Cupra Terramar: Likeable drive with copper-bottomed Catalan class

It’s really quite surprising what some copper highlights and nice soft leather bucket seats can do for a car, and the sense of wellbeing it imparts to its driver. The brand-new, petrol-powered Cupra Terramar is one such “feel good” and, while not exactly cheap (£50k for my test version), it does indeed have the sort of tasteful ambience that is usually found in far more expensive machinery – the grander Mercedes-Benz and, though I’m getting carried away here, a little bit of the personal reassurance I found the last time I settled into a Bentley Flying Spur. As the motoring cliche goes, the Cupra Terramar, in its plusher versions, is a nice place to be.

Or maybe I’m just easily fooled. Underneath the tasteful accoutrements lie some standard Volkswagen Group componentry, shared mostly with the Audi Q3 and, most familiarly, in the VW Tiguan (the company’s best seller across Europe, by the way – but also the Skoda Kodiaq, another excellent offering.

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So there’s nothing wrong with that, of course, and nearly everything in the new car market is related to something else in some conglomerate’s range, but you just need to know that this is an upmarket version of some very close competitors which don’t look quite so glamorous.

If you’re still unsure about what a Cupra is, think of it as a fancier, more highly styled version of its “parent” brand Seat, which VW has owned for some decades now and never quite known what to do with (though the cars sold fairly well all the same). “Terramar” is a town in Catalonia, by the way, not far from Seat/Cupra’s HQ, though the vehicle is assembled in Hungary. That’s globalisation for you.

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Anyway, they’ve just about managed to lift the Terramar out of the generic SUV “crossover” look with some, yes indeed, copper 20-inch alloy wheels, strikingly aggressive front-end styling, illuminated bashing and some subtle paint jobs – a kind of subdued purple on my one.

Best of all, it goes extremely well, as it should given that it shares an engine and all-wheel drive system with the Golf GTi and, as it happens, the equally impressive Skoda Kodiaq vRS. The handling is as reassuring as the Terramar’s interior and equally entertaining, coupled with relatively good fuel economy. Put your foot down and there is no shortage of performance available, and it is best left in “Sport” mode.

As for equipment, the good news is that the Terramar relies less on the “haptic” touch controls that didn’t work so well a few years ago on various VW group products. There’s a 12.9in central touchscreen plus a 10.25in one for the dash, plus a “head up” display. The Sennheiser stereo (optional at £420) sounds premium (to my cloth ears), and the steering-wheel controls are now very easy to use and effective (this is harder to engineer than it sounds for the car people; getting the balance of sensitivity and responsiveness is fiendishly difficult).

So, like its roomier siblings, the VW Tayron and Kodiaq vRS (best for really big families), the Terramar is extremely likeable. It’s up against some classy opposition outside the VW Group too – the Volvo XC40 and the DS 7 Crossback – but it makes a fine case for itself.

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For those who can have off-road parking and are company car users, there are plug-in hybrid choices and a mild hybrid “base” model with a smaller petrol unit. There are no diesels or, sadly, electric versions of this Cupra. Indeed, this is said to be the last Cupra to be launched with an internal combustion engine, and it’s a suitable last hurrah.