About the Cupra Formentor
M Scott purchased this Cupra Formentor new with additional options for $71,000 (including all on-road costs). M Scott would buy this car again because: “Outstanding performance, excellent ride and handling thanks to adaptive dampers, well sorted chassis balance, very comfortable seats, sold build quality, attractive interior and exterior design, Swiss Army knife like utility, uncommon on the road and different. Only car nerds know what it is.”
How reliable has your car been? Tell us about any issues.
Very reliable. No issues with the first six months of ownership.
What do you think of the ownership experience with your car?
Have really enjoyed the car over the past six months. Has been an excellent round town commuter (school runs and shops) with dampers in soft for speed bumps and crap inner city roads.
Also an excellent GT and freeway cruiser (eats miles) lots of overtaking grunt. But its ability to cover ground on country roads at pace is outstanding. Even comfortable and capable on dirt road due to its slightly higher ride height and all-wheel drive. Spare (space saver) tyre very welcome in this regard.
Only real negatives are:
- The lack of physical buttons and dials for climate and sound – these are on Haptic Touch sliders on the head unit and they are rubbish.
- The touchscreen head unit is a bit of a pain and not intuitive. It takes time to learn whether functional are in the menus and it draws you eye and attention away from the road.
- If you are easy on the throttle, you can get 7 to 8 litres per 100 km. But if you’re up it, it can be thirsty, 10 to 15 litres per 100km. That’s the price for performance and AWD weight.
How has the purchase and aftercare experience been with your car?
Punching the car was NOT an enjoyable experience. The dealer wants you to do everything online, from configuration selection, paperwork, contract and payments (bank checks are now not accepted).
There are no price negotiation or handshake deals. The car handover experience was lousy, the young salesman had not read or understood the purchase contract, he did not provide a detailed run through of the cars operation or functions.
Given the cars unintuitive head unit UI/UX this was a must. It was so poor as soon as we left the dealer we had to pull over and google functions in order to have sufficient knowledge to drive the car home.
The first service interval is 12 months, so we are yet to experience this. On the upside the car come with three years of free car serving
Are you happy with the price and features of your car?
Yes, the car is well priced for its performance, fit, finish and fully loaded safety features. Also comes well equipped with all the bells and whistles. I highly recommend the moon roof option.
Unless you are tracking the car (which is not its forte) I would pass on the optional Brembo brakes. The standard brakes are rock solid, resistant to fade and you get to have a space saver on hand.
What do you think of the performance and economy of your car?
Performance from the EA 888 2.0-litre turbo is strong. A little doughy below 2500rpm, but then it pulls like a freight train all the way through the rev range. It’s nicely mated to the seven-speed dual clutch which shifts quickly and reliably.
The price for performance is less than stellar fuel economy.
What do you think of the technology in your car?
With the exception of the haptic sliders for the climate and volume control – not having physical buttons and dials here is a backward step – and head unit with too many sub menus, the technology is very good.
What do you think of the ride comfort and handling of your car?
Outstanding, definitely a strong suit.
Do you have any additional comments about your car?
I love this car.