2026 Cupra Raval review: Prototype drive

Spanish brand Cupra is getting a signal honour when it comes to a new family of small, affordable electric vehicles (EVs) from the Volkswagen Group.

Rather than playing follow-my-leader to parent firm Volkswagen itself, Cupra will lead the development of the ‘MEB+’ platform which will be used for a quartet of impending models, all hailing from this Iberian outfit, as well as Volkswagen and Skoda.

And its take on the format, the Cupra Raval, will be first to the market. Not only that, but the Raval will be sold in Europe at a highly competitive price – making it a tempting EV for first-time buyers to the zero-emission fold.

Whether it can come to Australia for such good value remains to be seen, although the larger Born EV has been heavily discounted here in recent months; so maybe the appetite is there for a cheaper, more compact runaround with no combustion engine fitted.

We headed over to Cupra’s headquarters at Martorell, just outside Barcelona, to have a go in a heavily disguised Raval prototype, in order to see just how good it is.

How much does the Cupra Raval cost?

The slated entry figure for a Raval in Europe is €26,000. That, on a direct exchange, is about $46,000 – which is what discounted Borns were going for around nine months prior to this drive.

Ascertaining how much the Raval might cost here, if and when it lands, is pure guesswork at this stage.

Hopefully, something sub-$50,000 before on-roads would not be out of the question, although of the three grades of Raval we know of – called Dynamic, Dynamic Plus and VZ Extreme – it’s not very likely that the flagship model of the Cupra could dip below that barrier.

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What is the Cupra Raval like on the inside?

We’re not entirely sure. An odd statement to begin with, you’d think, given that we’ve driven the Raval prototype.

But the Spanish manufacturer is presently being coy with the aesthetics of the Raval, choosing to preserve its final exterior appearance and interior design until a global reveal sometime in 2026.

Thus, the cabin of the Raval prototype we drove was swaddled in obfuscating cloth. So we can’t tell you an awful amount about it – but there are a few things we have gleaned.

First of all, despite the fact the Raval is only just a few millimetres longer than four metres from tip to tail, fully 2.6 metres of that space is located between the axles. This, says the manufacturer, leads to a surfeit of rear-passenger room and a large (for this class of car) boot too.

Second, the top-dog VZ Extreme – which is the version we drove in Spain – comes with electrically adjustable Cup bucket seats that are beautifully supportive, and which offer a superb driving position.

Lesser variants retain sports seats, but these will be flatter, less sculpted examples than the Cups, and they will further be clothed in Dinamica microfibre.

Obviously, to drive a car, you need to be able to see the steering wheel and the crucial gauges behind. Furthermore, on a modern touchscreen-equipped vehicle such as this, much of the drive modes and chassis software have to be accessed on the central screen.

So we got glimpses of both the fully digital instrument cluster in the Cupra Raval, as well as its main infotainment interface. Both looked excellent with crisp graphics, swift response rates, and a marked step up from Cupra’s existing hardware.

Size-wise, we’d guess at a 10.25-inch cluster and something like a 12-inch touchscreen on the dash, but don’t hold us to that.

As to the steering wheel, it’s magnificent. It’s a good size, it feels lovely to hold, and it’s festooned with proper physical buttons, rather than the less-than-ideal haptic pads the Volkswagen Group has regrettably foisted upon some of its products in recent years.

Anyway, from what little we could see and operate, even at this early stage there are some very encouraging signs regarding the Cupra Raval’s interior.

What’s under the bonnet?

Again, minimal data at this point, but the Dynamic and Dynamic Plus versions of the Cupra Raval will use a front-mounted 155kW electric motor. No torque nor performance figures have been released for these models at this stage.

The VZ Extreme, however, ramps things up with a 166kW motor, which we do know produces a healthy 290Nm of torque, too. Again, there’s no 0-100km/h time yet, but the top speed of this car is said to be 175km/h – most likely limited to preserve the battery.

We don’t have any facts and figures about the electrical system that’s used for the Cupra Raval family, although it’s reasonable to assume a 400-volt architecture.

We also reckon there will be one battery size, somewhere in the 50-60kWh zone. This is because the 166kW VZ Extreme is said to go around 400km on a single charge, while the 155kW Raval increases that figure to 450km.

As a yardstick, one of the Cupra’s key competitors, Alpine’s A290 GTS, has a 52kWh battery and a 160kW motor, which results in a 364km quoted range.

How does the Cupra Raval drive?

Ah, here we get to the crux of the matter. Cupra is the sporty arm of the Volkswagen Group and has been for a while now. Therefore, the Raval should – in the normal order of things – be a bit more involving to drive than the Volkswagen and Skoda cars that will trail along in its wake.

So when Cupra says the Raval “sits 15mm lower than the platform and has 10mm-wider tracks too”, it might seem a bit daft at first glance – but what the company is trying to convey is that its car will be lower to the ground and broader of stance than the regular, run-of-the-mill Volkswagen and Skoda efforts.

That won’t necessarily be true of the hot VW ID. Polo GTI, which we already know is in the pipeline – we’d guess that will have the same set-up as the VZ Extreme we’re driving here.

Cupra has put a lot of its best efforts into the Raval VZ Extreme to make it a pleasure to steer.

This includes 15-mode Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) damping with a five-per-cent firmer tune than those used in the Dynamic and Dynamic Plus models, an electronic system mimicking a limited-slip differential on the front axle, variable-ratio steering, and a relaxed stability control system (both of which have a ‘sports tune’).

There are also revised steering knuckles and a braking setup that sees proper discs used on the rear axle of a Volkswagen Group EV for the first time, as well as something called the ‘one-box’ control unit to make the brakes feel more natural.

The Raval also has a sound generator that, with the car in its more focused Performance and Cupra modes, overlays the acceleration with a synthesised noise to better involve the driver in the act of going fast.

All noble efforts that might come to naught in the wrong engineering hands, but the wonderful news is we’re here to tell you Cupra has worked wonders. The Raval is one of the most engaging little EVs we’ve had the pleasure of driving yet.

Its accomplished dynamic showing starts with excellent suspension that blends off a firm but forgiving ride quality – the VZ runs on 19-inch alloys with wide 235-section tyres – with impeccable (for this class of car) body and wheel control.

So while the Raval isn’t what you’d call ‘supple’ around town, it’s nevertheless capable of dealing with crumbling tarmac with a lot more grace and geniality than some of its supposedly sporty rivals.

Yet when the corners come, the body stays flat and level, with minimal roll, pitch and dive to report.

What makes it such a joy to drive, though, is the way the major controls are calibrated to allow the driver to make the most of the sharp underpinnings.

The steering, for instance, has real heft and tactility to it, with no slop in its rate of responses. Coupled to the super-eager front-end of the Raval, it makes the car feel agile and lightweight – two most welcome attributes in an EV.

However, it’s the electronic ‘diff’ which is the real jewel here. Get on the power nice and early in a tighter bend, and the Cupra Raval VZ doesn’t wash wide with fun-sapping understeer – instead, it takes a bigger bite out of the curve’s radius and jinks in towards the inside of the road.

It’s thoroughly capable and enjoyable making it corner like this, and such driver-focused antics also demonstrate that the Cupra doesn’t suffer from any notable problems with grip or traction; at least, certainly not in the dry conditions of Spain, which should bode well for our own climate.

As to the speed, this is not a car that’s going to try and tear your face off under full acceleration. But we actually like it all the more for that.

It’s fast and fluid in attaining 100km/h, so much so that we’d say a sub-seven-second sprint will be a highly credible target once the official figures are released, yet the accelerator feels beautifully progressive – eliciting pleasing acceleration, rather than attempting any neck-snapping shenanigans.

Even the synthetic noise is good. It’s quieter in the Performance setting than it is in ‘Cupra’, but in both modes, it fades away on a trailing ‘throttle’ so that the car isn’t constantly firing a fake tune into your ears.

It also makes no attempt to mimic internal combustion, so while we accept it won’t be to all tastes, we happened to quite like the Raval’s EV voice.

Yet we reserve our highest praise for the brakes. These are the best we’ve encountered on any EV yet, certainly at a reasonably inexpensive level of the market.

The rear discs and the one-box combine to make for the most natural, organic-feeling brake pedal you could wish for, so when you combine everything together, the Cupra Raval VZ feels like a hot hatch – in a way neither the most-powerful version of the Born or its VW analogue, the ID.3 GTX, could ever quite match, even with their rear-wheel drive nature.

Yet the Raval feels like it will function perfectly well as a day-to-day runabout, as happy soaking up the imperfections of city streets as it is when its driver is hurling it along a challenging road.

All in all, even in prototype form, the Cupra is one seriously convincing compact EV from a kinematic perspective, and we hope the production version maintains this level of brilliance once it arrives.

What do you get?

Whether this will hold true for Australian-market cars or not, at the international event Cupra said that the Raval VZ Extreme would be fitted with the following gear.

2026 Cupra Raval equipment highlights:

• 19-inch ‘sulfur-detail’ alloys
• Twin digital screens
• Manganese matt exterior details
• Cup bucket seats
• Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS)
• Intelligent parking functions
• Matrix LED exterior illumination
• Electronic limited-slip differential
• Sennheiser 12-speaker premium sound system

Is the Cupra Raval safe?

At this early juncture, the Cupra Raval hasn’t been subjected to either a Euro NCAP or ANCAP test procedure.

All the company would say is that it is fitted with a healthy array of ADAS kit, so there’s a chance it will score highly when it is eventually tested.

How much does the Cupra Raval cost to run?

Aside from the fact that it’s obviously an EV and therefore comes with all the benefits and tax breaks associated with that, we don’t yet know the charging speeds nor electrical efficiency of the Cupra Raval lineup.

That will be key to its success, along with its eventual price, but at least Cupra’s impressive unlimited-distance warranty and roadside assistance package ought to do their bit to help tempt in buyers; both of these guarantees are in effect for five years from first registration.

CarExpert’s Take on the Cupra Raval

Although this has been just a brief taste test in a heavily disguised pre-production version of the car, with very little hard data to accompany this sample, the early signs for the Cupra Raval are hugely promising.

Finally, this is a Volkswagen Group EV which drives with a significant degree of verve, with its e-diff-equipped front-end, DCC suspension and mega brakes all serving up a genuinely exciting experience behind the wheel.

It also seems well able to do the humdrum day-to-day stuff with a suitable degree of polish, so provided the pricing is right, the interior turns out to be as impressive as we hope, and the styling isn’t too contentious, then Cupra ought to be onto a real winner here with its fabulous little Raval.

It’s also mighty good news for Volkswagen and Skoda, which are both going to benefit from Cupra’s groundwork laid down with this compact EV platform.

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