Driving report: Cupra Formentor VZ5: On five cylinders

Wayne Griffiths is bursting with joy. The Cupra boss has succeeded in what other group brands have tried in vain – including Volkswagen. The Spaniards brought Audi its highly praised five-cylinder off the production shelf. At Audi, the 2.5-liter five-cylinder turbo gasoline engine drives the RS3, RS Q3 and TT RS and delivers a whopping 400 hp. At least officially, it shouldn’t be that much in the Cupra Formentor VZ5 – but Griffith’s broad grin gets even wider when he assures us that the Cupra only delivers 390 hp and thus adheres to the pecking order in the company.

The small but subtle difference is also ensured by the fact that the Formentor VZ5 is sealed off at 250 km / h, but the Audi is allowed to go up to 280 km / h – both could noticeably more without a limiter. But at least there is a tie between Audi and Cupra with a maximum torque of 480 Nm. And the 4.2 seconds in which the 4.45 meter long Cupra sprints from zero to 100 feel as fast as it sounds.

But it’s not just the engine that turns the top Formentor into an aggressive SUV coupé. The body is ten millimeters lower than that of its brothers. 20-inch rims in Cupra design roll in the wheel arches. The four-pipe exhaust system with its obliquely stacked bronze tailpipes ensures acoustically that the irrepressible power comes across. The stiffer setup for the adaptive dampers, the pleasantly direct steering, the all-wheel drive and the crisp 18-inch braking system with its six-piston calipers make agile and sporty driving a pure pleasure.

The adjustable drift mode, which lets the Formentor VZ5 slide over empty parking spaces in all transverse positions, also ensures “pleasure”. Six driving modes can be set at the push of a button on the steering wheel – the most impressive being the Cupra mode. The progressive steering is even tighter, the acceleration is even more toxic and the Formentor rolls even harder. The seven-speed dual clutch transmission works stringently and without interrupting the flow of power – acoustically nice with double-declutching when shifting down quickly.

In addition to the engine, Audi also provided the torque splitting system. Its task is not only to distribute the drive force variably between the axles, but to shift it as optimally as possible to the side on which it can be used most effectively for propulsion. Torque splitting ensures that the Formentor remains manageable even in extreme driving situations and on slippery surfaces.

The Formentor is based on the VW Group’s modular transverse toolkit, on which the VW Tiguan and Seat Ateca are also based. But beyond that, the Formentor is the first model of the still young brand that was developed completely independently and not from a Seat model range. The front with the bronze Cupra logo is structured, the bonnet has been redesigned and the fenders are wide. The designers attached great importance to the colors and the appearance of the materials. Good is different.

Inside, the SUV coupé offers a surprising amount of space despite the sloping roofline. The new bucket seats at the front offer excellent lateral support – even when you are particularly fast on the racetrack. The 10.25-inch digital instrument directly in front of the driver can be configured, but also changes its appearance depending on the driving mode. In the middle of the dashboard is the twelve-inch touchscreen for navigation, entertainment and vehicle settings. The operation is not exactly intuitive and quickly turns into a single fiddling. Oh yes: 450 liters fit in the cargo space.

Cupra is still silent about the prices for the Formentor VZ5. In any case, the little brother with 310 hp costs 45,090 euros. The five-cylinder could easily reach 60,000 euros when it hits the market in the last quarter of 2021. At least one thing is clear so far: More than 7,000 units should not be built.