Pros: Enormous fun to drive, high-quality cabin, roomy, practical, affordable
Cons: Sporty VZ model will be the most expensive
Cupra Raval Design
Cupra has been steadily moving away from its origins as a sportier type of SEAT, and with the Raval it genuinely seems to break away entirely. The Raval is quite compact — not quite 4.1 metres long — and more low-slung than you might expect. For all the pre-launch publicity that the Raval was going to be an ‘urban crossover’ it’s much closer to being a proper hatchback, and all the better for it.
Up front, there’s a beaky nose which looks sleek and purposeful, but the big headlights, with their triangular LED segments, are more of an acquired taste. The rear of the Raval is much more successful, with a neat integration of the brake lights (which also get a variation on the triangular light segment look) and a wide LED light bar stretching across the back. The flush-fit pop-out door handles are a nice touch too.
Alloy wheels range from 17 inches as standard, up to 19 inches for the sporty VZ model, and they look great. You no longer have to have the copper-coloured inserts that Cupra has made its calling card, but they do look good.
Cupra Raval Interior
The Raval’s cabin is a touch busy — there are a lot of different surfaces, including a long sweep of silvery-grey plastic that runs across the dashboard and has what seems to be fish scales embossed into the surface. The colour schemes can also look a bit tracksuit-like, but the better news is that the Raval’s cabin feels seriously well built, with very few — if any, really — cheap surfaces and a sense of proper build integrity.
The ten-inch driver’s instrument panel and the 12.9-inch infotainment screen are lifted from the recently revised Cupra Born hatchback, and they work well, with clear graphics and, thanks to Google Android-based software, a clear menu structure and fast responses.
The chunky steering wheel, which in our test car had a faux-carbon-fibre centre section, feels great to hold, and this is the part of the Cupra’s cabin that does have physical buttons, which makes life much easier. The way the driving mode buttons hang off the steering wheel spokes, in the manner of a Porsche, is also a nice touch.
Our VZ test car came with high-backed ‘Cupbucket’ front seats, which are a snug fit if you’re on the large side, but exceptionally comfortable once you’re in there, and very supportive too. The material used for the seats is a running-shoe-style technical weave, 3D-printed, which is made from recycled plastics.
Space in the back is surprisingly good, with enough legroom and headroom to allow four adults to get comfortable in the Raval, and the 441-litre boot (there’s no ‘frunk’ in the nose) is hugely practical and swallows an astonishing amount of luggage. There are more useful storage areas in the cabin, with handy door bins, an open space under the centre console, big cupholders and a narrow-but-deep space under the front-seat armrest.
Cupra Raval Performance & Drive
The Raval is fully electric, with no prospect of a hybrid nor plug-in-hybrid version. With the entry-level 37kWh lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery you can choose between a 116hp or 135hp motor, driving the front wheels. This gives a range of up to 320km, but it only charges at 50kW or 88kW from a public charger.
Likely more popular will be the 210hp ‘Endurance’ model that comes with a 52kWh nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery, with a range of up to 448km. That can charge at up to 105kW on a DC charger and can manage a 10-80 per cent charge in a claimed 24 minutes.
The star of the show, though, is the VZ. VZ is Cupra’s equivalent of GTI, and indeed this Raval VZ shares most of its chassis (the suspension sits 15mm lower to the ground than standard and includes adaptive dampers) and its 226hp electric motor with the upcoming VW ID. Polo GTI. The Raval has a little advantage compared to the VW though, in that its suspension has a 10mm wider track — the width between the wheels — giving it more of a planted stance on the road.
Whatever about the minutiae of suspension layouts, what Cupra has achieved with the Raval VZ is genuinely brilliant — this is an electric car that provides real, true driving fun in the manner of a classic hot hatch. The 226hp motor isn’t super-powerful — it’ll manage 0-100km/h in 6.8 seconds — but that’s not the point. The point is the way the steering eagerly points the nose into a corner and constantly chats to you through your hands and, er, your backside as to what’s happening under the tyres. The brakes are also fantastic. We’ve become unhappily used to electric cars having soggy, lifeless brakes but the Raval’s pedal feels firm, responds beautifully and gives you enormous confidence when tackling a challenging road.
The adaptive suspension makes a significant contribution to this. Because the dampers can become stiffer or softer at the touch of one of the steering wheel buttons, you can enjoy pin-sharp handling on a windy road and then slip back into Comfort mode for ambling gently around town. We’ll have to wait and see if the standard Raval, without the clever suspension, is as good at mixing and matching such skills.
Obviously, there’s a penalty to pay and that’s in range. If you’re driving a Raval VZ enthusiastically, don’t expect to see much more than 350km on one charge.
Cupra Raval Pricing
Irish prices for the Raval are not yet set and won’t be until much closer to the car’s on-sale date of early September. However, we do know that the Raval will be affordable, with a starting price for the 37kWh, 116hp version (badged ‘Urban’) of less than €25,000. If you want a VZ, then that’s going to be more like €36,000 but even that doesn’t seem so expensive given the performance and handling talent on offer.
Carzone Verdict
Cupra’s laid down a real landmark with the Raval. While we’ve had fun electric cars in the past — the Alpine A290 for example — they’ve been limited by their range. The Raval VZ manages to mix just about enough range with a stunningly talented chassis that’s truly entertaining for a keen driver, while also being perfectly practical and useable for everyday family life.