SEAT Tarraco review - Practicality, comfort and boot space

If you regularly carry seven onboard, then you may find the Tarraco a bit of a squeeze. It's far more suited for use as a five-seater, with the third row of seats designed for occasional use by children.

There are plenty of useful storage options, however, including door bins wide enough to house a large bottle of water, a storage bin beneath the centre armrest and two large cup holders.

Size

The Tarraco is 4,735mm long, 1,839mm wide and 1,674mm tall (including the roof bars), making it similar in size to the closely related Skoda Kodiaq. 

Leg room, head room & passenger space

When judged as a five-seat SUV, the SEAT Tarraco is easy to recommend. There’s plenty of room in the first and second rows of seats, with enough adjustment in the driver’s seat to create a comfortable driving position.

The driver and front seat passenger will find a generous amount of shoulder room, while there’s enough space in the second for three adults. The amount of headroom is excellent throughout the cabin, while three sets of Isofix mounts across the rear seats will be useful for families. 

It’s only when you climb into the third row of seats that things start to get a little cramped. Young children and early teens will have little cause for complaint, but adults will find it rather uncomfortable. It’s also worth noting that there are no Isofix mountings in the third row.

The second row of seats split 40/20/40, which means you can fold the middle seat down when carrying long items, but still make use of the outermost seats.

Boot

While the Tarraco and Kodiaq are incredibly similar, it’s the Skoda that boasts the larger boot. In the SEAT, you get 700 litres with the third row of seats folded down, but the Skoda offers an additional 20 litres of luggage capacity. 

It’s a similar story when you fold down the second row of seats, with the Tarraco liberating 2,005 litres of space and the Kodiaq offering a cavernous 2,065 litres. It’s not that the Tarraco is small; it’s just that Skoda does flexibility and practicality better than most brands.

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You’ll also find the likes of umbrellas in the doors, an ice scraper behind the fuel filler cap and door protectors in the Skoda, but not in the SEAT. Small details, perhaps, but they soon add up when you start looking at an SUV as a long-term proposition. 

The Tarraco’s third row of seats fold down to create a totally flat floor, although the space is flanked by two deep wells, which is far from ideal.

Towing

All versions of the Tarraco have a maximum unbraked towing capacity of 750kg, but the diesels are the star cars if you intend to tow a caravan or a boat. When mated to the seven-speed DSG automatic gearbox, the 2.0-litre diesel has a maximum braked capacity of  2,200kg.