to strike for an electric midsize SUV. And I think the Taviscan does it better than most. The other thing to note about this car is while it might look pretty aggressive and have some pretty impressive specs for its motor, it doesn’t actually feel very quick. And that’s because there’s a very sort of tame response from that accelerator pedal. You’re not getting the break neck acceleration that you might get even on a base Tesla Model Y. You’re getting something that’s a little more tuned and deliberate in the way it delivers power. And that’s so that it’s a bit nicer to drive, I think. But that’s not to say that the Koopra doesn’t have things that help make it feel a little bit sportier than some other electric midsizes. And that’s again down to that suspension tuning and the steering. It holds onto the corners really nicely, too, because it’s got a a pretty high-end Continental. Uh even though it’s an eco tire, it’s still a pretty high-end grippy tire, and I’ve really appreciated that in the time that I’ve had the car. So, where does it rate in the pantheon of electric midsize SUVs that I’ve driven? Well, I think this is sharper and a bit keener to drive than the Volkswagen ID4 or ID5, although it is very similar. Um, I think it’s much more connected to the road than something like a Kia EV5 or Kia EV6. I think this is a bit more of a keen driver’s car than those two. although those two do offer a little bit more of that electric driving sort of nature to them. Um, but actually I think I still prefer the Mustang Mache, which I think is a bit of a controversial opinion, but I quite like that Mustang Macke. I think it had a lot of traits that I quite personally preferred to it. So, I think it’s worth uh driving at least a couple before you decide. It’s not like you’re short of any choices. But I will say even though you can save a bit of money by picking something like a Leap Motor C10, this car is pretty much better at everything. It handles better. It’s got a less annoying safety suite. It’s much more natural to steer. And I think those are all things that will have to continue to set European automakers apart from a lot of these new Chinese players. But wait, there’s more to talk about because of course you’re going to want to know how annoying the active safety suite is. This car does have a lot of active safety features. I’m not going to rattle through all of them. Now, make sure to check out our full review over at carsguide.com.auie for more details, but having now driven this car for uh the 3 months and several thousand KS, I really like how not annoying this car is. Its safety suite is so well tuned. Yes, it’s got lane keep assist, but it’s not constantly tugging on the steering wheel. It’s only when you really are going to drive out of your lane that it intervenes. And on top of that, there are other things that it doesn’t have and controversially didn’t get a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating for not having that I actually prefer it for not having because systems like driver monitoring and things like that, they’re just so annoying in a lot of cars that they’re actually quite distracting. But here in the Taviscan, it’s just refreshingly not invasive to drive when it comes to that active safety equipment. It is just so straightforward. Aside from the obvious benefit of the low running cost of an electric car, you also need to service this one less often with intervals set at 2 years or 30,000 KS. This costs 485 per visit, making it as cheap as Toyota. But the most affordable way to do this is to purchase all five services upfront, which covers a whole 10 years at just $2,190. The Taviscan is covered by a fairly average 5year and unlimited kilometer warranty for the car with 8 years and 160,000 ks for the high voltage battery. The compromises this car makes are quite obvious. It chooses style over practicality, and you really have to be on board with that style, too. But on top of that, it’s missing a few things that we like to see. things like V2L and physical controls for that multimedia, too. As a result, I do think it suits a couple more than it suits a family. But I do think that this car is a little bit of an overlooked gem still because not only does it look quite outlandish, but it’s great value and it’s really quite good to drive for an EV, too. What do you think? Would you pick one of these over a Tesla Model Y or a Volkswagen ID4 or a Mustang Mache? Tell us what you think in the comments below. And as always, make sure to check out my three long-term chapters over at carsguide.com.au, AU as well as all of our Kooper content. [Music]
Tom White takes the 2026 Cupra Tavascan Endurance for a proper long-term test on Aussie roads. This mid-size electric SUV is Cupra’s second EV, with this entry-level variant being rear-wheel drive only. Built on Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform, it shares DNA with the VW ID.5 and Skoda Enyaq but brings sharper styling and a sportier edge.
The Endurance trim packs a 210kW motor and 77kWh usable battery, with claimed range over 500km. Inside, it gets a bold 15-inch touchscreen, recycled materials and some distinct Cupra touches. But how does it handle everyday driving and local conditions?
This review covers real-world range, charging, comfort, tech, and value. The Tavascan competes with the Tesla Model Y, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6 and Polestar 2. Tom breaks down the pros and cons so you know what you’re really getting. Watch before you buy.
#Cupra #Tavascan #Review
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Timecodes:
00:00 Intro
00:46 Pricing and features
02:20 Design
03:41 Practicality
08:46 Under the bonnet
09:29 Efficiency
11:14 Driving
16:27 Safety
17:37 Ownership
18:07 Verdict
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Read Tom’s full review: https://bit.ly/4oN7dDl
Check out our Cupra Tavascan hub: https://bit.ly/4mMytQk
Find more SUVs: https://bit.ly/3Uzinxo
Visit our family guide: https://bit.ly/3GMJguJ
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