Cupra Raval vs MG ZS EV

The MG ZS EV costs £6,500 more than the Cupra Raval. For that premium it adds 70 miles more WLTP range and a 1.1s quicker 0-62mph time. The Cupra Raval is not just cheaper - it also offers lower energy use, 138 versus 178 Wh/km. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Cupra Raval comes out ahead overall.

The Cupra Raval is £6,500 cheaper to buy. The Cupra Raval is cheaper to charge, roughly £152 a year versus £192 for the MG ZS EV, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Cupra Raval comes out roughly £6,700 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 139 miles for the Cupra Raval and 199 miles for the MG ZS EV - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The MG ZS EV goes roughly 60 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 23 minutes in the Cupra Raval and 36 in the MG ZS EV, so the Cupra Raval loses less time at each stop. So the MG ZS EV stops less often while the Cupra Raval stops for less time - pick on which you would rather do.

The two are within 25 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 616 mm of total clearance for the Cupra Raval and about 591 mm of total clearance for the MG ZS EV.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 90% battery health for the Cupra Raval and 90% for the MG ZS EV. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. The Cupra Raval's LFP-type pack tolerates daily 100% charging, while the MG ZS EV's NMC-type pack lasts longest kept to about 80% for everyday use.