Cupra Raval test, day 1: how much space it has, how it drives in Cupra mode and how fast it charges
I picked up the new Cupra Raval for a three-day test. On day one I checked rear-seat and boot space (including with an inflatable mattress), the drive modes, DC fast charging from 46% to 90% at an iHunt station, Travel Assist in Iași traffic and automatic parking.
On my Mașina Timpului channel I've started a longer test of the new Cupra Raval, Cupra's roughly 4-metre electric city car. Moldo Trans Iași, the official Cupra and SEAT dealer, lent me the car for three days. The plan: on day one I use it around town and get it ready for the road; on day two I take it on a roughly 500 km loop alongside other EVs (a Dacia Spring, a Ford Puma, a Tesla and probably an Xpeng); day three brings more tests.
This is the day-one episode. As usual, I didn't focus on every option box but on what matters when you live with the car: space, consumption, charging and driver assistance.
Disclosure: the video is supported by iHunt Romania (affiliate link), and the car was provided for the test by Moldo Trans Iași. The video is in Romanian.
Space: fine in the back, a flexible boot
I'm 1.80 m tall, and legroom felt very decent for a car this size. The boot has an adjustable floor that can be lowered or removed entirely. Officially, Cupra quotes 441 litres of boot space, which is a lot for a 4.05 m car.
Because I like to mix business with pleasure, I also tried the T-Launch inflatable mattress, which I've previously tested in a Tesla and a Mercedes EQE. With the rear bench folded and the boot floor in its highest position so everything sits flat, the mattress fit perfectly. The pump runs off the car's power socket, so the car has to be switched on. My verdict: you can sleep reasonably well, but at 1.80 m my feet stick out a bit, and you need a pillow or a bag under your head. For a night of adventure, it works.
You can find the T-Launch inflatable mattress here: T-Launch car air mattress (affiliate link).
Drive modes and the Cupra button
The Raval has five drive profiles: Range, Comfort, Performance, Cupra and Individual, as the official brochure confirms. The steering wheel has two satellite buttons: one for profiles and one dedicated to Cupra mode. Something I really liked: if I'm in Range, the most economical profile, one press of the Cupra button takes me straight to Cupra, I overtake, and then I switch back to Range.
In Cupra mode the car takes off very hard, plays an artificial motor sound, and regenerative braking gets stronger. Launching from a standstill in Performance/Cupra, the front wheels even spun a little. There's no shortage of power: the big-battery versions have 211 hp (Endurance) or 226 hp (VZ), according to Cupra's technical data.
One small gripe: every time I start the car, it goes back to the Comfort profile. I'd prefer it to stay in Range, the profile I picked.
Automatic regeneration
In the normal profile, a green "A" appears on screen: automatic regeneration. When I lift off the accelerator with a car ahead, the Raval slows down on its own according to traffic, all the way to a stop, without cruise control. Cupra calls this ECO-Assist and says it chooses between coasting and energy recovery depending on what it detects ahead. Going downhill, in my case it didn't coast freely but recovered a little energy, enough to top up the battery slightly without braking much. There's also a B mode on the gear selector with much stronger regeneration.
Charging: over 90 kW at 67%
I asked for the car not to be charged beforehand so I could do a charging test. I plugged it into a 120 kW iHunt charger in the Tudor Vladimirescu area of Iași, starting at about 46%. The charging port is on the right-hand side of the car.
What I saw on the charger and in the car:
| Battery level | Charging power |
|---|---|
| ~46% (at the start) | 83 kW |
| 67% | 93 kW |
| 70% | 89 kW |
| 77% | 73 kW |
| 87% | 20 kW |
Values read off the charger and car screens during filming, in a single charging session. This isn't a lab test.
I stopped charging at 89–90%, where the car estimated 369 km of range. What surprised me: the car holds high power well past half charge. It charges very well up to 80% and only drops sharply after that. For comparison, Cupra quotes a maximum of 105 kW DC and 24 minutes for 10–80% for the Raval Endurance and VZ. The battery has 52 kWh usable.
An interface detail: the main screen doesn't show charging power, only how the range grows. The power figure is in the battery menu, under the optimisation section, where the car also shows its current fast-charging capability and whether the battery needs preconditioning. I added a shortcut to it on the screen.
The navigation tells you what you'll arrive with
Something every car should have: the navigation shows what battery percentage you'll arrive with, and the displayed range changes with the route. When I entered a longer destination with a planned charging stop in Vaslui, the estimated range dropped. My guess is that the car also accounts for preconditioning the battery before the charge. We'll see on day two's long drive whether the estimates are realistic, pessimistic or too optimistic.
Travel Assist in town: assistance, not self-driving
The Raval has Travel Assist 3.0 (part of the Drive pack, according to Cupra's brochure), which combines adaptive cruise control with lane keeping and traffic-jam assist. What I noticed in Iași traffic:
- it's very good in queues: it pulls away on its own at green lights, smoothly, without jerking, and stops behind the car ahead;
- it keeps the car centred in the lane, although at first it seemed to drift slightly right;
- after a while it asks for a hand on the wheel, and a light touch is enough;
- on a tighter bend, with 40 km/h set, it didn't steer enough and I had to take over;
- it doesn't turn at intersections.
My conclusion: it's a driver-assistance system, not self-driving. It's designed mainly for motorways and long trips, where it really does the job. If you want to understand how it differs from what Tesla does, I've written about where FSD Supervised stands in Europe and Romania.
Automatic parking: first time, twice
I tried Park Assist without reading anything beforehand. The car found the free space on its own, and after I pressed "start" it parked perfectly on the first attempt, between a Honda and an Audi. I repeated it with another space and it nailed it first time again. The only condition is enough room: it wouldn't accept a space that was too tight. The car also has cameras all around, including a 360-degree top view.
How much it costs
In the video I say the starting price is around €29,000. That's right, with a caveat: according to importer Porsche Romania, quoted by Economica.net in June, the range starts at €25,985 (Raval) and €29,167 (Raval Plus). Those are the small-battery versions, with 37 kWh. The versions with 52 kWh usable start at €35,252 (Endurance) and €37,038 (VZ). Judging by its charging power of over 90 kW, the test car is one of the big-battery versions. The base version charges at a maximum of 50 kW. If you want to see or test it, the car is at Moldo Trans in Iași.
What's next
On day two I head out with the Raval charged to 90% on a roughly 500 km loop with several other EVs, and I track long-distance consumption. Meanwhile, if you want to see how the Raval copes in the mountains, the TeslaHolic channel drove 434 km on a single charge. And if you're wondering why the displayed range doesn't match the brochure, read our guide to WLTP, CLTC and EPA.
Tell me in the video comments what you'd like me to check on the Raval in the next episodes.
