Model Year 24/25 Buying a new Formentor

[Wolfie54]

Hi there

Please excuse me if I am repeating topics already raised but I am new to this forum and I am sure that you will redirect me if needed.

I am now ready to change my car (as well as the Yeti I driven Volvo's, Honda's as well as a number of VAG cars such as a Golf Mk2 G60 Edition One and a Lupo GTI. I am now slowing down a bit, hence the Yeti, but now looking to change my car and currently appreciating the handsome looks, etc. of a Formentor eTSI 150 in metallic graphene (with a sunrooof). However I live on the west coast of Wales (near Barmouth) and my nearest Cupra dealership is in Shrewsbury (over 70 miles away), although I would probably use either Stourbridge or Wolverhampton where my son and daughter live (separately!). For that reason I need a car that I know won't need to visit to dealership too often.
However, I have been reading some rather negative comments such as: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=86&t=2052289 (particularly Boxster5) and others. I know that there are always, for their own reasons, detractors on certains brands and models, but...I. was also surprised that few people come back to defend the brand, etc.

Please can you help, I don't want to resort to Transformer type SUVs or boring hatchbacks, so can you help with some balancing advice and comments, etc. ?

 

[Ouzify]

From my experience with the formentor

I would not recommend one with a sunroof, especially if your dealer is that far away!

I had so many issues with mine, constantly phoning breakdown or customer care, turning interior lights on and off, sunroof gettin stuck open because the control panel stopped responding
I had the panel replaced 3 times, but it made no difference. Every time the weather got a bit cold, it would cause havoc.

 

[Wolfie54]

Ouzify, sorry to hear that. What year/trim is your Formentor, have you had any other problems and what has delighted you with the car?

 

[Ouzify]

I no longer have the car, I got fed up with it

But it was a 73 plate
So late 2023 formentor V2 1.5tsi

 

[Wolfie54]

Again, thank you. I guess this this not want I wanted to hear. But thank you for your honest response.

 

[Ouzify]

I have swapped to a Leon e-hybrid FR
The 1.5 PHEV engine
And it’s definitely better than the formentor

The infotainment is much nicer to use, less tech, less to go wrong
Hybrid system is very good too.

I’d recommend less tech if you can avoid it, less to go wrong in my experience

 

[dazed]

I have a 3 year old VZ2, bought from new. I've had no problems, the lack of lit 'buttons' and physical buttons has not been an issue even though I thought it would be.

My biggest gripe is the size of the cup holders
The infotainment is fine I spent some time setting it up and dont need to dig through menus anymore. The driver assist settings are easy to get to, but I dont bother as they dont annoy me.

Its very comfortable, it's fast enough to be fun, sure it doesn't handle like a hot hatch and it wont but its pretty good, to me its a trade off against ease of access. The gearbox can be a bit lazy when pulling away from a slow roll in comfort and eco modes, but not in sport and manual modes.
Its not particularly economical, but its pretty quick and cant help myself giving it a blast so I expect someone with a lighter right foot would get better MPG!
I'd recommend a VZ version as that what I have

 

[KJA]

Well mine is 2024 VZN 310.
Got in feb2024 brand new.
My daily driver and at 20K approx.
I would say fault free. Few gremlins here and there.
It is expected now a days with modern tech involved.
I don't play much with sunroof got no time.
But whenever I do it works.

Infotainment system freezed on me few times but there is a way around to it. So not a big issue for me.
Hold the power button for more than 10sec it reboots.

Over head Interior light did switch ON by itself several times while driving.
But again not a big issue I just leave it alone.

Apart from that main functionality of car is perfect and I am happy.

Previously had Audi q3 2020 tfsi 45 vorsprung basically same car if you know what i mean, that was plagued with leaking sunroof. That was a bigger issue where footwells were filled with water.

And before that Jaguar F pace plagued with engine faults, corrosion etc. Went into rejection.

Everyone would have their own experience.

It would be good to have a full manufacturer warranty for peace of mind.

 

[Wolfie54]

I have swapped to a Leon e-hybrid FR
The 1.5 PHEV engine
And it’s definitely better than the formentor

The infotainment is much nicer to use, less tech, less to go wrong
Hybrid system is very good too.

I’d recommend less tech if you can avoid it, less to go wrong in my experience

Ok. So you remained loyal to Cupra, interseting Is that because you have owned Cupra's before the Formenter? Is the Leon a late 2024/2025 with the new -improved Infotainment system? Apologies for all these questions!

 

[Ouzify]

Ok. So you remained loyal to Cupra, interseting Is that because you have owned Cupra's before the Formenter? Is the Leon a late 2024/2025 with the new -improved Infotainment system? Apologies for all these questions!

It’s a Seat Leon rather than the Cupra,
But yeah, 2024, with the larger 20kw battery

 

[Wolfie54]

I have a 3 year old VZ2, bought from new. I've had no problems, the lack of lit 'buttons' and physical buttons has not been an issue even though I thought it would be.

My biggest gripe is the size of the cup holders
The infotainment is fine I spent some time setting it up and dont need to dig through menus anymore. The driver assist settings are easy to get to, but I dont bother as they dont annoy me.

Its very comfortable, it's fast enough to be fun, sure it doesn't handle like a hot hatch and it wont but its pretty good, to me its a trade off against ease of access. The gearbox can be a bit lazy when pulling away from a slow roll in comfort and eco modes, but not in sport and manual modes.
Its not particularly economical, but its pretty quick and cant help myself giving it a blast so I expect someone with a lighter right foot would get better MPG!
I'd recommend a VZ version as that what I have

dazed, many thanks for your thoughts. Do you think that the quality of build is good, say better than VW. As you will have read Ouzify had big problems with the sunroof. Do you have one? Do you know whether other owners have had problems? Apologies for the questions but I feel I need to be assured before deciding, although you can never be 100%!

 

[Wolfie54]

Well mine is 2024 VZN 310.
Got in feb2024 brand new.
My daily driver and at 20K approx.
I would say fault free. Few gremlins here and there.
It is expected now a days with modern tech involved.
I don't play much with sunroof got no time.
But whenever I do it works.

Infotainment system freezed on me few times but there is a way around to it. So not a big issue for me.
Hold the power button for more than 10sec it reboots.

Over head Interior light did switch ON by itself several times while driving.
But again not a big issue I just leave it alone.

Apart from that main functionality of car is perfect and I am happy.

Previously had Audi q3 2020 tfsi 45 vorsprung basically same car if you know what i mean, that was plagued with leaking sunroof. That was a bigger issue where footwells were filled with water.

And before that Jaguar F pace plagued with engine faults, corrosion etc. Went into rejection.

Everyone would have their own experience.

It would be good to have a full manufacturer warranty for peace of mind.

Wow, KJA, many thanks. I guess that things tend to sort themselves out and info. e.g. on reboots sounds good - are these hand hints in the driver's handbook? Do you have any ideas on dealerships? By the way as Formenter's are not that frequently seen (not in west Wales anyway) do you get people talking to you about your car?

 

[MJ]

dazed, many thanks for your thoughts. Do you think that the quality of build is good, say better than VW. As you will have read Ouzify had big problems with the sunroof. Do you have one? Do you know whether other owners have had problems? Apologies for the questions but I feel I need to be assured before deciding, although you can never be 100%!

Seat/Cupra build quality is nowhere near as good as VW.

 

[KJA]

Wow, KJA, many thanks. I guess that things tend to sort themselves out and info. e.g. on reboots sounds good - are these hand hints in the driver's handbook? Do you have any ideas on dealerships? By the way as Formenter's are not that frequently seen (not in west Wales anyway) do you get people talking to you about your car?

Those hand hints I got to know here and there i guess this forum.
You won't find those in hand book for sure.
For dealers I am in London area. So I got mine from Seat Hatfield. Basically they are Group 1 auto.
Group 1 auto have nearly all big brands under dealerships.
But I am not sure if that makes any difference.
Previous audi was also from Group 1 Chingford audi.
Once had c200 w205 from Group 1, Mercedes benz of Peterborough.
Now a days it's a common sight in London area.
I have seen the face lift formentors as well.
Once while leaving parking was stopped by 2 ladies enquiring what is the brand of this car
Not sure if you have already checked carwow website that would assist you to find some discounted price.

 

[Wolfie54]

Thank you for all of this. I will check carwow as well.

 

[dazed]

dazed, many thanks for your thoughts. Do you think that the quality of build is good, say better than VW. As you will have read Ouzify had big problems with the sunroof. Do you have one? Do you know whether other owners have had problems? Apologies for the questions but I feel I need to be assured before deciding, although you can never be 100%!

I've not owned a VW so cant compare but I dont have any complaints about the buld quality.
I dont have a sunroof, but have read a lot of comments on here about problems with control panels, but then no one is going to create a post saying their sunroof is working... car forums are usually full of posts from owners looking for help with issues.
I know it's a tough decision, good luck

 

[SRGTD]

I've not owned a VW so cant compare but I dont have any complaints about the buld quality.
I dont have a sunroof, but have read a lot of comments on here about problems with control panels, but then no one is going to create a post saying their sunroof is working... car forums are usually full of posts from owners looking for help with issues.
I know it's a tough decision, good luck

I’ve owned 5 VW’s from new and the build quality of some of those cars has been well below what I would expect for a German brand. Only one of the five had what I would consider to be good build quality, and that car wasn’t perfect either (it had a paint imperfection on the nearside sill).

Issues on the other four cars included misaligned body panels and / or uneven panel gaps, one car had the wrong colour bumper insert trim fitted, one had a small dent and another had paintwork scratches. So much for the so called legendary build quality of a German car builder. Admittedly, the dent and scratches could have happened during transit from the factory to the dealership but IMHO all of these issues were things that should have been picked up during post-build QC procedures or during PDI and rectified before delivery.

I would hope Cupra build quality is better than my experience with VW, especially as VAG seem to have aspirations of Cupra being a premium brand.

 

[KJA]

I am not sure what to call it build quality or some cost cutting measures.
If I compare my previous Audi Q3 vorsprung which is the top model with formentor VZN again a top model both VAG and similar.
Difference is audi had B&O audio which was far stronger than current Beats audio.
Audi had front and back ambient lighting , footwell lights, door sill lights, door puddle lights.
Formentor just in front, rear is dark.
360 degrees camera of audi was very good crystal clear.
Formentor it's OK it does the job.
Interior material is more or less same maybe audi slightly better.
In audi there was some rattle from front passenger side which was intermittent and annoying at times I think it developed around 10K mark.
So far formentor is rattle free at 20K who knows till when.
But I got this car for the 310 BHP and the green colour which puts a smile everyday.
Again those difference you would only notice if you have experienced something better to compare with.
Otherwise it would be just an upgrade from what you had previously.

 

[Wolfie54]

I've not owned a VW so cant compare but I dont have any complaints about the buld quality.
I dont have a sunroof, but have read a lot of comments on here about problems with control panels, but then no one is going to create a post saying their sunroof is working... car forums are usually full of posts from owners looking for help with issues.
I know it's a tough decision, good luck

Many thanks for your thoughts, dazed. To be fair recent road test reviews of the Formentor have praised the interior quality compared with current VW models. I guess that you are right about sunroofs, etc., and that's why I am asking the question(s) and hoping for honest responses from members of the forum. Again, many thanks.

 

[tomek_olo]

Even though I am pretty satisfied with my Leon and wouldn't swap it for other car

BUT

I would not buy a car of brand that has dealership so far away.

I bought my Cupra in a dealership 200 km away from home (Cupra was not there yet), but I already knew that I will be able to service it at a local Seat dealership in my hometown.