Why we’re running it: To see if the classy Cupra Formentor crossover is up to the rigours of day-to-day running
Month 5 - Month 4 - Month 3 - Month 2 - Month 1 - Prices and specs
Life with a Cupra Formentor: Month 5
Time has been called on our eye- catching crossover. Will it be missed? - 23 February 2022
"Is that a Lamborghini?” No, stranger in the supermarket car park, it isn’t – but you’re not the first to ask.
The Cupra badge is clearly still something of a mystery to many Brits, because after several months and 15,000 miles with our Formentor, I continued to find that people wanted to stop and talk about it when I was out and about.
That was especially true at night, which I chalk up to the prominent rear light bar and interestingly shaped LED headlights, which look tastefully futuristic.
Factor in the angular design and bronze trim accents, plus the fact that sister brand Seat has resisted the urge to release its own version, and you’ve got an undeniably distinctive car. Prospective owners who relish the attention would be wise to spring for the Petrol Blue Matte paint (a £1860 cost), which, I think, is much more menacing than our car’s (admittedly less expensive) Urban Silver.
I hadn’t had a long-term test car I’d consider ‘fun to drive’ for a while, so I was keen to explore the Formentor’s dynamic ability. It didn’t disappoint: the supportive seats hug you nicely in place through corners, the adaptive dampers tighten everything up when you find a fine stretch of road, and the PHEV powertrain delivers as much power as a Volkswagen Golf GTI. The augmented engine note was a little too fake for my liking, and having all the power sent to the front wheels could make the steering more than a little lively under full throttle, but the overall experience was much closer to a hatchback than the many 4x4s that use the same platform.
The Formentor’s hybrid system was at its most efficient on shorter journeys where I could plug in at either end, letting me largely rely purely on electricity. I don’t remember ever seeing the claimed 33 miles of range, but even during the colder months, EV mode could handle trips of 20-plus miles without calling the petrol engine into action. Fully electric driving was always nicely refined and super-smooth.
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Absolutely agree. There is no point in having a PHEV if you don't re-charge it regularly. Otherwise it is just a tax dodging exercise.
I charge my PHEV regularly and average over 67mpg taken on petrol use alone (about 57mpg factoring in electric cost as well). I am sure the Formentor would at least match that.
PHEV's should really be judged as replacements for diesels, but in order for them to be able to produce their best you need to add the full electric range by charging up, not just relying on the free regenerated power.
This isn't really a valid test if your reporters "don't have time" to charge the car, Surely the hole point of a Plug In is that the owner plugs it in to reduce or eliminate petrol consumption on shorter journey. Telling us that the Formentor achieves low 40s mpg consumption without visiting a charging point is just confirming that the car is not being used for its intended purpose.
I'd be far more interested in how faar the car will travel on electric power alone, or what the actual fuel consumption was over say a 200 mile journey beginning with a full battery charge. If you don't plug it in, you're driving the wrong car!
We had a new Formentor from April till September - but ultimately rejected the car with Seat and VW Finance Services.
The Reason - the Sign Recognition System and Cruise Control sometimes decided that MPH was KPH so it would randomly slow the car from 70mph to 45mph in the fast lane of the motorway or think the national speed limit was 110 mph DANGEROUS!
It is a known fault apparently - Seat & VW did not question it (and I have seen reviews of VW Golf R with the same issue.) with VW finance saying it might be fixed in the next software update but they were not sure and it could break something else.
The main screen/control system did feel like a cheap £30 tablet and should not be in a £30,000 car it was slow, buggy and unintuitive and highly distracting when driving - took 3 or 4 taps to change the radio station, so a couple of seconds not looking at the road DANGEROUS
We handed the car back got our deposit back and Seat sold the car the next week
Overall a nice car that drove well - did feel like it was built to a budget and the software was not ready for the mass market.