Long-term test: Cupra Terramar V2

Verdict

The Cupra Terramar has done all that we have asked of it, and with a Spanish flourish. Comfortable and stylish within, it’s also fun to drive, with all the tech and safety equipment you would expect. Our MPG could have been higher, but my circumstances would probably have been better suited to the Terramar V2 1.5 e-Hybrid, adding 73 miles of plug-in electric range for just another £1,075 on the list price.

• Mileage: 4,803 miles
• Efficiency: 32.3mpg

Last week, Phil McNamara reported on the Cupra success story, noting a rapid rise in sales since its 2018 launch, with 41,200 vehicles sold in the UK last year alone. I read with interest quotes from Cupra Boss Markus Haupt, who partly attributed the success to “eye-catching designs and a brand ecosystem with music, with sports, with culture.”

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Certainly, from my South London base, Cupra’s branding is spot on. While the red and blue of local football shirts may belong to Crystal Palace rather than Barcelona, I still see Cupras everywhere. Fellow Cupra drivers appear youthful, often wearing sportswear, sometimes with children, but almost always with a preference for monochromatic colours. The Cupras I see are invariably grey, black, or very occasionally white. They are easy to spot, because the distinctive triangular headlight pattern is as unique as any I’ve encountered.

But is it all style over function? The sales figures suggest not, and six months in our Timanfaya Grey Terramar in V2 specification has provided a definitive answer. Putting it simply, there is very little to dislike about the Terramar. It does everything I would have hoped and, in many cases, with a flourish. On the practical side, it is great at transporting people and luggage. It’s roomy, easy to get into and offers excellent head space. The 540-litre boot has been enough for my family, and the underfloor storage has been useful for the grandkids’ wellies and shopping bags, while the door bins are vast.

The ‘Moon Light’ bucket seats, while comfortable, can impede driver visibility of small children in the back and certainly reduce my ability to reach them. The fixed hard plastic shape can also reduce leg space for toddlers in child seats. However, the materials are robust, and any foot marks are easy to wash off. The same goes for the Dinamica seat fabric with its lovely copper stitching: it looks great and cleans easily.

Tech-wise, I’ve warmed to the infotainment system. V2 spec provides a 10.25-inch digital cockpit, and settings are easy to access and adjust. Displays can be altered through a variety of information, showing maps, audio and cruise control distance features. I used that readout on a recent longer motorway trip, and it was all very simple and intuitive.

Navigation displays are very clear, and the system saves recent journeys for one-touch reselection. The routes tend to be simplistic, favouring A-roads and motorways rather than some of the more enjoyable back routes I’ve found on other systems. However, the head-up display is first class, providing a basic readout of speed, prevailing limit and directional information, letting me keep my eyes on the road, not on screens.

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I also didn’t mind the touchscreen sliders for temperature settings. The Terramar has been enjoyable over winter, with both the heated seats and steering wheel called into action on most journeys. 

However, it should be noted that all the recent rain has caused some of the Driver Assist safety systems to briefly disable. I would guess this is a side effect of mud or debris on the windscreen sensor, but it quickly clears. The autonomous braking has occasionally intervened a little too soon, causing some confusion when navigating the larger pedestrian islands common in urban towns. However, it has also activated in heavy traffic and avoided braking sharply, which was welcome.

I’ve found the Terramar enjoyable to drive. I very rarely used the Cupra button to switch the car directly into Sport mode, but the power is there if needed. I’ve also done a lot of evening driving on narrow, dark country roads, which has been fun; the Cupra is agile. The firm ride definitely exposes the poor quality of the road surfaces, but it feels grounded, and safe on wet, shoddy roads.

Longer motorway journeys are where the Terramar feels most at home, and MPG figures improve. Unfortunately, the majority of my family’s mileage has been over very short distances in time-sapping traffic. Our average is 32.3 mpg, meaning the £70-odd fuel fill-ups of our 60-litre tank are probably more regular than I would have liked.

Still, I was smitten once I’d seen the copper and silver interior air vent detailing when I got the keys back in August. And now I know there is so much more to the Terramar than just a cool badge and funky headlights.

Cupra Terramar V2: second fleetwatch

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Playing with the settings in Cupra’s family SUV ends with the neighbours experiencing a constant lightshow

The longer I spend with a car the deeper I can delve into its settings. I recently saw a swipe function enabling a flashing ‘welcome’ light display on approaching the car, sensed through having the key in my pocket (which it always is). It worked great for a day or so before neighbours alerted us to the Cupra’s constant lightshow. It turned out that when parked outside our house, the car was near enough for me to trigger the lights while wandering about. Another settings adjustment means they now only happen when I unlock the door.

Cupra Terramar V2: first fleetwatch 

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Spanish SUV’s heated seats, steering wheel and climate control make light work of banishing the winter chill

December morning starts can be cold, but our Cupra Terramar has various ways to warm passengers. Both front bucket seats in our V2 edition are independently heated and quickly warm the Dinamica fabric by pressing an icon on the main infotainment screen. 

The climate display is also on the 10.25-inch digital cockpit and accessed via a central CLIMA-labelled digital button. There are one-touch icons for windscreen heating, forward or footwell airflow, and red arrows indicate which are active. Individual temperature settings are available for the driver and passenger by either tapping or sliding a finger along the blue and red temperature indicators, which glow to indicate the changes. 

Rear passengers can do the same from the display housed in the back of the central console. My favourite feature is the heated steering wheel, which is the easiest to turn on using an old-school button on the wheel itself. As with the seats, I can choose from three temperature settings, but the lowest is perfect for me.

Cupra Terramar V2: second report

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Petrol SUV delivers great practicality with a dose of Latin flair

• Mileage: 2,350 miles
• Efficiency: 31.9mpg

Our Cupra Terramar could be described as the lively sibling in a line-up of Volkswagen Group five-seat SUVs. Youthful, aggressive lines with stylish exterior light assemblies present funky yet flashy signatures upon locking, helping it stand out in the local supermarket car park. But, is it a case of style over substance when it comes to ticking the boxes of a working family SUV?

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So far, I’ve found the Terramar extremely practical. I’ve been lucky enough to have two recent holidays that required airport runs, and comfortably accommodated four adults along with multiple cases, rucksacks and coats. A fifth person and luggage would have been achievable, but with some creative packing.

The 540-litre boot has a removable floor that can be set on two levels. Our car has no spare wheel, so by dropping the floor, I can stand luggage up without removing the parcel shelf or sliding the seat forward. For everyday use I raise the base a notch and use that under-floor space for bags, picnic blankets, wellies and spare waterproofs – the kind of essentials an outward-bound family likes to keep handy, but without cluttering up the boot.

Having driven a number of electric long-term test cars in succession, it’s noticeable how much more leg and headroom passengers get in the petrol-powered Terramar, presumably due to the raised roofline and lack of under-floor batteries. Legroom is especially good for both my grown-up children, with no lifting of knees. Rear air vents and USB-C sockets add further passenger convenience, and the back seat splits 40:20:40 for greater versatility, although I usually have two Isofix child seats in the back for my grandchildren, which would hinder this.

On the second of our airport runs, we were accompanied by friends rather than family, so I asked for their opinion on the car as well. They were impressed with the level of comfort inside the Cupra, but also by its interior styling and neat digital displays – although it did take a little time for me to get used to the infotainment set-up.

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It has a mixture of touch-sensitive buttons for the screen and steering wheel, plus sliders for the climate control. While I can’t fault the displays – both are clear and give simple navigation instructions, with the head-up display meaning you needn’t look away from the road –  the navigation routes tend to stick to main roads and not adapt to shortcuts or detours around known local traffic pinch points, as you might find using Google Maps or Waze via Android Auto or CarPlay.

Otherwise, sharp, responsive steering on twisty roads makes the Terramar fun to drive. It has a good turn of speed once you reach an open road and hit the Cupra button to engage Sport mode, but it feels a bit heavy at times, even when not fully loaded with passengers.

This means the fuel economy isn’t great. The consumption can be displayed per journey and in my case fluctuates between shorter urban runs, often struggling to break 20mpg, and a few longer A-road and motorway stints that have seen 43.2 mpg. The average at present is around 32mpg.

Cupra Terramar V2: first report

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Autumn is here and the (k)nights are getting darker – fire up the Batmobile!

• Mileage: 1,570 miles
• Efficiency: 34.1mpg

New Car Day always causes great excitement in the Wilson household. Everyone is keen to take a tour, fiddle with the infotainment and offer an opinion. 

These days, my grandchildren, Zack (five) and Hope (three), like to get involved, too. The dynamic duo immediately christened our Cupra ‘The Batmobile’. Okay, there are more radically styled cars about than our Timanfaya Grey Terramar; but as the dark nights return, they’ve been captivated by the distinctive Cupra logo in its massive bat-like puddle lights on either side of the car. Once inside, the deep red wraparound interior lighting has spiked their imagination, and I’m with them.

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The exterior is distinctive and more sporting than its Volkswagen Tiguan or Skoda Kodiaq siblings. Swooping lines and the aggressive front grille make a statement, suggesting the promise of performance. The rear lighting strip, meanwhile, mirrors the lightbar on the dash. 

Triangular styling (presumably inspired by the Cupra logo) appears throughout the car, in the lamp lenses, as interchangeable darts of colour on the door panels, and across the 19-inch ‘Spectrum’ machined alloy wheels that come with our V2 specification. 

Inside, it gets comfortable bucket seats in ‘Dinamica’ microfibre finish. They have copper stitching to match the details on the dash and steering wheel, which looks especially good on the air vents. There’s also ripple-effect satin silver across the dash and centre console. Stylish, upmarket and Batsuit-esque…

Our V2 Terramar gets a large 10.25-inch infotainment screen and a configurable dashboard, giving the option to have the navigation map (or driver assist status) within the dials. It’s early days, but the touchscreen is taking a little getting used to. There are controllable sliders for temperature settings and volume controls, but thankfully physical buttons on the steering wheel to help with some functions. I’ve found the head-up display useful, showing clear information on speed limits and directions. The navigation seems less intuitive than on the Volvo EC40 I ran previously, but it always takes a few weeks to get my head around a new system.

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This 2.0 TSI is the first non-electric car that I’ve run in a couple of years. All versions of the Terramar feature a twin-clutch auto gearbox, with the petrol models having seven speeds. The car feels quite heavy, and I’m using it with the start-stop engaged, but I’m surprised by its hesitancy in delivering power. It’s not really a criticism – I suppose I’m just used to the instant torque and rapid acceleration of EVs. 

The return of the sound of an engine is welcome, along with some extra grunt on motorways at speed, but the first £72 fill-up proved something of a jolt. I’ve done few long-distance trips of note, but one worth mentioning was a recent airport run. The Terramar is spacious, and we fitted four adults, each with cases, with little effort, thanks to its vast boot. The smooth motorway run was a great start to our holiday and a promising beginning to life with the Cupra.

*Insurance quote from AA (0800 107 0680) for a 42-year-old in Banbury, Oxon, with three points.

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