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Cupra Formentor -

DR

A reminder of the facts for the absent-minded: it was in 2019 that Cupra, until then the name of Seat's sports models, became a brand in its own right, whose destiny was to be sporty and ... electrified.

Small detail, however, its first model, the Ateca, was only a sporty version of the SUV Seat.

So today arrives the Formentor, a cut SUV with a sporty, sexy and expressive look that will never be found in the Seat range.

The Formentor thus fulfills its first mission: to create visibility for the brand.

Cupra Formentor - DR

If the Formentor takes Cupra away from Seat on the outside, it's a little different on the inside.

Rationalization requires, the dashboard is taken as it is from the Leon.

The Cupra "personality" is only affirmed here by the copper-colored decorations (signature of the brand), more sporty front seats and a flattened steering wheel with two small satellites, to start the engine and to select the driving mode.

Apart from that, we therefore find the environment of the Leon, with in particular a multitude of "dematerialized" controls (touch areas rather than buttons), and a multimedia system among the best on the current market.

On the practical side, the rear seats are more than sufficient for real adults, who will not be hampered either in the knees or in the head despite the plunging roof.

As for the trunk, it has a volume of 450 liters in 2-wheel drive versions, 420 liters in the case of 4Drive transmission, and 375 liters for plug-ins.

Cupra Formentor - DR

Not all sporty ... or electrified

Because the Formentor must attract as large an audience as possible, some of these mechanics will be… neither sporty, nor electrified.

The base offering consists of the 1.5 TSI and 2.0 TDI, both with 150 hp.

Then came the 190 hp TSI and the 204 hp plug-in hybrid.

Then things get really serious with a TSI and a 245hp plug-in hybrid, and especially the top-of-the-line 310hp TSI, which we tried.

Cupra Formentor - DR

Within 10hp in favor of the Formentor, the technical basis is the same as that of the Cupra Ateca.

The two models could not be more different, however.

Indeed, as much the Ateca had disappointed us, as much the Formentor does honor to the sporting image that Cupra claims.

The engine delivers roughly the same performance but the adjustable frame - delivered as standard - is of a different caliber.

It is more rigorous, more sport-like.

Explanation: in the Formentor, you are not perched like in an SUV.

The seat height is closer to that of a car, and that changes everything.

Cupra Formentor - DR

In short, the Formentor is the first business card that Cupra needed.

And even if we understand that all of its models will not necessarily perform well, their sex appeal is enough to make the brand quite attractive.

At the risk of cannibalizing Seat?

When the range expands in the coming weeks, the Cupra Formentor will start at around € 32,000.

But for the moment count all the same 44,670 € for the top of the range 310 ch.

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The Cupra Formentor Veloz 310 hp in a few figures

  • Engine: 4 cyl.

    turbo petrol, 1,984 cm3;

    310hp;

    400Nm

  • Transmission: to 4 wheels.

  • Gearbox: 7-speed DSG

  • L / l / h (mm): 4.450 / 1.839 / 1.511

  • Curb weight (kg): 1.644

  • Boot space (l): 420

  • Tank (l): NC

  • 0 to 100 km / h (sec.): 4.9

  • Max speed (km / h): 250

  • Combined consumption (l / 100km): 8.2

  • CO2 (g / km): 186

  • Price (€): 44.670

  • SUV

  • Sports cars

  • Hybrid cars

  • Car

  • Seat

  • Automotive