What is it?

Named after the old name for the Spanish port of Tarragona, the Tarraco completes Seat’s threesome of SUVs, joining both the Arona and Ateca.

Although it’s built to rival the likes of the Hyundai Santa Fe and the Skoda Kodiaq, it’s also of course their not-so-distant cousin. Granted, its silhouette is very similar to the Kodiaq’s, which it shares much of its underpinnings with, though you’ll find the Tarraco is marginally longer and a tad lower.

On the road

As you may have gathered from the photos, I had the Tarraco back in June when the UK actually had a heatwave - it was horrible, for me at least, but the air-con made it liveable.

The last time I borrowed a Tarraco was back in 2019, it was mainly used as taxi to take 3 of us, plus loads of cases on a 10 hour round trip to Great Yarmouth, which it did with aplomb. It was quiet, comfy and very spacious and the rest of the week was filled with short and laborious journeys and errands without much time for playing around and posing.

This time, however, I was able to spend some more quality time with the Tarraco.

With a smidge under 200bhp and 400Nm of torque, the 2.0-litre diesel, that’s mated to the smooth 7-speed DSG ‘box, made light work of pretty much every journey. Over the week of lugging camping gear around, and during the usual commute, the FR Sport averaged 39.8mpg.  There may have also been a bit of hooning around, as well as green laning.

Get on the twisty bits and turn the dial to ‘Sport’ and it’s quite fun to throw around corners, the 4drive feels stiff and well balanced.  Obviously it isn’t a sports car, but it does really well for a 7-seater, high sided SUV and will get you to 60mph in 7.8 seconds and continue all the way up to 130mph, if that’s important to you.

The ride around town can feel a bit stiff, but it was wearing 20” wheels, opting for the SE and 18” wheels will soften things up nicely.

Off road

The Tarraco isn’t the obvious choice as a green-laner, and nor should it be, but its 4wd system is the same as you get elsewhere in the group, and therefore with the right tyres will surprise you.

That said, despite the inappropriate wheel and tyre combo it handled a variety of steep green lanes that were dry, dusty and slippery with ease, it didn’t hesitate once and gave me plenty of confidence, especially with Hill Descent Control.

Interior

The leather sports seats that are standard in the FR Sport are the first thing you notice as you get in, and they’re firm yet comfortable, and after numerous hours driving didn’t leave me a numb bum or backache.

When it cones to the dash layout, the Tarraco is typical of the brand, it won’t make you smile with its individual style or luxury, but it’s acceptably functional and easy to operate, except for its only let-down - the lack of dials for heater controls. Having said that, the Tarraco has separate controls beneath the infotainment screen, it may make for a quick adjustment rather than navigating a touchscreen menu, but it’s still no substitute for actual dials.

Second row passengers have plenty of legroom with the ability to move their seats back and forth, and third row passengers need to be children only.

Speaking of kids, ISOFIX mounting points are fitted to the outer two seats in the middle row, as well as the front passenger seat.

With the third row of seats down there’s 700 litres of nothingness, ample space for suitcases, shopping and camping equipment, fold the second row down and you’re faced with 1,775 litres of nothingness.

You don’t go short of storage space in the Tarraco, door bins are huge and felt-lined, there are twin-cupholders between the front seats, and they adjust to grip different size cups. I particularly liked that the rear parcel shelf, once removed, stores underneath the floor - a nice touch.

Conclusion

What a great family hack the Tarraco is.  There’s a capacious amount of space, everywhere, and it’s practical too.  It handles long and laborious motorway journeys as well as the twisty fun bits with ease, and after week I got the impression it can handle pretty much anything a young or older family can throw at it.

As I mentioned, the interior design may not fill you with joy and inspiration, but it’s practical and hard wearing and I suspect will cope with whatever rigours a family can throw at it.

prices: start at £33,415 / FR Sport - £40,930 / as tested £46,600

more at » seat.co.uk