Cupra Formentor VZ5 review

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Facelifted crossover hits the UK with some five-cylinder fire in its belly

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The Cupra Formentor VZ5 has been one of the most tantalising will-it-won’t-it cars of the past few years.

We have always liked the Formentor. Ostensibly just a higher-riding, slightly alternative Leon estate, in the right spec it has offered an effortlessly compelling blend of real-world practicality, some luxury and an engaging driving experience.

The VZ5 adds a truly special powerplant in the form of Audi’s five-cylinder engine, which should have been the cherry on top. However, it has for years remained a left-hand-drive-only proposition that wasn’t available on our shores.

That always seemed odd to us, since the MQB platform the Formentor shares with the Audi RS3 is clearly geared up for right-hand drive, and since British buyers generally worship hot hatches and hot hatch-adjacent crossovers.

Now the Formentor has been facelifted and that injustice has been redressed. There’s finally a right-hand-drive version on sale in this country. The VZ5 is limited to 4000 units, of which only 250 are bound for the UK, though we wouldn’t be surprised if a few more end up over here. So was it worth the wait?

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DESIGN & STYLING

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The Formentor was the first Cupra that wasn’t a sporty version of an existing Seat. When it was launched in 2020, it set out how Cupra could make cars that were a little bit sporty and a little bit premium while using shared Volkswagen Group mechanicals.

Over the years, the MQB toolkit has evolved, and the Formentor has reaped the benefits of that. At the more prosaic end of the line-up it meant that the plug-in hybrids gained electric range and all versions got significantly upgraded infotainment systems. More excitingly, the top-end petrol engines gained more power, and the four-wheel-drive versions received the rear torque-splitting differential that was introduced on the Volkswagen Golf R.

I get that Cupra thinks it’s unlike other performance brands and doesn’t do bright colours but, for cars like this, it should be prepared to break the mould. Offering one punchy shade of orange or green among several wouldn’t have hurt.
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

The VZ5 is the ultimate evolution, with the ‘EA855’ inline five-cylinder engine that was previously exclusive to Audi. The Volkswagen Group is exploring if it can give this engine a future by using it more widely, and the VZ5 is the first step of that project. It’s familiar from the Audi RS3, though it has slightly less power and torque in the Formentor. Elsewhere, the drivetrain is close to identical, with the same seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, clutch-based four-wheel drive and the group’s torque-splitting differential on the rear axle.

On the chassis side, the VZ5 gets the highest specification available on the Formentor, but only a few truly bespoke elements. That means the VZ5 receives adaptive dampers as standard with 10mm-lower springs than on other Formentors, while the wheels are 20in items. That is an inch bigger than on other Formentors, but they are the same front and rear – unlike on the RS3, which has narrower tyres on the rear to dial in a bit more oversteer. Brakes are the same as on the 328bhp 2.0-litre VZ: perforated floating discs at the front with six-piston calipers by Akebono.

In 2024, the Formentor got a facelift to take it further away from the Seat range, and the VZ5 naturally benefits from that as well. The headlights lean more heavily on Cupra’s three-triangle motif, and the previously round driving lights are now also triangular. At the back, the full-width light bar incorporates the Cupra tribal logo.

At the same time, Cupra’s design team also swore off bright colours, so while previously you could order a Formentor in red, your current choices are dark grey, blue and copper, many of them in a matt finish. Although the muted colour palette does conform to customer demand, we feel a top-flight performance model like the VZ5 deserves a standout colour.

Instead, the VZ5 is marked out by its unique 20in wheels, a carbonfibre front splitter and a rear diffuser, and diagonally stacked copper exhaust pipes. Look closely and you might spot a little VZ5 insignia on the front air dam.

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INTERIOR

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When we road tested the original Formentor, we particularly liked the imaginative application of colour and trim. Five years later, some of it remains, but a lot of it has been sadly muted. The petrol blue leather and many of the copper-coloured accents have gone, in favour of plainer grey.

The aluminium-effect trim pieces also look a bit too much like what they really are, which is plastic. The shapes are still quite interesting, and the perceived quality is generally a cut above most of the mainstream hatchbacks, but the design no longer grabs your attention all that much, and nor is it particularly modern.

The much-maligned touch bar for the climate controls and volume is still here, but I don’t mind it. You can just tap the zones instead of swiping, and they’re fairly responsive.
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

What does immediately stand out in a positive way are the ‘Cup’ bucket seats made by noted purveyor of racing accoutrements Sabelt. They come on the VZ3 trim of other Formentors and are standard on the VZ5. Even if they weren’t, they’d be worth whatever money Cupra would care to charge for them, because not only do they look the part, but they feel the part as well. Carbonfibre-backed but electrically adjustable and with a memory function, they are a seat masterclass in how they are at once as comfortable as any limousine armchair and able to hold you in when the driving gets serious. In day-to-day driving, having to lift yourself over the substantial side bolster is a slight annoyance, but it’s well worth the effort.

The ergonomics generally are hard to fault. Most should be able to find a comfortable driving position, at a height that suits them, and the user interface has a reasonable mix of physical and well-considered touchscreen controls. The Formentor was never tainted with a touch-sensitive steering wheel or awkward window controls, and even the touch bar for the climate control works quite well once you realise you can just tap instead of swipe on it.

For the facelift, the centre touchscreen has had a major upgrade. It has grown to 12in and runs on Cupra’s version of the Volkswagen Group’s MIB4 software. That means it responds quickly and logically, and has a good amount of user-configurability to the home screen and the shortcut bar. The internet connectivity isn’t as seamless as on some recent cars, and the built-in navigation isn’t brilliant, but then most drivers will simply default to their chosen brand of phone mirroring, which works fine.

While the Formentor VZ5 is the sort of SUV that focuses much more on the sport than the utility, it is clearly a lot more practical than the mechanically similar Audi RS3. There’s a useful 5cm more knee room in the back, and at 410 litres the boot is really quite generous.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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We said in our Audi RS3 road test last year that this five-cylinder unit may be one of the last great mainstream engines, and that remains true. Its baleful howl is an event any and every time you evoke it. Sure, it’s not dissimilar to the sound of Volvo T5s and Audi Quattros, but it’s not something you get with any other current production engine today. You have to look to a Porsche GT3 to find a modern powerplant that sings as much as the EA855.

Its power delivery is remarkably old-school too, and a far cry from today’s typical hybridised performance engine. It wants at least 3000rpm on the tacho before it really starts pulling. Note the leisurely in-gear acceleration times in the lower-speed increments, and the big disparity between the outright 30-70mph time and the one in fourth gear.

You can be on an ordinary journey, being annoyed by the traffic, or the VZ5’s ride, but just flexing your right foot and calling forth some classic Quattro noises always raises a smile. There aren’t many new cars that can do such a thing.
Richard Lane
Deputy road test editor

It adds a welcome bit of texture and character, and if you are after full performance it can be easily accessed by simply gearing down. Helpfully, it doesn’t suffer too much from actual turbo lag; that is to say, throttle response is fairly immediate.

Get this engine on boost, and the performance it conjures is mighty. Frustratingly, our car’s launch control was slightly unreliable. Normally, engaging Cupra mode, setting the ESC to Sport and putting your left foot on the brake while flooring the throttle should prime it, but our car wasn’t always willing to dial up enough revs. In those cases it bogged away from the line and left about a second on the table. With everything working correctly, though, the systems make sure there’s just a minute amount of wheelspin and the dual-clutch gearbox rifles efficiently through the gears.

The result is that this transverse-engined crossover can stay ahead of an Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio up to 80mph (although that car was tested in the damp). Thereafter, the Alfa’s 503bhp V6 proves mightier, but only by a little.

On the road, the five-cylinder is always an event. The exhaust noise is relatively restrained even in the spicier modes, which we think is appropriate, since the boy racers will probably put an aftermarket exhaust on it anyway.

The seven-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic feels its age, though. It’s effective at maximum attack and responds well to the paddles, but in daily use it shunts, clunks and lurches when you don’t give it enough time to think. We couldn’t help imagining this car with a six-speed manual, even if that would be a niche proposition.

It’s a similar story with the brakes, which hold up well during track use, with short stopping distances both in the dry and the wet and no fade. However, the pedal is frustratingly inconsistent: there’s some dead travel at the top, after which the brakes grab quite suddenly, and it’s hard to predict when exactly they will engage. In stop-start traffic, you simply have to accept that perfectly smooth stops will be the exception rather than the rule.

RIDE & HANDLING

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Just like the Audi RS3, the Formentor VZ5 is a fundamentally unbalanced car that mimics balance by way of clever chassis technology. Although it’s not too heavy overall by modern standards (1656kg as tested), there’s a heavy engine over the front axle giving a 58:42 weight distribution. Power goes to the front wheels in the first instance, with 50% able to be redirected to the rear, where the torque splitter can send a big portion to one side.

The latter plays a huge part in masking the imbalance, together with the variable-ratio steering, because as soon as you attack a twisty road with some enthusiasm, this car does feel quite agile. There’s plenty of front grip and turn-in bite, and while it doesn’t tend to oversteer on the power like a true rear-drive or rear-biased four-wheel-drive car, it clearly rotates into the corner on the power.

These 20in wheels are unique to the VZ5 and are bigger than on any other Formentor. Unlike on the related Audi RS3, they’re the same width front and rear. At the front they hide 375mm floating disc brakes with six-piston calipers. These also come on the 328bhp 2.0-litre.
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

Even in Comfort mode the steering is a little heavy and dead-feeling, but despite only 1.9 turns lock to lock it feels nicely calm and progressive just off-centre, only quickening during parking manoeuvres. This lets you be very precise with your inputs on a B-road.

The Formentor is at its best when you’re being neat and tidy, and will pick apart a good road very effectively, with just a hint of throttle-adjustability to the balance. It’s secure and enjoyable. You can easily find yourself going really rather quickly, mind.

Try to push it beyond its comfort zone on a track and the VZ5 can become quite ragged – more so than the RS3. The Formentor doesn’t rotate quite as readily on a trailing throttle as you might hope for from something that makes such overt rally car noises, both in the wet and the dry, so you have a bit more of a battle with understeer than is ideal.

Drift mode will send more power to the outside rear wheel and can make the VZ5 oversteer on the power, but even then it’s never as natural as, say, a BMW M340i, and it’s never abundantly clear which axle is going to lose grip first. The Formentor isn’t a tricky track car in the sense that it’s liable to spit you off, but making smooth and fast progress around a circuit can take a bit of practice.

Comfort & isolation

It seems the adaptive dampers do little to mitigate the ill effects of the very large wheels and lowered springs, because for something that will most likely serve as a do-everything car, the Formentor VZ5 can be very harsh.

First, there’s a low-level rumble that never goes away. It manifests itself in the form of road noise, and generally poor isolation of high-frequency vibrations. Then the suspension feels very brittle as potholes, expansion joints and other sharp intrusions really bang through.

You would think that with stiff suspension at least general body control would be good, but again the VZ5 disappoints here. In the softer modes of the adaptive dampers it feels quite underdamped as it rebounds a few times after a bump or compression. Firming them up improves things, at the cost of making the secondary isolation even worse.

The constantly noisy, busy ride all makes this a slightly tiring car to drive, where you’re always worried about the wellbeing of those big alloy wheels. It’s saved only by the superb bucket seats.

The ADAS is also generally manageable. The lane keeping assistance, overspeed warning and driver monitoring are all typically intrusive when left on but are easily disabled by swiping down on the main screen, tapping the ADAS button and then quickly toggling off various functions. The adaptive cruise control is quite responsive, but the closest following distance is fairly far, and there’s no option to switch to standard cruise control.

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MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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At £64,495, the Formentor VZ5 is clearly an expensive car for Cupra, one that really tests its premium credentials. Even so, it’s actually slightly cheaper than a fully optioned Audi RS3. Overall, considering the amount of interior space and performance you get, it’s not a terrible deal. A BMW M340i Touring or Audi S5 Avant with some options costs a similar amount, and neither is as quick. The next level of performance SUVs such as an Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio are also on the next level of price, while cars like the BMW X1 M35 don’t really compare for driving fun.

You will also pay a price at the pump, because the EA855 wants premium fuel to give its full performance, and even on a motorway run will barely return 30mpg. Wake the turbo, and things quickly get much worse. At 55 litres the fuel tank also isn’t overly large, so you’ll be stopping quite often.

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VERDICT

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On paper, the idea of the Formentor VZ5 makes total sense: take the very exciting mechanicals of the Audi RS3, and wrap them up in a more practical and comfortable crossover package.

Sure enough, the five-pot engine is as powerful and addictive as ever, and that Formentor package is roomy and quite premium-feeling. However, the overburdened gearbox, poor ride quality, general lack of isolation and inconsistent body control make this quite a tiring car to drive, which isn’t in keeping with its mission, and while the handling is secure and fairly entertaining, it isn’t as well resolved as on some alternatives.

This car shows that Cupra has the intent to make some great driver's cars but might still be developing the necessary confidence to really 'put it all out there'. The way it's going, though, that should come soon enough.
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

We’ve been waiting a long time for the right-hand-drive VZ5, and while it is a likeable everyday performance car in many ways, we feel it could have been executed better.

Illya Verpraet

Illya Verpraet Road Tester Autocar
Title: Road Tester

As a road tester, Illya drives everything from superminis to supercars, and writes reviews and comparison tests, while also managing the magazine’s Drives section. Much of his time is spent wrangling the data logger and wielding the tape measure to gather the data for Autocar’s in-depth instrumented road tests.

He loves cars that are fun and usable on the road – whether piston-powered or electric – or just cars that are very fit for purpose. When not in test cars, he drives an R53-generation Mini Cooper S or a 1990 BMW 325i Touring.