When we drove the updated Cupra Formentor earlier this year, we came away impressed but feeling that it lacked a bit of soul and personality. This should do the trick: it’s the Formentor VZ5, and it comes with the same snorty 2.5-litre turbocharged inline-five you get in the Audi RS3.
Keen students of sporty Spanish crossovers will note that this isn’t the first Formentor VZ5. There was a pre-facelift one, but it was made in left-hand drive only. Cupra did at one point say that it would import a measly 10 examples to the UK, but if they ever did make it over here, the brand kept very quiet about it.
Cupra Formentor VZ5 – front detail
This time, though, the VZ5 is coming to Britain, and with the steering wheel on the right side to boot. Still hooked to a seven-speed DSG, the engine’s a tiny bit down on power compared to the RS3, with 385bhp compared to the Audi’s 394bhp, but really, when you’ve got one of the most glorious engines left in production under the bonnet, who’s counting? Cupra hasn’t confirmed performance figures yet, but safe to assume it’ll comfortably best the 4.8 seconds the 329bhp four-cylinder version takes to hit 62mph.
How, you might be wondering, will you be able to tell the VZ5 apart from lesser Formentors, if the faint whiff of Audi Quattro from its exhaust note isn’t enough? Up front, it gets a redesigned front bumper with a new splitter, and along the side, you’ll find VZ5-specific 20-inch wheels sitting in subtly swollen arches. At the back, changes are rounded out by a new diffuser integrating a quartet of copper-tipped exhausts, because Cupra.
Cupra Formentor VZ5 – rear
We don’t have any pics of the inside yet, but it should be pretty much as we’ve seen from the regular facelifted Formentor. Cupra has confirmed it’ll get the same superb Sabelt Cup bucket seats the brand likes to stick in its sportiest models.
Though Brits will be able to get their hands on the VZ5 in greater numbers this time, it’ll still be a rarity. Cupra’s only building 4000 globally, with no confirmation of how many are coming to the UK. We don’t know how much it’ll cost either, but we’ll presumably find out more when it goes into production in the first quarter of next year.
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