Cupra Formentor long-term test

The car Cupra Formentor 2.0 TSI VZ1 333PS 4Drive DSG | 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 2985 List price £46,385 Target Price £46,385 Price as tested £46,670 Test economy 32.5mpg Official economy 32.0mpg 

10 March 2025 – A matter of modes

You might not think it, but there’s a little bit of Sweden in my very Spanish Cupra Formentor. That’s because racing driver Mattias Ekström was involved in the car’s development, tasked with helping this practical SUV to feel sporty and involving, rather than merely a tool to move your family from A to B. 

I’d say his efforts are best felt in the version I’m driving having switched from plug-in hybrid to petrol power. The 328bhp 2.0-litre engine offers huge dollops of pull whenever I put my foot down, and while my previous plug-in hybrid Formentor made short work of getting up to motorway speeds, this version’s 0-62mph sprint time of 4.8sec is in another league entirely.

As well as sounding altogether rortier than my old car, this Formentor also benefits from four-wheel drive – useful on greasy roads – and a number of extra driving modes. Among these is ‘Performance’, which puts the gearbox into its sport setting, dials up the noise from the exhaust and sharpens up responses from the accelerator, and ‘drift’, which comes with a warning only to use it on a racetrack, alongside the promise of sweeping through corners like a racing driver.

While nobody is going to mistake the Formentor for a sports car, I am enjoying the added theatricality of this range-topping version – as do my passengers, who regularly squeal with delight as we move away from each set of traffic lights.

Moving away from plug-in hybrid power means my running costs are now higher than they used to be, but thanks to spending lots of time on the motorway between where I live in London and where my partner lives in Stoke-on-Trent, I’m getting close to matching the Formentor’s official fuel economy figure of 32.5mpg. And to keep my running costs in check, I’m filling up in Stoke, where I’ve noted an average of three-pence-per-litre difference in petrol costs.

There’s also been a welcome boost to practicality, because while my old car had a battery which ate into the available boot space, resulting in barely any more room than you’d find in a VW Golf, this Formentor has a 420 litres – more than you’d find in a Toyota C-HR. And that means I've got more space for my weekly shop, or the results from a spring trip to Ikea. 

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