The Cupra Terramar Wants To Make Family Crossovers Less Boring

Mid-size family crossovers are about as world-dominatingly popular as the songs of Taylor Swift right now. Also, like the songs of Taylor Swift, they’re almost all very competent but overwhelmingly middle of the road and unremarkable (sorry not sorry). The Cupra Terramar wants to change that.

For a start, it looks a bit like a shark. That’s down to Cupra’s new design language, which we’ve also seen on the updated Leon and Formentor. It’s also named after a racetrack, and not just any racetrack: the absolutely terrifying (albeit long-closed) high-banked Sitges-Terramar oval near Barcelona. You might have seen it pop up on The Grand Tour a few years back.

A good start, then, but it’s underneath where Cupra has tried to make the Terramar stand out from the crowd a bit more. It’s based on VW’s MQB Evo platform, which underpins so many cars you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s the only automotive platform in existence.

Compared to other crossovers on the platform, though, like the VW Tiguan and Skoda Kodiaq, the Terramar sits 10mm lower on specifically-tuned suspension, which features two-valve dampers. It’s also got more camber and a new control arm at the front which we’re promised offers greater grip and more direct steering. The most powerful versions also get optional beefy 375mm Akebono brakes, and can have their ESP programmes fully disconnected.

Speaking of those most powerful versions, you’ll need the VZ trim (short for ‘veloz’, Spanish for fast) if you want either. That gives you a choice of two powertrains: a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder with 262bhp, or a 268bhp plug-in hybrid consisting of a 1.5-litre turbo four and an electric motor. Both drive all four wheels through seven-speed DSG gearboxes.

Below them sit versions of the same setups with less power (201bhp in both cases), as well as a 1.5-litre, front-wheel drive 148bhp petrol mild hybrid. Diesels? Not here.

Performance figures are still under wraps for now, but the VZ versions should be handily quick, and we wouldn’t put it past Cupra to slide some faster-still versions into the range later on. Deliveries start early next year.