New Cupra Formentor: revised family SUV now produces up to 329bhp

On sale September 2024 | Price from £35,000 (est)

Robbie Williams deciding to leave Take That was arguably the best decision he ever made, because his songwriting talent and unique performing style allowed him to become a hugely successful solo artist. Similarly, the decision for Cupra to stray away from the Seat brand has been equally rewarding, because the Cupra Formentor – the company’s first bespoke model – has been very popular, with more than 25,000 units being sold in the UK since it was first launched in 2021. 

For 2024, the Formentor has been updated to keep it fresh against an ever-growing variety of family SUVs, including the Kia Sportage – our 2024 Family SUV of the Year – and Hyundai Tucson.

As before, there are plenty of engine options to choose from in the Formentor, including a 148bhp 1.5-litre petrol unit that drives the front wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox. This is our recommended engine in the outgoing version; it’s quick enough for most needs and not too expensive to run.

A mild hybrid version of this engine will be available for the first time. It produces the same 148bhp as the regular version, but instead adds a tiny electric motor and a battery to assist the engine (it can switch off the engine when coasting or recover energy when braking to help save fuel, for example).

If you want a bit more power, a 2.0-litre petrol engine is available in three states of tune: 201bhp, 261bhp or 329bhp. Performance details for these are yet to be finalised, although each version has had a small boost in power compared with the outgoing car, so we can expect them to be slightly quicker. Each of these versions are only available with a seven-speed automatic gearbox, and the 201bhp and 329bhp versions are four-wheel drive only.

Two plug-in hybrid (PHEV) versions of the Formentor will be offered, either with 201bhp or 268bhp. Both use a 1.5-litre petrol engine, an electric motor and 19.7kWh (usable) battery to deliver an official electric-only range of 62 miles. For context, that’s much farther than the Sportage PHEV can manage.

The biggest change comes with the exterior design of the new Formentor, because it has a heavily revised look with a new ‘shark-nose’ front end, triangular LED headlights and an illuminated logo at the rear. These details are present on the new Cupra Leon family car, and will be defining features on other new Cupra models, including the new Cupra Tavascan electric SUV. 

While the design of the interior is very familiar, there have been several changes to the materials to improve quality, with new plastics for the dashboard, centre console and door tops, as well as new fabrics for the upholsteries. The central touchscreen is also larger than before at 12.9in (up from 12.0in), and the infotainment system has been revised, with a simplified layout and a quicker response time. Thankfully, the touch-sensitive sliders for the climate controls are now backlit for driving at night, although they are still more fiddly to use than physical dials.

Full UK specifications for the Formentor are yet to be confirmed, but we can expect pricing to start from around £35,000, which is more than what the Sportage and Tucson will cost you.

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