Living with a Cupra Formentor: Everything I love about this car, plus three things which drive me mad

This is my Cupra Formentor, and I’ve been using it every day for three months to find out one thing: is it worth almost £60,000?

That sort of money could buy you a used BMW X6 with a V8 engine, so why should you spend it on what is essentially a jacked-up Volkswagen Golf R? Well over the past few months I’ve found there’s a lot to like about this car, plus a few irritating features. Here are all the pros and cons of the Cupra Formentor.

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Five cool things about the Cupra Formentor

1. The interior feels special

This being the range-topping VZ version of the Formentor, it has carbon fibre bucket seats from renowned brand Sabelt. These are the same ones you’ll find in an Audi RS3, and they make the cabin feel especially sporty. You get great support through the corners, and they’re also comfortable for daily use.

I also like the steering wheel. It’s got a nice, thin rim which makes it easy to grip, and having the start button on it gives supercar vibes. You also have the Cupra Mode drive select button on the wheel, making it easy to get the most out of this car on a twisty road.

2. The engine is fantastic

The 2.0-litre turbocharged engine is a real highlight of this car. It’s the same basic unit you’ll find in the Volkswagen Golf R, meaning you have 333hp on tap and it’ll do 0-60mph in 4.8 seconds.

In a drag race against all our long term test cars, my Cupra beat the 450hp Omoda 9. This engine is also really tunable, so with some choice mods you could easily get 500hp from it. You might want to wait until the warranty expires though…

3. It’s surprisingly practical

The Cupra Formentor isn’t an especially large car, but I’ve found that it’s been more than practical enough for my needs. I managed a trip from London to Cornwall with five people, and there were no complaints about roominess on the way down. The boot also swallowed up all of our luggage.

4. It’s brilliant to drive

As a daily driver, the Formentor is really easy to live with. The adaptive suspension is decent over bumps in its softest setting, although it is a bit firmer over bumps than your average family SUV, and it feels smaller than it is through tight gaps thanks to excellent forward visibility.

But when you want to have fun, just hit the Cupra button on the steering wheel and everything tightens up. The steering is sharp and direct, you hardly get any body roll through the bends and the four-wheel drive system gives you loads of grip.

If you want to turn your tyres into smoke, there’s also a drift mode. It sends the majority of the power to the rear wheels, allowing you to hang the back out on a track. Having tried it out on the Carwow drag strip, it’s great fun.

5. The infotainment system is easy to use

Yes, I’d prefer some more buttons for things like the climate control, but the 12.9-inch infotainment system is good enough for me to look past it. It’s bright, clear and responsive, and the menus are easy to navigate. I also like being able to save frequently-used apps to the top of the screen.

Three annoying things about the Cupra Formentor

As good as it is, the Cupra Formentor isn’t perfect. Here are three things which have annoyed me over the last three months.

1. It guzzles through fuel

I’m really paying the price for the performance when it comes time to fill up, because a full tank doesn’t last very long. I’ll get 30mpg if I’m really careful, but most of the time it sits at around 27.5mpg. I have an old Porsche Cayman which is more economical than this, so if you’re fuel-conscious you might want to consider the 1.5-litre petrol or the PHEV instead.

2. Overly sensitive driver aids

Some of the active safety systems are a bit too eager, especially the forward collision warning. It quite often starts screaming at you for no apparent reason, and in some cases it even slams the brakes on when there’s no obstacle in sight.

3. Annoying cupholders

I like to have a coffee with me on the go, and I also like having the centre armrest in its extended position. Unfortunately, you can’t do both of those things at the same time in the Formentor because when you slide the armrest forward it covers the cupholders. It’s a small thing, but an annoying one nonetheless.

But these small gripes are insignificant compared to the biggest sticking point with this car: it costs £58,000. That’s a big chunk of change for a small SUV, but I want to take a closer look at the value for money on offer here.

For £60,000, your options on the used market are endless. BMW M3s, Audi RS3s and even Porsche 911s can be yours for that sort of money, but if you’re after a new car then the Formentor isn’t actually that expensive compared to alternatives.

The Volkswagen Golf R starts from over £50,000, but option it up with the sports exhaust and other tidbits to match the spec on my Cupra and it’ll touch £57,000. An Audi S3 costs almost £55,000 once you’ve picked a decent colour, and a Mercedes-AMG A35 can be specced up to £57,000.

None of these cars are any faster than my Cupra, and you can also save up to £8,600 on this car through Carwow, making it seem much more appealing.

So is this Cupra Formentor worth the money? If you can move past the “rebadged Volkswagen” stereotype, I reckon it’s a worthy alternative to the very best flagship hot hatches.

Report #2: First impressions of our Cupra Formentor

Our Cupra Formentor spent its first three months on the fleet with head of social media Will Davis, and here’s what he thought of the car. 

First off, I love the way the Formentor looks. I reckon it’s way more stylish than a Volkswagen Golf R, and this matte bronze paint helps it stand out even more. If you’re after a hot family car which looks good, this is it.

I also like the way it drives. I was worried that a stiff, sporty car like this with carbon bucket seats would be tiring to drive day-to-day, but with the suspension in its softest setting it does a good job of soaking up the bumps.

But on a twisty road, with the suspension in sports mode, the Formentor handles like no other SUV out there. It’s way more agile and playful than a Ford Puma ST, if not quite as poised as the lower Golf R hatchback.

No amount of fun is enough to distract me from the annoying touch sliders though. You use them to control the temperature and stereo volume, and they’re a right faff to use.

And I keep going back and thinking about the price. As tested, this car costs £58,140, you can check out the full spec in the previous report, but in short it’s around £11,000 more than a Volkswagen Golf R.

And that got me thinking: what other performance cars could you buy for £60,000? Here are three alternatives which spring to mind.

1. Audi RS3

The Audi RS3 starts from just over £60,000, although you can get one for £58,300 through Carwow at the time of writing. It has a glorious five-cylinder engine with 400hp and a great engine note, and it’s incredibly fun to drive on a twisty road.

2. Hyundai Ioniq 5 N

The Cupra Formentor looks good, but the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N looks totally bonkers. It’s also very fast, with 650hp on tap and a 0-60mph time of 3.4 seconds, and it’s also the most fun you can have in an electric car. Prices start from around £65,000, but with Carwow savings it dips below the £60,000 mark.

3. Used BMW X3 M

If you’re looking for the ultimate performance SUV, £60,000 can buy you a 2023 BMW X3 M with just 25,000 miles on the clock. It has a lovely 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged straight-six under the bonnet putting out 510hp, and you can put it in rear-wheel drive mode for some tyre-shredding drifts if the mood takes you.

That said, my Formentor also has a drift mode, and, as Mat Watson demonstrated in a recent video, it works very well. The Cupra’s price tag may sting a little at first, but as time goes on I’m starting to realise that it really can compete with the more established performance brands.

I still have five months to go with the Cupra Formentor, so keep an eye out for updates on what it’s like to live with.

Report#1: Why are we living with a Cupra Formentor?

The Cupra Formentor is available with a wide range of engines, starting with a 150hp 1.5-litre petrol and working all the way up to the car we have.

Under the bonnet of this Formentor is the same engine as you’ll find in a Volkswagen Golf R. It’s a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine with 333hp, and it sends power to all four wheels via a seven-speed automatic gearbox.

It’ll do 0-60mph in just 4.8 seconds, which is almost exactly the same as a Golf R, but should you really buy a sporty SUV over a traditional hot hatch? This is what we want to find out over the next six months.

We’ll be seeing how the Formentor fares as a daily driver, with regular commutes from London to Oxfordshire for video shoots and the odd cross-country road trip. In and around the sensible stuff, we want to see if this jacked-up performance car can really deliver the same thrills as a hot hatchback.

Our own Mat Watson has already tested out the Cupra’s drift mode on a drag race shoot in my absence, and it looks like it can be pretty lairy when it wants to be. Hopefully he’s saved us some tyres so we can have a go.

Living with a Cupra Formentor: price and options

Our car only has two options fitted to it. The Century Bronze Matte paintwork costs just over £2,000, and the panoramic glass roof adds £995 to the price tag.

This brings the total to an eye-watering £58,140, £11,000 more than a Volkswagen Golf R and nearly £5,000 dearer than a Cupra Leon hatchback with the same engine and options.

So what does your near-£60,000 get you? Well you get 19-inch alloy wheels, a 12.9-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a surround-view camera and adaptive cruise control.

You also get upgraded Akebono brakes for better stopping power, as well as some rather lovely carbon-back heated bucket seats.

Those seats make the cabin feel even more special, and the Formentor’s interior was already more interesting than a Golf R’s thanks to the copper accents and layered dashboard. We also reckon this car looks more aggressive and sporty than the slightly conservative Golf.

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