Goodwood Test: 2021 Cupra Formentor Review

Back in 2016 we watched as DS split from parent company Citroën to do its own thing, and more recently we’ve seen Polestar make the split from Volvo – both companies are still closely linked to their parents but they now both have their own unique models and branding. And now there’s another nameplate that feels life would be more enjoyable out on its own: Cupra.

If in the past you’ve bought a fast Seat Leon it would have been called a Seat Leon Cupra, but now the higher-ups have decided that Cupra can do better if its left to its own devices, fending for itself and making more of its own brand. Cupra, like Polestar and DS, is today a car company in its own right. So far it has continued to add some spice to Seats, with the Cupra Leon and the Cupra Ateca, but you can only do so much by crossing out Seat and writing Cupra. Enter the Cupra Formentor, the first model designed and built by Cupra alone. There are Ateca underpinnings but Cupra’s designers and engineers have been offered up some freedom, and this is the result.

Where the Cupra Ateca has to follow the form of the regular Seat Ateca, by starting from scratch this is the first showcase of what design really means for Cupra. And it’s immediately obvious that what’s important is… Seat. The headlights are the same shape, there’s still an irregular hexagon grille, there are still two grilles. But there were always going to be similarities, because designing  everything from scratch would have been prohibitively expensive, or at the very least added thousands and thousands of pounds to the cost of every car. Thankfully enough of the Formentor feels new to set it apart from its less sporty cousins.

The daytime LED signature is a more aggressive take on a familiar shape, both grilles are finished in gloss black with a dark grille surround, and there are some sharp creases up and over the bonnet. There’s a tasty crease that runs from the headlights along the side of the car, fades away, then remerges, curving up and across the rear wheel, and the way that line protrudes from the bodywork gives the impression of some heavily flared arches. And at the back there’s another new light signature, angular like the LEDs up front but connected with a strip below the rear window. There are quad exhausts and a dinky diffuser, too. With the Seat/Cupra identity separation some design cues have emerged that probably wouldn’t have existed otherwise.

As for the badge? It’s quite fun. Why just write out the brand’s name when you could come up with something totally new and a little bit whacky?

Firstly, and rather confusingly, although the Formentor you see here is powered by a 310PS (228kW) 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder – yes, Volkswagen nerds, it’s the same EA888 engine you’ll find in the Golf R, Cupra Leon, Audi S3 and so on – you can have a Formentor as a 245PS or 204PS hybrid, or with a 190PS or 150PS engine. Doesn’t that seem a little confusing when Cupra is the performance brand?

As well as 310PS there’s 410Nm (303lb ft) of torque. The Formentor has all-wheel-drive and a seven-speed double-clutch gearbox, and so 0-62mph is dispatched in 4.9 seconds and the top speed is 155mph. It is not the most characterful engine but there’s no denying its effectiveness, with a strong kick from 2,500rpm to just below the 6,500rpm redline. There’s a moment of turbo lag everywhere but that’s to be expected. The all-wheel-drive system isn’t the most aggressive – you can’t feel the power moving around from corner to corner as you can in some other all-wheel-drive VW products – but it still pulls you out of every corner without fuss in any condition.

To make the engine a little more sonorous you can hop through the car’s drive modes, namely Off-Road, Comfort, Sport, Cupra and Individual. Jumping from Comfort to Sport there’s a smidge more noise, as if you went from conversing in a library to a coffee shop (in Comfort you’re really well insulated from the engine). From Sport to Cupra however is like falling out of the coffee shop and into an AC/DC show – the Formentor is shouting as if determined to prove to you just how sporty it is. Sadly, although there’s an added pop to the exhaust, all of that noise is for the occupants ears only, synthesised through the speakers. You may love it – it’s certainly theatrical – but for me fiction should be kept to books and film, not engine sounds.

Jumping through the modes changes other areas of the car’s character, too, from the steering weight to the throttle and gearbox response, and the electronically controlled hydraulic dampers. The steering is a bit too light sub-40mph, but above that and particularly in Cupra mode it has a healthy weight to it. The gearbox is smooth in any mode, relaxed in comfort and ready to kick down in Sport and Cupra, without holding the engine revs too high. It’s the dampers that are interesting, though, offering up a controlled if slightly choppy ride in Comfort and a firmer, more hunkered down feel in Cupra. In Individual mode you’re given the option to adjust the dampers on a sliding scale through 15 settings, the softest even more compliant than in Comfort and the hardest even more tied down than in Cupra.

There are some elements of the cabin that are clearly from the VW parts bin. The 12-inch touchscreen with touch controls at its base for the heater an volume is the same as you’ll find in a VW, Skoda or Seat, as are the light controls and wiper and indicator stalks. But so much of the interior feels fresh. The interface within that central screen, while a tad confusing to begin with, is unique as are the leather seats. In fact the seats are lovely, and the bronze accents on the steering wheel and around the air-con vents really work. It’s all just really nicely finished.

There is a lot to like about how the Formentor is specced. Every car with this engine gets all the toys ‘VZ1’ cars get (the trim you can have with the lesser powered machines), which includes a blind spot monitoring system, exit assist (a warning if there’s traffic and you’re opening a door), adaptive cruise control, 19-inch wheels, the adjustable dampers and various drive modes, a reversing camera, parking sensors front and back and a parking assist system (having a car park itself will always be cool). In addition you get ‘VZ2’ goodies, which means the lovely heated leather seats, the leather wheel and Cupra mode button, the bronze stitching, lane change assist and an automatic breaking system. For an extra £2,370 you can have the ‘VZ3’, which will give you a set of wheels with bronze highlights and Brembo brakes. Put simply very little is optional, meaning you get more bang for your buck.

The Cupra Formentor is not the most thrilling machine to drive but it is always dependable and fast, able to career down the road at speeds an SUV at this price point really shouldn’t. There’s a versatility to it, too, and it’s loaded with all of the gizmos a sporty SUV for this money probably shouldn’t either. Did I love my time with it? No, but if you were to buy one I’d completely understand why.