Ten things we learned about the new Seat Tarraco

Two years ago Seat didn’t even make an SUV. When it arrives in showrooms early next year the Tarraco will be its third – a big brother to the Arona and Ateca and a not-so-distant cousin of the Skoda Kodiaq. There’ll be a five-seater version and a seven-seater with a third row of furniture, so it’s a proper family taxi.

Alright, so Seat already makes one of those in the shape of the Alhambra, which also has a third row of seats plus sensible sliding doors, but let’s be honest, MPVs are – and always were – as fashionable as socks-and-crocs. Smart SUVs are where it’s at these days, but whereas some are merely pumped-up and rebranded hatchbacks, the Tarraco actually has the dimensions, and the looks, to carry off the label.

Well, almost. Otherwise it would be called Tarragona, which is a port city in northeast Spain. Tarraco is in fact the town’s Roman name, and was chosen by popular vote involving more than 146,000 people from over 100 countries who felt compelled to participate in Seat’s online ballot. Three cheers for #democracy.

Interestingly, for some of us at least, the Tarraco is the 14th Seat to be named after a Spanish place name, a tradition which began 36 years ago with the Ronda – a rebadged Fiat hatchback sold briefly in the UK as the Málaga. Maximum internet points if you can name the others without clicking through to the answers at the end*.

The car we drove was a disguised prototype, hence the magic-eye camouflage. Its silhouette is very similar to the Kodiaq, though the front and rear ends are more angular, perhaps even muscly – look closely and you’ll see two bulges in the bonnet, like a pair of flexed triceps.

Secret images spilled on an MQB enthusiasts group on Facebook (it exists) also suggest an LED lightstrip will connect the rear lights across the width of the car, though we’ll have to wait and see about that. Overall it isn’t a million miles away from the 20V20 concept car, which essentially previewed the Tarraco at Geneva back in 2015.

Inside there’s a large tablet-style screen on top of the dash (the Kodiaq’s is lower and more integrated), and it looks like Seat is playing with some new fabrics – our car was trimmed in places with what looked and felt like denim.

The five-seater version, with all the seatbacks up, has – according to Seat – 760 litres of bootspace. That’s 40 litres more than the five-seater Skoda Kodiaq. Considering they share the same shape, either something’s been lost in translation, or somehow the Seat engineers have worked some packaging magic. Given that 40 litres accounts for a decent-sized coolbox, that’s a fairly significant advantage.

If you fancy a diesel, and some people still do, you’ll have two versions of the 2.0 TDI to choose from. One with 148bhp, the other with 187. Only the 148bhp version will have a manual gearbox, while both will have optional with four-wheel-drive and DSG.

If you fancy a petrol there’ll be a manual, front-wheel-drive 1.5 TSI with 148bhp – that’ll be your entry-level spec. Finally, there’s a 2.0 TSI with 187bhp, DSG and 4WD. As for electrified versions, we’ll have to wait and see. We know a PHEV Kodiaq is coming next year, so surely Seat will do the same with the Tarraco at some point. The MQB-A platform – the Tarraco’s mechanical underwear, shared with cars like the Kodiaq – is capable of accommodating such tech, after all.

Seat says it’s “one of the sportiest cars in the segment”, which is like claiming to be one of the sportiest ships in the sea. Having said that, it probably is, though you’d need to drive it back-to-back with a Kodiaq to figure out by what margin.

The car we drove was a prototype, so the final setup may change, but it certainly felt sharper than a Kia Sorento or Nissan X Trail or any other of its seven-seat SUV foes, and you might just believe you’re driving something smaller and lighter than you really are. Whatever: it feels surefooted and steady on the motorway, which is the most important thing.

Seat won’t confirm nor deny this, but it doesn’t require too much imagination. After all, Skoda’s working on a 237bhp Kodiaq (just recently it became the fastest seven-seater ever to go around the Nurburgring), and Seat’s newly-independent Cupra division is already up to its eyeballs in development of a 300bhp version of the Ateca – come back in October to read our verdict on that one. So you’d bet your last peseta on them getting their hands on the Tarraco sooner or later.

The disguise will be peeled off sometime in September (in Tarragona, appropriately enough), order books will open shortly after that, and the first cars should arrive on driveways in early 2019. Prices have yet to be confirmed, but expect it to start somewhere around £23,000, in line with the Kodiaq.

*ANSWERS: Ibiza, Malaga, Marbella, Toledo, Inca, Alhambra, Cordoba, Arosa, Leon, Altea, Ateca and Arona.