New Cupra Formentor review

If you need an SUV but want to avoid boxy and boring at all costs, the Cupra Formentor is aimed squarely – or not-so squarely – at you.

You see, the Spanish brand has designed the Formentor to combine the family SUV practicality of the Cupra Ateca with a sleeker coupé look. You get lots of metallic detailing to set it apart from other SUVs and it's not necessarily as expensive as you might imagine (as long as you pick the right version).

If you're looking for maximum performance, there's the 328bhp flagship Formentor – a proper sports SUV that goes toe to toe with the BMW X2 M35i and VW T-Roc R.

Meanwhile, more restrained versions – including two petrol plug-in hybrids – are up against SUVs with slightly swoopy rooflines, ranging from the Audi Q3 Sportback and DS 4 to the Renault Arkana and Toyota C-HR.

The Cupra Formentor has been updated for 2024, with tweaked looks and improved tech. Read on to find out whether it's still a worthy rival to the best family SUVs...

There's a wide range of engine options for the Cupra Formentor so there's one to suit most buyers.

For something quick enough and not too expensive to run, we'd recommend the entry-level 148bhp 1.5 TSI 150. You don’t have to work it hard to make progress – it’ll beat the entry-level 1.8-litre Toyota C-HR to 62mph for example – and it should be quite efficient.

If that’s not quite fast enough, the 201bhp 2.0 TSI 204 4Drive introduces four-wheel drive and will cover 0-62mph in 8.9 seconds.

The TSI 265 is quicker still, but the fastest Formentor is the 2.0 TSI 333, which is very recommendable as a sports SUV. It feels as quick as the BMW X2 M35i once the engine is on song from around 2,000rpm, and romps away to its 6,500rpm red line, hitting 0-62mph in just 4.8 seconds.

You can have the entry-level engine with mild-hybrid tech (badged eTSI) but there are also two plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) which can officially cover up to 72 miles on electric power alone. Of the two PHEVs, we prefer the 201bhp e-Hybrid 204 because the quicker e-Hybrid 272 is pricey enough to compete with better PHEV SUVs, including the Audi Q3 TFSIe.

The standard suspension that comes with the Formentor's V1, V2 and V3 trims is firmer than less sports-focused rivals but manages to strike a good balance between comfort and body control.

If you opt for VZ1 trim or above, you get adaptive suspension which has three modes to tailor the ride quality.

In Comfort mode, it's a bit firmer than the best-riding SUVs – such as the Skoda Karoq and Volvo XC40 – but less jittery than the Audi Q3, BMW X2 and Renault Arkana. In the stiffest Cupra mode, the Formentor is adequately comfy, giving you improved agility and handling without rattling your brain around.

The Formentor doesn’t feel lithe in corners like a hot hatch but for an SUV it’s surprisingly agile. It steers more sweetly than the DS 4 and Toyota C-HR with better weighting and accuracy. There's even a little feel from the road surface, so you can sense the grip available.

Grip is something you’ll find no shortage of, even in the 1.5 TSI 150, while racier versions of the Formentor can carry even more speed through corners thanks to wider tyres. All the regular petrols have excellent body control that lets you drive them hard with confidence.

The plug-in hybrid (e-Hybrid) versions let the side down though. They're not unwieldy, but the extra weight of their batteries upsets the handling balance.

All Formentor engines are smooth and relatively unobtrusive – which might disappoint enthusiastic drivers who want a sporty family SUV.

Even the exhaust note from the sportiest TSI 333 isn’t as throaty as the cheaper Ford Puma ST – that is, unless you add the optional Akrapovic exhaust, which makes a great noise with the odd pop and bang for added drama.

You won’t hear much from the engine when driving normally, with just some road and wind noise as you get up to motorway speeds. In fact, if you spend a lot of time at 70mph, you might want to take a look at the quieter VW Tiguan.

The entry-level six-speed manual gearbox is slick enough and has quite a short throw. Meanwhile, the 1.5 TSI 150 eTSI’s seven-speed dual-clutch auto gearbox changes gears smoothly and quickly when you’re on the move, but can be a bit jerky when parking and as you pull away from junctions.

If you like a sportier driving position, you should enjoy the Cupra Formentor. You sit much lower down than in most SUVs, including the Audi Q3, Renault Arkana, VW Tiguan and Volvo XC40.

The pedals line up neatly with the steering wheel and the driver’s seat is comfy on long journeys and supportive through corners – especially if you’ve got the electrically adjustable bucket seats that are standard from V2 trim. Height adjustment and adjustable lumbar support are standard on all models.

The dashboard is well laid out, but doesn’t feature any proper buttons or switches. The air-conditioning controls have been replaced with touch-sensitive pads that are difficult to feel, meaning you have to look away from the road to find them. We much prefer the physical controls in the Audi Q3 and Toyota C-HR.

The Formentor's low driving position means you don’t have a commanding view out of the front as you do in some higher family SUVs. Even so, the windscreen pillars are reasonably slender, so seeing out at junctions is no problem.

Rear visibility isn’t quite as good. The chunky rear pillars make reversing into a parking space trickier than it would be in the, for example, the VW Tiguan. Luckily, front and rear parking sensors are standard on all Formentors, while a rear-view camera is added from V2 trim, helping to make parking easy.

Visibility at night is good, thanks to powerful LED headlights coming as standard with all trim levels. The VZ2 and VZ3 trims add automatic high-beam assist.

All Formentors come with built-in sat-nav, a DAB radio, four USB-C ports, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring, wireless phone-charging and, since the 2024 facelift, a larger 12.9in infotainment touchscreen.

The screen itself is bright and clear, and the new operating system is definitely an improvement on the previous system, responding to your prods faster. Even so, you still operate it almost entirely through touch, making it more distracting to use on the move than if you had more physical controls. 

To get around that issue, you get natural voice control in the Formentor. To wake it up, you shout “Hola, Hola” followed by a command such as “I’m cold”, which should turn up the heater, although it didn't always work for us.

The Formentor's interior has lots of visual appeal. It looks a little like the one in the vastly more expensive Lamborghini Urus and the perforated leather steering wheel and contrast stitching on the dashboard are suitably sporty.

It's not perfect though: further down in the interior you'll find some hard plastics, and the spray-painted plastic heater vents look a bit cheap.

With V2 trim and above you get Napa leather seat upholstery and a leather-wrapped dashboard, which make the interior feel more upmarket. It trumps the Toyota C-HR interior but the BMW X2 and Volvo XC40 feel a cut above.

“The Formentor has a similar dashboard design to the Seat Leon. There are some key differences between them, though, such as the copper highlights – a Cupra signature.” – Steve Huntingford, Editor

Due to its sporty shape, the Cupra Formentor doesn’t absorb people or their belongings as effortlessly as some family SUVs can, but compared to the BMW X2 and the Toyota C-HR it’s pretty roomy. In fact it offers almost as much practicality as the related Cupra Ateca and Seat Ateca.

There’s plenty of head room in the front and the seats slide back a long way, for maximum leg room. In fact, unless you're incredibly tall you’ll fit just fine. 

Storage space up front is ample, with decent door bins, two cupholders that’ll easily take a cup of coffee, a small cubby to put your phone in and a space in the front armrest, which is standard across the range.

If you’re thinking that the Formentor’s rakish coupé roofline is bound to make it less practical than rivals for rear-seat space, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. Two tall adults will fit comfortably, with good head and leg room, and there’s a fair chunk more space than you’ll find in a DS 4 or Toyota C-HR. 

Even so, plenty of boxier family SUVs offer more space in the back, including the BMW X1, the VW Tiguan and the Volvo XC40. Rear-seat passengers in a Formentor will find shoulder room tight with three adults sitting side by side.

You don’t get as much storage space in the rear as the front: passengers have to make do with small door cubbies and nothing more. With two in the back, an armrest can be folded down from the middle seat backrest.

You get 60/40 split-folding rear seats as standard in the Formentor. They’re easy to fold down but aren’t as versatile as the 40/20/40 rear seats you get in the Audi Q3, the X1 and the Tiguan.

You can’t slide the rear seats forwards and backwards like you can in those rivals, but there is a ski hatch in the backrest of the middle rear seat, meaning you can slot longer items between two rear passengers.

The Formentor's boot will easily deal with a buggy, a set of golf clubs or even luggage for a long weekend away.

The front-wheel-drive models have a handy 450 litres of boot space beneath the parcel shelf, which is reduced to 420 litres in four-wheel-drive (4Drive) versions. Either way, that's more than you get in the C-HR, but a tad less than in the X2.

The exception is the e-Hybrid versions, which make do with a 345 litres of boot space – less than a VW Golf. We managed to fit five carry-on suitcases below the e-Hybrid's parcel shelf – the same as in a DS 4 E-Tense 225.

If you're shopping around for a quick sports SUV you'll find that the Cupra Formentor VZ1 2.0 TSI 4Drive 333 is cheaper than the BMW X2 M35i. Other versions are cheaper, including our favourite V1 1.5 TSI 150 eTSI, which costs less than the entry-level X2 but slightly more than the Toyota C-HR.

Strong predicted resale values result in competitive PCP costs (you can often get discounts through our Cupra car deals page). 

Company car drivers will likely want to take a look at the e-Hybrid PHEVs because their lower CO2 emissions and electric-only ranges help to lower benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax – although not by as much as running an electric car.

There's really no need for anything beyond the entry-level V1 trim because that comes with enough toys. As well as parking aids and touchscreen infotainment, you get 18in alloys, full LED headlights, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, privacy glass, power-folding door mirrors, three-zone climate control, keyless entry and adaptive cruise control. 

VZ1 is the automatic upgrade if you go for one of the more powerful engines (242bhp or 306bhp) and adds 19in alloys, adaptive suspension and a powered tailgate with gesture control. V2 and VZ2 add heated bucket front seats and 19in alloy wheels.

Top-tier VZ3 trim is available only with the most powerful TSI 310 engine and gets you bigger Akebono brakes, bespoke 19in wheels and more sophisticated matrix LED headlights. It’s a fairly pricey trim, so unless those brakes are really important to you we’d stick to the cheaper trims.

Cupra as a brand finished in 32nd place out of 32 car makers in the 2023 What Car? Reliability Survey. That’s right – bottom of the list. 

What’s more, while the facelifted Formentor is too new to have been included in the survey, the pre-facelift car was one of the least dependable family SUVs. That was due to a high number of non-engine electrical glitches and problems with the infotainment system (which has hopefully been fixed with the new 2024 system).

To give you some peace of mind, a five-year/90,000-mile Cupra warranty is included. That’s better than you get with the BMW X2 and Volvo XC40.

The Formentor scored strongly in tough new Euro NCAP safety tests that were introduced in 2021, and was awarded the full five stars.

The Audi Q3 and BMW X2 (both also five-star cars) were tested under an older, less stringent procedure, so it's hard to compare results directly. What we can tell you is that the Formentor proved very good at protecting adult and child occupants in a crash.

Whichever trim level you go for, you’ll be getting a good amount of safety equipment, with automatic emergency braking (AEB), lane-keeping assistance and traffic-sign recognition all coming as standard. Opting for V3 trim adds blind-spot monitoring and a safe exit assist function, while VZ2 and VZ3 models feature advanced lane-change assist.

For all the latest reviews, advice and new car deals, sign up to the What Car? newsletter here