Why I'm Living With A Cupra Tavascan For A Few Months

As you may have heard, electric cars are Quite The Thing™ at the moment. And for future moments, so it seems. Yet, despite having driven dozens of the things in recent years, I’ve never owned an electric car, and never had one on my drive for more than a week. So while I know what they’re like to drive, I’m fairly clueless about what they’re like to actually live with.

Well, that changes right now. I’m going to seize the electricity with both hands and hope I don’t get electrocuted. Say hello to my new family car for the next few months – a top-of-the-line Cupra Tavascan VZ2.

The lessons to be learned

My aim is that this Spanish slice of proton-powered beef (yeah, I have no idea how electricity works) is going to replace my own 2018 Seat Leon ST for a bit, catering for school runs, family haulage and occasional longer journeys too. I don’t have a proper home charger – although one’s booked in for installation soon – and I’ve never used a public fast charger, so the whole refilling-the-battery thing will be something of an adventure.

However, it’s an adventure that we’re all going to have to undertake sooner or later. I’ve had more than 20 years of just popping into a petrol station whenever I need to top up the tank, but this will require a reset. In theory, I can just plug the car in at home when I’m not using it (with a three-pin plug until my proper charger is installed), which should mean that on most days I come out to drive it and it’s full to the brim. (Wait, does a battery have a brim?).

What worries me more is having to plan out stops on longer journeys. Can I find a fast charger near where I’m going? Will it work? How long will I have to wait? All these questions and more will be answered over the next few months. Hopefully.

The new ride

Anyway, the car itself is, hopefully, one of the more exciting electric family cars on sale. The Tavascan is the biggest car that Cupra makes, and with 335bhp driving all four wheels, it’s one of the most powerful, too. It is something of a chonker, however, weighing in at 2297kg, but even so, it can power from 0-62mph in 5.5 seconds, which isn’t too shabby for a family wagon. The 77kWh battery promises north of 300 miles when fully charged, but I’ve been around long enough to know that’s probably optimistic.

Resplendent in Tavascan Blue paint, it would cost you £60,835 if you were to run down to a Cupra dealer and buy one. Everything is standard, with no options. But it’s far from bare, with monster alloys, heated and cooled front seats, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a wireless phone charger and a memory electric driver’s seat, which is handy for when my wife and I swap driving duties.

There’s loads of space behind the front bucket seats, Isofix points for The Child’s booster seat, and a decent-size boot at 540 litres, the lid of which opens electrically. No frunk though. Booo.

Tech-heavy

As well as the tech of the powertrain, the Cupra’s got some fancy features, too. One is the Cupra Connect app, which promises all sorts of external control over the car’s charging, air-con and so on without you having to get in it. So far, however, I haven’t been able to get it to connect. Deep sigh.

There’s also some very fancy ambient lighting, which lets you tune hidden LEDs on the dash and door cards to whatever colour you fancy, and matrix LED headlights that switch between numerous individual lights to keep high-beam on at night while at the same time tracking oncoming cars and putting them in shadow to stop them getting dazzled. Said lights do a merry little dance when you unlock the car, which is rather theatrical and goes nicely with the illuminated Cupra badge on the nose.

On the move, there are various driving modes to play with, prioritising range, traction or, in balls-out Cupra mode, maximum powerrrrrrr. On first impressions, it’s pretty bloomin’ rapid – I don’t anticipate too many issues with quick overtakes.

Stay tuned for more updates on the electric adventure, how I get on with the Tavascan and how I find my way through the world of public charging. Committed petrolheads may sneer at the idea of electric driving fun, but Cupra’s ingredients at least suggest it could make for an entertaining recipe while still being the practical family car I need at this stage of my life.