2026 CUPRA Raval Endurance

A Polo-sized EV that gets the small stuff exactly right.

The Raval is the first of the Volkswagen Group's new affordable small EVs to reach buyers, and on this evidence it was worth the wait. It is CUPRA's take on the Polo-sized electric hatch, and it is a sublime little thing: sharply styled, beautifully built and genuinely fun to drive. We spent our time in the Endurance, the 211 hp version with the bigger 52 kWh battery, and came away thoroughly charmed.

Design: small, sharp and full of character

There is real presence here for such a compact car. CUPRA has given the Raval its own aggressive, geometric face rather than a softened city-car look, complete with a light bar and the brand's signature copper detailing. It is only a whisker over four metres long, yet it looks planted and purposeful, and the configurator is full of bold colours, including matte finishes like Century Bronze and Manganese Green. Our test car wore Magnetic Grey on 18-inch Machined Sport Black DEFIER alloys. You have to be in the mood for the style, but we are sold.

Interior and quality: a class above

Climb in and the quality is the first thing that strikes you. For a B-segment car the cabin feels genuinely upmarket: the surfaces you touch most feel good, the design is clean, and the bronze CUPRA accents lift the whole thing. There is one blot, the hard plastic around the centre tunnel, which sits below the standard of everything around it and could easily have been avoided. Otherwise this is one of the best-finished small cars on sale.

Space and seating: roomier than it looks

You sit low, which we love, with plenty of legroom and a driving position that feels right from the first minute. It feels bigger inside than the exterior suggests. The boot is a genuine surprise too, at 441 litres it shames most of the class and leaves the Renault 5 trailing for outright space.

Technology and controls: touchscreen done right, buttons where it counts

CUPRA has learned from its other models. The infotainment screen sits lower in the dashboard than on cars like the Formentor, where it often sat too high and stole forward vision. Here visibility is excellent, with a 10,25-inch driver display and a 12,9-inch central touchscreen. Almost everything on the screen is touch-operated, which we would normally grumble about, but it works well, and once your shortcuts are set most of what you need lives in Apple CarPlay anyway. The best part is the steering wheel: physical buttons, at last. After years of fiddly touch pads it is a genuine relief, and everything simply works.

Driving: steering feel and a proper one-pedal mode

The Raval is front-wheel drive and no hot hatch in Endurance form, but it is a lovely thing to steer. The wheel is the right thickness, not the fat rim so many makers insist on, and it delivers a direct, well-judged feel with real feedback. The one detail we would change is the regen: the paddles step from automatic to levels one and two, but the setting resets once you have finished slowing, so it is a one-time action rather than a mode you can hold.

Slot it into B, though, and you get proper one-pedal driving, with two strengths to choose from. A good one-pedal mode is what makes an EV enjoyable to potter around in, and the Raval nails it.

Range, charging and efficiency: the 52 kWh is the one to have

The Endurance pairs its 211 hp motor and 290 Nm with a 52 kWh battery for 446 km of WLTP range, and it is seriously efficient, homologated at just 13,6 kWh/100km. Over 1,654 km in our hands it averaged 14,2 kWh/100km, barely above that figure and genuinely impressive for real-world use. Charging peaks at 105 kW, which sounds modest but fills a small battery from 10 to 80 per cent in about 24 minutes. A cheaper 37 kWh version with roughly 300 km will follow, but the bigger battery is the one that makes the Raval a car you can live with beyond the city.

Price and positioning: not the cheapest, but worth it

The Raval is not the bargain of the class. The Endurance starts at around €37,600, with pricing varying from market to market, and the entry cars are expected to open near €26,000 once they arrive. That undercuts nothing dramatically, and rivals like the Fiat 500 and Leapmotor B05 will tempt buyers chasing the lowest price. But none of them feels as complete or as well made, and that is the Raval's argument.

AutoNext Verdict

The CUPRA Raval is one of the most convincing small EVs we have driven. It looks sharp, the cabin is built to a standard the class rarely reaches, the driving position and steering are spot on, and the one-pedal mode makes everyday driving a pleasure. The efficient 52 kWh Endurance turns it from a city runabout into something you can genuinely tour in.

It is not perfect. The regen logic is needlessly fiddly, there is that one patch of cheap plastic, and you pay for the quality up front. But these are small complaints against a car that gets the important things so right.

If you want a small electric car with real character and no sense of compromise, the Raval goes straight to the top of the list. The Volkswagen Group's smallest EV might just be its best.