Cupra Formentor VZ First Drive Review: Spanish Army Knife

What we like:

Looks good, drives great

Perfect for pottering around or for a B-road blast

Sexier than a typical go-faster SUV

What we dislike:

Explaining to your uncles and aunties what you bought

BARCELONA, Spain - The Formentor can be described as the OG rebel model of Cupra.

Developed almost as a skunkworks project, it was presented to the Volkswagen Group board after being developed in secret in Barcelona.

After all, it doesn’t really fit comfortably into any particular segment - it’s high-riding like an SUV, but it’s also sleek like a coupé. However, between the two polar opposites, it’s closer to the latter.

When the project was approved for production, it was a risk that paid off. The Formentor eventually went on to hit more than 120k cars a year in sales.

This version today is the facelift which comes with a few minor changes which bring it up-to-date with newly launched Cupras, including the shark-nose front, triangular matrix LEDs and an illuminated logo at the rear. On the inside, there’s a revised centre console, upcycled or recycled materials and a larger 12.9-inch infotainment screen.

It’s also the hottest VZ version, whose underpinnings come from the Mk 8.5 Golf R virtually unchanged. That means 333 PS and 420 Nm and a 0-100 km/h time of just 4.8 seconds, as well as all-wheel drive with a Torque Splitter allowing for selective torque distribution and Drift Mode.

Right then, how does the Cupra Formentor VZ look after a nip-and-tuck?

The Formentor always looked good and now it’s even better with sharper lines and a stronger signature look at night. The matte paint - reportedly even more matte than similar paint in other Group brands like Audi’s - is crucial in forming the aggressive looks. In Singapore, there are no plans for offering this paint finish - understandably so when it will add a five-figure sum to the asking price.

However, I had hoped the Formentor would include some design elements which would make it stand out even more, like the illuminated front logo we’ve seen in the Tavascan.

And the inside of the Cupra Formentor VZ? Is it crossover-ish like its exterior?

Actually, no - as the Formentor is an older car it has a very normal looking interior even when compared to the Terramar. The standout feature has got to be the Sabelt Extreme CUP bucket seats, which hug you like a lost lover and are finished with matte carbon fibre on its backs. Those alone make the interior feel racy.

Practicality wise, you would have to expect a bit of a compromise versus a conventional SUV but it’s not much of a hardship. The rear is still comfy for a 1.75m tall person like me, and boot space clocks in at 420 litres with the seats up.

Now for the most important question, how does the Cupra Formentor VZ drive?

The first grins were formed when we heard the car in the basement car park of the hotel. Its growl is so welcome after driving so many EVs in the last few years, but admittedly it was amplified in the enclosed area.

Driving out of Barcelona on congested urban roads and then the Spanish autovía in Comfort mode, the Formentor VZ was utterly capable to potter about without annoying you one bit. The ride is plush and the engine works in the background, riding on its low-end torque so efficiently you might not even guess it’s a 300+ bhp machine.

Switching to Sport and then to Cupra mode, the car firms up but then you get the artificial augmented sound through its speakers - incidentally developed together with Sennheiser - which I’d rather turn off. Thankfully, you can do so in Individual mode by setting the engine sound to ‘Pure’.

With a few blasts along the autovía overtaking towering trucks, I noticed that there’s a fair bit of turbo lag in the mid-range. It’s not going to impede your progress but you do feel it as you hear the turbo spool to build up pressure. Only at the top-end do you get the full benefit of the boost, a terrific reason to redline the engine as we’d discover on B-roads around Catelloni circuit.

The Formentor VZ is the sort of car that you can drive very hard in along such roads without feeling out of place. Banging through the gears on the straights, the car rewards you when you go all out. In the corners, the balance is very neutral with a slight lean towards understeer, so it’s very safely set up. You’d typically just point the car wherever you want to go and it tries its earnest best to follow, impressing you with just what it is capable of. There’s so much talent and competency that it all feels very safe. In terms of mid-corner adjustability, there’s hardly anything the driver can do because it’s all already dialed into the hardware.

The kicker here is Drift Mode, which introduces an important dimension of ‘driving the car with the rear’. When I experienced it in the Mk8 Golf R, I thought it was a true game changer. Unfortunately, on this drive I did not encounter a suitable situation to try it out, but I would suspect it would grant the Formentor VZ the last missing pieces to make it a truly great drivers’ car.

Caveat: the Formentor VZ does not drive nearly as well as the Golf R. It’s larger and sits higher, and lacks the hard-edged rawness of the Mk8 R. The VZ’s steering is lighter and has less feel, while the car just rolls that bit more instead of the Mk8 R’s directness and precision. But from another perspective, the Formentor VZ drives nothing like an SUV.

Lovely. Now tell me, how is the Cupra Formentor VZ specc’ed for Singapore and how much is it?

Fortunately, unlike the Leon and Terramar, the Formentor VZ is fully decked out for Singapore. You get Akebono front & rear disc brakes, the Akrapovic exhaust system, the Sabelt bucket seats, Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC), the Sennheiser sound system and the Torque Splitter. It’s all in. Perhaps the only thing missing is the aforementioned matte paint.

We don’t have a price for the Formentor VZ yet ahead of its launch in end-July, but we’re expecting it to come below the Golf R. Given the extra space and practicality the Formentor offers, it seems like a pretty good deal.

Photos by James Wong

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