The CUPRA brand struck out on its own with the launch of the Formentor. It was the first standalone model to be offered by CUPRA without a SEAT counterpart, and aims to offer drivers a lively take on the mid-sized performance SUV concept. Let's take a look.
This month, these Cupra Formentor models can be ordered through the Motability Scheme:
Search all the Cupra Formentor Motability Advance Payment prices and trim levels for April, May and June 2024, or read our guide to the latest Motability price changes and updates here.
Cupra Formentor Motability Advance Payment Offers
This is more like it. When in 2018, Spanish maker SEAT announced that CUPRA would become a stand-alone brand, we were first served up merely a performance variant of the Iberian maker's Ateca Crossover. This Formentor model, in contrast, is a completely new design - well almost anyway. It does share a platform and some mechanicals with the Ateca, but everything else feels much more bespoke. You'll probably know the 'CUPRA' name, but only as a sporty trim designation that goes back to 1996, since when it's been used on a whole string of SEAT Ibiza and Leon hot hatches.
Now, SEAT wants CUPRA to mean more, creating, in its words, 'a range of unique, sophisticated performance models designed to captivate car enthusiasts.' The idea here, says the company, is 'to create cars not founded in nostalgia but rooted in the present'. Presumably, that's meant to be a dig at directly competing brands like Alfa Romeo and MINI, both of which produce products this Formentor model sets out to directly target: namely, quick, charismatic petrol-powered mid-sized SUVs, cars that offer a lot of what you get in, say, a Porsche Macan for a great deal less money. Is that what we've got here? Let's find out.
It should be no surprise given CUPRA's mantra as a performance brand that drive dynamics are the Formentor's main focus. And it comes well equipped for the task, the fast variant using the Volkswagen Group's 2.0-litre TSI turbo four cylinder engine in its most ballistic state of tune, with 310PS on tap. This same 2.0-litre powerplant comes in two other flavours; one with 190PS and 4-wheel drive, the other with 245PS and front wheel drive. There's an entry-level front driven 1.5-litre TSI 150PS variant too, but if you can, a better choice for efficiency would be one of the two front-driven e-Hybrid PHEV plug-in derivatives, offering either 204 or 245PS. In both cases, a 150PS 1.4-litre TSI petrol engine is mated to a 6-speed DSG auto gearbox and an 85kW electric motor powered by a 13kWh lithium-ion battery with a WLTP-rated all-electric driving range quoted at 34 miles.
The Formentor sits a little lower than most other performance SUVs and Crossovers. In fact, it's a full 150mm lower than the Ateca that it is based on and only 50mm higher than the CUPRA Leon 5 door hatchback. In terms of size, think Volvo XC40 or Audi Q3, but it has more pavement presence than either of those two cars, the design emphasis being on a long bonnet, which coupled with the lower height, gives the car a very dynamic appearance - and one that is completely distinctive.
Inside there's lots of brushed, dark aluminium with copper accents and blue leather-trimmed front bucket seats. In the centre of the dash is a large 12-inch touchscreen infotainment screen that allows the usual access to navigation, info and media. It's paired with a fully-customisable 10-inch digital instrument binnacle; sitting behind a flat-bottomed steering wheel that houses both the engine start button and the 'CUPRA' driving mode buttons. There's the usual stubby VW Group auto gear lever. And a lovely orange LED strip that circumnavigates the top of the dash, flowing into the doors. The rear seat could comfortably take a couple of adults - but three would be tight. And out back, there's a competitively-sized 420-litre boot.
Pricing starts at around £31,000 for the entry-level 1.5-litre TSI model, and 'V1', ‘V2’ and 'V3' trim options are the main variants. Even with base 'V1' trim, customers get quite a lot: 18-inch alloy wheels, a 12-inch infotainment touchscreen with connected navigation, a 10-inch digital driver binnacle, LED headlights, rain-sensing wipers, Adaptive Cruise Control, a wireless smartphone charger, a leather steering wheel and rear parking sensors.
With the 'VZ2', you also get 19-inch wheels, a powered tailgate, a heated steering wheel and a rear view camera.
The 1.5 TSI manages up to 44.8mpg and 143g/km in manual form. If you really care about efficiency (and it it's available), then it's the 'e-HYBRID' Formentor models you'll be looking at. These offer an electric only range of 31 miles on the WLTP cycle. Powering a PHEV CUPRA Formentor up from a domestic socket would take around five hours, but using a garage wallbox, you'll be able to reduce your charging time period to around three and a half hours.
With the launch of this Formentor, the story of the CUPRA brand began in earnest. It's difficult to forge your own identity when you've spent most of your time helping to define performance models from another brand, in this case SEAT. But with this car, the whole 'Iberian Alfa Romeo' thing starts to make some sort of sense.
After all, the Formentor is (potentially) fast, practical, interesting to look at and, for the time being anyway, you might even think it to be a touch exotic. Whether you actually get what's been promised here - essentially a Porsche Macan, a BMW X4 or a Mercedes GLC Coupe distilled down into something more affordable - is a judgement you might actually rather enjoy making. We're not quite convinced, but we have seen enough to feel hopeful about the CUPRA brand's future. Can there really be 'latin spirit in every one'? If the marque can deliver that, there's a place for it in the market.
People with a disability and carers who choose a new CUPRA Formentor through Motability will receive a brand new car, delivered by a Motability Specialist at a local CUPRA dealership, complete with insurance, servicing and maintenance, full breakdown assistance, replacement tyre cover, windscreen repair or replacement cover plus a mileage allowance of 60,000 miles over three years.
