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By Jonathan Crouch

The Formentor was the first unique car from CUPRA. Jonathan Crouch looks at the updated version.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 27

The CUPRA performance brand's first bespoke model was this one, the Formentor, a lively Spanish take on the mid-sized performance SUV concept. It's now been usefully improved.

Backgroundword count: 179

When in 2018, Spanish maker SEAT announced that CUPRA would become a stand-alone brand, we were first served up merely a performance variant of the Iberian maker's Ateca Crossover. This Formentor model in contrast, launched in 2021, was a completely new design - well almost anyway. It did share a platform and some mechanicals with the Ateca, but everything else felt much more bespoke. Now, SEAT wants CUPRA to mean more, creating, in its words, 'a range of unique, sophisticated performance models designed to captivate car enthusiasts.' The idea here, says the company, is 'to create cars not founded in nostalgia but rooted in the present'. Presumably, that's meant to be a dig at directly competing brands like Alfa Romeo and MINI, both of which produce products this Formentor model sets out to directly target: namely, quick, charismatic petrol-powered mid-sized SUVs, cars that offer a lot of what you get in, say, a Porsche Macan for a great deal less money. Is that what we've got here, with this revised Formentor model launched in Summer 2024? Let's find out.

Engines and Tech Specword count: 314

It should be no surprise given CUPRA's mantra as a performance brand that drive dynamics are the Formentor's main focus. For this updated model, the brand claims to have tuned this car for an even sportier dynamic character. And the top 2.0-litre turbo model gets 23PS more power (333PS) and sees the previous Haldex differential swapped for a torque-splitter with a multi-plate clutch at either end of the driveshaft to vary power delivery across the rear axle. There's an entry-level front driven 1.5-litre TSI 150PS variant too (also offered in mild hybrid 48V eTSI form if you order it with DSG auto transmission). But if budget permits, a better choice for efficiency would be one of the two front-driven e-Hybrid PHEV plug-in derivatives, both now usefully improved and offering either 204 or 272PS. In both cases, a 150PS 1.5-litre TSI petrol engine is mated to a 6-speed DSG auto gearbox and an 85kW electric motor powered by a now-larger 19.7kWh lithium-ion battery with a WLTP-rated all-electric driving range now quoted at 70 miles - nearly double that of the previous 13.0kWh version of this model. The top 2.0-litre turbo version, like other Volkswagen Group models using this 333PS unit, gets 4-wheel drive and adaptive damping as part of a very accomplished package. 62mph from rest here takes well over 5s and drive is via the usual VW Group 7-speed dual-clutch paddleshift auto gearbox. And there are five selectable drive mode settings - 'Comfort', 'Off Road', 'Sport' and rorty 'CUPRA', with an extra 'Individual' menu if you want to set your own parameters. Handling through the turns is accomplished, thanks to the 4Drive electro-hydraulic multi-disc system's reassuring levels of traction, its software constantly monitoring numerous sources - steering angle, wheel speed, the yaw of the vehicle and road conditions in real time - so as to always deliver power to the wheels with most traction.

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