Cupra Terramar vs Kia Sportage

What's the difference?

There may be a lot of factors we don’t know yet, chief among them being price. One thing is for sure, though, the Terramar looks to be an intriguing and anything but dull mid-size SUV alternative for up-sizers or family buyers who love to drive.

While it might not be one of the more affordable options, it certainly makes the argument for a semi-premium alternative. Seems like Cupra’s last combustion car is certainly one worth waiting for.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

Okay, this is pretty easy. That SX Hybrid is excellent - it’s fuel efficient, it drives really nicely, it’s practical, but it’s not great value when you consider it’s more than $8000 pricier than the SX petrol. If you want good value, get the GT-Line hybrid. It comes with more features for not that much more money compared to the petrol version. 

Oh, and if you’re reading this in three years time and thinking about buying a second-hand Sportage SX Hybrid, then do it.

The Terramar looks sharp. In the metal it’s clear this is a departure from its platform-mates, the Tiguan and Skoda Kodiaq.

In fact, with its rounded nose, sleek light fittings, and light-bar emblazoned and spoiler-fitted rear, the Terramar is looking, if anything, a bit Porsche in its silhouette.

Up front, the aggressive grille design is in part meant to evoke the fangs of a big cat, while down the side the ‘wave’ line in the bodywork of the doors is meant to not only look sporty but bring a unique highlight to the Terramar’s side profile.

Around the rear, the roofline culminates in a tidy spoiler piece, while the big rear diffuser references quad exhausts at the edges without actually featuring them.

The brand is also moving away from the standard gloss colour gamut, and onto something a bit unusual leading the charge with matt colour options and aggressive blacked-out wheel designs.

I, for one, love it. In a segment with so many derivative designs, the Terramar wears overt aggression, but at the same time measures it with an air of finesse and confidence. A design like this is hard to come by.

Inside, expect the usual Cupra highlights, and by that I mean expect the unexpected. Like its Formentor and Tavascan siblings, the Terramar’s interior is full of unusual textures, colours and materials.

Aside from the tidy steering wheel the brand has moved away from leathers, replacing soft-touch surfaces with a kind of Neoprene. It feels good and avoids feeling nasty through clever use of texture and colour.

The usual Volkswagen Group switchgear is here, new-generation big screens, with thankfully refreshed software which is both faster and easier to navigate than before. The digital dash elements, as usual, are the best on the market both in terms of design and customisation.

Even the seats have interesting shapes in a bucket-like design clad in a mix of neoprene and recycled ‘Seaqual’ fibres. Across the dash you can see highlight pieces not in chrome or gloss but in a kind of matt silver with a three-dimensional lizard-scale look.

Perhaps the best part of all of this is how evident it is that clear design thought has been given to every single piece of this car. It’s the opposite of the (supposedly) grand old days, where sticking another badge on a Tiguan would have done, and we’re all better for designs like this being in the market. 

The Sportage Hybrid SX is almost identical in looks to the petrol Sportage, which is why I mistook somebody else's car for mine. There’s a small badge on the tailgate of the hybrid which says HEV for Hybrid Electric Vehicle, but that’s really the only giveaway.

The Sportage is a more interesting looking SUV compared to less avant-garde rivals like the RAV4. I love the arrow LED running lights, the wide, mesh grille, and the tail-lights.

The cabin is also differently good looking and premium, apart from the blank panels on the centre console - the ones that remind you didn’t get the Sportage with heated seats…

Still, even with the blank panels it’s a premium-looking cabin with the 12.3-inch screen and black materials. It would have been nice if the synthetic leather seats were standard on this SX Hybrid instead of the cloth.

Up front the presence of big blocky seats, easy-access touchscreens, and a bit more space available on this 'MQB Evo' platform adds up for a solid practicality offering for those in the front seats.

Storage comes courtesy of big bottle holders in the doors, two more with variable edges in the centre console with a small tray next to it good for keys or wallets, a wireless phone charging bay in front and an armrest console box behind.

It doesn’t have the insane modularity of its Skoda Kodiaq cousin, but the intent of the Terramar is to be much more driver-focused and it feels it.

Similarly, the back seat doesn’t feel as lavish as it does in many rivals. It’s still sufficient, at least in the outboard positions, for an adult my size.

At 182cm tall, I have a bit of airspace for my knees and plenty of arm-flailing room with soft-touch materials in the doors, but the bucket seats up front and dark headliner trim close in the space compared to other cars on this platform.

This second row is also on rails, but moving it forward even a little bit will eat significantly into the space you have.

Amenity-wise there are pockets on the back of each front seat, bottle holders in each door, adjustable air vents on the back of the centre console with a third climate zone back there, as well as dual USB-C outlets for powering devices. The armrest console offers two more cupholders.

Expect a pretty solid boot space, internationally measured at 508 litres which would position it up there in terms of mid-size SUVs despite its more coupe-style roof when compared with its contemporaries.

The Sportage is a mid-sized SUV - it’s not as big as a Kia Sorento, but it is larger than a Kia Seltos. 

There’s plenty of room up front with storage in the centre console, cupholders and door pockets.

The second row has directional air vents and great legroom and headroom even for me at 189cm tall. My nine-year old son reckons the window sill is too high to see out of.

He’s out of his booster seat now but he’s a tall kid and doesn’t have this visibility issue very often as we move from test car to test car.

The boot is also big at 586 litres (VDA) behind the second row. It’ll fit the three-piece CarsGuide luggage set with room to spare.

Let’s get straight to the price because this could be a deal breaker if you’re on a budget and the only reason you’re thinking of buying the hybrid is to save lots of money on your petrol bills.

The Sportage SX Hybrid lists for $45,950. That’s $8400 more than the list price of the same car with a petrol engine.

When I say “same car”, I mean the same SX grade, in front-wheel drive, like the hybrid. The petrol engine in the hybrid is better in every way than the engine in the petrol SX, and that’s probably part of the reason why you’re paying so much more.

Toyota’s pricing on the RAV4 appears more reasonable with hybrid versions costing about $2000 more than the petrol versions of the grade they’re based on.

Do you get more features than the petrol SX? Nope. Same equipment, but there's plenty of it.

Coming standard on the SX Hybrid are 18-inch alloys wheels, LED headlights, and LED running lights. The silver roof rails are standard, too.

Inside the SX Hybrid the seats are cloth and the 12.3-inch media display is standard. So is sat nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and there’s dual-zone climate control.

That’s not bad if this car was $35K like the petrol version but the hybrid SX is more than $45K and you’re not getting proximity unlocking or push-button start, nor power-adjustable driver’s seat nor power tailgate.

Really, you could buy the SX+ petrol variant for $42 grand and get all of those things, plus a Harman Kardon sound system and synthetic leather seats.

Sure, petrol is expensive these days and a hybrid uses far less, so you’ll make the money back, right? Well, if that’s the reason you’re buying the Sportage Hybrid SX brand new, then don’t. I’ve worked out how far you’d have to drive the hybrid to save $8400 in fuel below. 

The only hybrid grade offered is the GT-Line, which is the top of the range and the most expensive Sportage at $55,420. But that’s only $5500 more than the petrol GT-Line and therefore better value in comparison to the SX Hybrid and its petrol twin.

Two powertrains have been revealed for the Terramar, including a 2.0-litre four-cylinder (195TSI) all-wheel drive version, which produces 195kW/400Nm, as well as a 1.5-litre four-cylinder plug-in hybrid which can put down a combined 200kW/400Nm.

Both have been confirmed for Australia, although we understand a 1.5-litre four-cylinder mild-hybrid (MHEV) version is also likely for production, producing 110kW/250Nm driving the front wheels alone. Check back closer to the Terramar’s Australian arrival - scheduled for late 2025 - for local powertrain details.

For the purposes of this review, the pre-production version we drove was a 2.0-litre, 195kW, all-wheel drive version.

Normally we cover the design and practicality before we get under the bonnet but you’re on a fact-finding mission and I’m your guide, your guide to cars. That would be a good website name.

Okay, the Sportage SX Hybrid has a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol sporty and fuel-efficient engine making 132kW and 265Nm. There’s also an electric motor producing 44kW and 264Nm. Their combined output is 169kW/350Nm.  

The hybrid variants are front-wheel drive only and have a six-speed automatic transmission. 

It’s a great engine, smooth transmission and the way the motor interacts is almost seamless. 

This isn’t a plug-in hybrid, either. The batteries recharge automatically through regenerative braking. Really, for Australia, this type of hybrid is the way to go, offering superb range and no anxiety about charging.

The 195TSI version tested here has a combined fuel consumption number of 8.8L/100km in its international spec sheet and it requires mid-shelf 95RON unleaded fuel.

If that’s a bit high for you, the plug-in hybrid version uses a new-generation PHEV set-up from VW Group, with claimed fuel consumption as low as 0.5L/100km.

It's equipped with a relatively large 25kWh battery pack allowing a WLTP-certified driving range of 112km in electric-only mode.

It is capable of charging up on an AC unit at a rate of 11kW for a charge time of 2.5 hours, while on a fast DC charger (rare for a PHEV) it can top up in just 26 minutes.

Kia says that after a combination of open and urban roads the Sportage SX Hybrid will use 4.9L/100km. The petrol SX with the 2.0-litre engine and front-wheel drive uses 8.1L/100km.

In our own fuel test we recorded 6.9L/100km which was mostly urban with a couple of motorway trips during the week.

Getting back to our earlier question regarding the money you’ll save in fuel. I’ve worked it out using actual maths.

So, using Kia’s official fuel economy of 4.9L/00km, that’s 3.2L/100km less than the 2.0-litre petrol SX and if fuel is $2 per litre you’re saving $6.40 for every 100km you drive in comparison.

Now, $6.40 goes into $8400 (the extra you’ve paid for the hybrid) 1312.5 times. Multiply that by 100 to get the number of kilometres you’ll need to travel. So, that’s 131,250km you’ll need to go to save the $8400 in fuel. 

Most Aussies do 10,000 kays a years on average. That means you’re looking at over 13 years. Tell you what, the person who buys it second hand will get the best deal because they really will save money on fuel. 

It’s true the Sportage Hybrid is fuel efficient and I’ve scored it very well for that, but if it was me I’d be looking to buy one second hand so I wasn’t getting hit hard with the new car hybrid price premium.

The eyebrow-raising factor about Cupra building a mid-size SUV is that it seems to be the antithesis of the brand’s aggressive and sporty philosophy. Sure, it gets away with the Formentor, but only because the crossover proved to be quite distinct from something like its VW T-Roc platform-mate.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised to find the brand has done it again. As soon as you sit in the Terramar it’s clear this SUV isn’t your average family hauler.

The bucket-style seats immediately hug you, the dash is set nice and low giving you a clear view of the road ahead, and the steering wheel, which the Terramar shares with every other Cupra model, feels suddenly smaller, but just-right under hand.

As soon as you set off, things improve. The 195TSI engine is a belter, and works very nicely with the dual-clutch auto to provide a solid basis for hard acceleration.

While DCT transmissions in the past have been notable for laggy engagement, this latest version (common to other new VW Group products, like the incoming third-generation Tiguan) has been smoothed out, making it feel almost like a traditional automatic from a standstill.

The steering is superb. Not only does the wheel feel ergonomic under hand, but the steering itself is ultra-sharp, making even an SUV this size respond with a feline reactivity.

Wide (255 aspect) tyres reinforce the Terramar’s confidence in the corners, and accelerating out is met by the dual-clutch allowing you to properly ride out the gears, paired with an agreeable engine note.

Standard adaptive dampers feature, giving the Terramar more of a sophisticated feel of the road than many of its platform-mates, although with large wheels and a sportier Cupra-specific damper set, there is a concern that it may ride hard on Australian roads. On the quality European tarmac we tested it on, however, it was comfortable enough.

Sound insulation in the cabin seemed up to the task as well, with the Terramar providing a nice ambiance for countryside driving thanks to low levels of tyre roar and wind noise.

Factors against it? The rear window aperture is a bit small making visibility directly rearward a bit limited, and the lack of physical control dials for core climate and multimedia functions can be distracting when you’re trying to alter them on-the-go.

Other than these small detractors, though, the Terramar is an impressive mid-size SUV. It’s comfortable and quiet, but has attitude in spades and attacks the road with a certain level of confidence well outside the realm of most family haulers in this size-bracket.

It might not be the most affordable option in this category when it arrives, but a keen driver whose budget doesn’t quite stretch to a Porsche Macan will appreciate what the Terramar has to offer.

The Sportage SX Hybrid is better to drive than the petrol SX with the 2.0-litre naturally aspirated engine. It starts silently thanks to the electric motor and will coast away serenely until you need to move faster and come to a hill where you need the power of the engine.

The brake pedal feel is better than I’ve experienced in many hybrid cars and the transition from engine to motor is almost seamless.

The ride is comfortable, there’s no jiggle over potholes and handling isn’t bad for this type of family SUV. 

The only negative point to report is that because the hybrid Sportage is front-wheel drive, there can be a loss of traction if you accelerate hard from a standstill on a wet road or while climbing a steep hill.

If you’ve never driven a hybrid before, you’ll be absolutely fine - the only thing you'll need to get used to is turning the key and not detecting any engine noise.

In terms of safety the Sportage was awarded the maximum five-star ANCAP rating in 2022. The SX Hybrid has pretty much the same safety tech as the GT-Line. So there’s AEB, lane keeping assistance and a rear cross-traffic alert. There are also front and rear parking sensors

For child seats there are two ISOFIX points and three top tether anchor mounts across the second row.

Disappointingly Kia has swapped the full-sized spare alloy wheel you’d get in the petrol and diesel variants for a space saver spare in the hybrid.