Cupra Formentor long-term test

The car Cupra Formentor VZ First Edition 1.5 e-Hybrid DSG 272PS | Run by Darren Moss, deputy digital editor

Why it’s here To prove that plug-in hybrid technology can lead to driving fun, as well as efficiency

Needs to Be frugal, comfortable for long trips, practical for children and able to function as a mobile office

Mileage 2865 List price £51,790 Target Price £47,790 Price as tested £53,825 Test economy 57.2mpg Official economy 585mpg 

15 January 2025 – Plugging in

Like a white mouse being trained in a laboratory, running a plug-in hybrid car is changing the way I think. And the cheese in this scenario is a juicy reduction in my running costs. 

You see, my Cupra Formentor mates a 1.5-litre petrol engine with an electric motor – the result is a combined 175bhp, which is enough to push you back into your seat as you mash the accelerator pedal into the floor. Of far more benefit to me, though, is the official fuel economy figure of up to 565mpg.

Of course, we know that getting close to that figure in the real world is next to impossible, but in order to get the biggest battery benefit, I’m taking every opportunity to charge up my car. Left waiting for a colleague in our charger-equipped office? I’m plugging in. We’re pulling in for coffee at a service station? I’m plugging in. You leave a three-pin plug unattended? You get the idea.

This attitude extends to shopping, too, because several of the big supermarkets now offer charging right on their doorsteps. It’s a genius move, providing relatively cheap charging in a place where you’re likely to be spending a little time anyway. So as my partner’s son, Elijah commented, it made good sense to make use of the Pod Point charger at our local Tesco when we visited recently. Wise words indeed, lad.

A trip to the car wash following the shop gave Elijah’s sister Freya the chance to join in on automotive testing, because she’d been wanting to give the Formentor’s 12.9in infotainment touchscreen a poke since it looked a bit like her iPad. I therefore set the six-year-old road tester a challenge – to plumb a destination into the Formentor’s sat-nav while we waited for the suds to clear.

With a bit of help, we navigated through the infotainment system’s menus to the search function and pulled up the keyboard. Little fingers are well suited to punching in a new address, because the icons for the system are relatively small, but it does at least respond quickly to inputs. And although such a task would be harder on the move, there’s also voice control, which Freya liked activating by saying ‘Hola! Hola!’ to the car in her best Dora The Explorer voice. Maybe in time I can train her to act as my personal sat-nav operator.

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