Top 3 good and bad things about the Formentor

CupraCraig

Active Member
Mar 5, 2021
132
58
Good - seating position / brakes / looks
Bad - tech & operating system (3 is not enough to list them all in this area so will keep it sweeping) / lack of knowledge from the dealerships / I forgot how dull a 4 pot engine / Haldex combo can be

I must admit to being pretty disillusioned with mine. Going to turn into a bad purchase I think.
 
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Stepdavi

Active Member
Apr 13, 2021
13
26
3 good things for me
1. Driving. Engine, drivetrain, ride all excellent.
2. Tech/infotainment, really like it.
3. Looks, always gets positive comments.

3 bad things.
1. No button for turning off stop start
2. Lane assist is active each time you start car
3. Does gain a little too much attention from North face wearing types.
 

Agnes.Surrey

Active Member
Nov 6, 2020
770
420
Surrey
Good
1. Looks good on paper, spec wise.
2. Good damping options.

Bad
1. No buttons for Aircon and infotainment.
2. Annoying smart assistants switched on at every start.
3. Some cars suffer from system errors (not mine).
 

Peyton

Active Member
Jan 20, 2021
497
244
Good:
1. Looks
2. Performance (great traction and lot of oomph)
3. Tech

Bad:
1. Tech (I'd want my settings to stay saved instead of resetting)
2. Can't seem to get AC in the sweet spot
3. Would expect a bigger boot for the size of the car.
4. DSG box with D is too sluggish, until about half throttle it does nothing and then starts to downshift and blast away. I would expect this can be tuned better
5. Fake sound
 

johnd

Active Member
Nov 18, 2018
23
7
2. Can't seem to get AC in the sweet spot

Wonder if that's a modern VAG thing? I know it's not a Formentor, but it's a criticism I have of my current 2020 Q3 SB 45TFSI, which I suspect is not dissimilar in underlying spec to the Formentor. For me, the air coming out of the face-level vents is often uncomfortably hot or cold at times.

Starting from cold it steadily warms up until it's too hot and then seems to stay at that setting too long. Then it settles down, but before too long it decides that the cabin temp is too high and starts blowing over-cool air. It's like an under-specified aircon unit that can either blow nothing or hot or cold, but is lacking any sort of blending to ensure that the new air is just a degree or two warmer/colder as required. And all this without touching the temp controls, which I normally have set at 20 or 21 depending on how sunny it is.
 

CupraPoopra

Active Member
Mar 15, 2021
55
45
Good:
1 - Looks
2 - Infotainment (i've had no real issues so far, apart from point 1 below)
3 - Interior. I'm a big fan, really like it.

Bad:
1 - This is not Formentor exclusive by any means, as it was the same on my old car, but I really do loath heating controls via infotainment. To me, the touch sensitive heating controls are pants relative to buttons and then you still have to fanny about with the infotainment screen to change fan speed etc, so makes them pretty pointless. The return of simple controls in button and knob form to cars would get a big thumbs up from me.
2- Ride is a bit on the firm side for me, especially on less than perfect roads
3 -Auto hold - This is very specific to me and my awkward driveway, so I'm very much nit-picking here, but can't get used to it being either on or off. I live on a slight hill and used to like that my old car could be set to auto hold for 2-3 seconds with a firm press of the brake pedal after coming stop, giving enough time to alter my feet when reversing onto my driveway to stop me rolling. I find the auto hold being on all the time a bit invasive, so turn it off, so I'm having to learn to left foot brake again when on an incline to avoid rolling forward into the Mrs car.
 

Shackattack

Active Member
Apr 12, 2021
78
20
Good.
1. Exhaust pops and bangs!
2. Infotainment, when it works
3. Quality of the leather and steering wheel, it genuinely is a nice place to be

Bad
1. Fake engine sound
2. I'm going to couple these together - Lane assist, Start Stop
3. Tiny boot
 

AndyCupra93

Active Member
Apr 21, 2021
296
127
Yeah auto hold coupled with the DSG box creates jerky low-speed manoeuvring unfortunately. Not much can be done about that, overall I much prefer auto hold on (in my Outlander courtesy car you have to enable it every time you start - daft!).
 

Ricknffc

Active Member
Feb 20, 2021
464
303
Good.

1. Cabin interior front and rear ( also the clunk of the rear doors especially is nice, anyone else think this?)

2. Performance and launch

3. Looks ( good combination of sportiness, sexiness and elegance

Bad

1. Autohold has been a bit to keen on a couple of occasions holding me when I have touched the accelerator

2. Couple of infotainment issues but nothing like other users.

3. No backlight for touch sensors ( as much as knobs and buttons would be easier to operate I can live with touch sensitive pads but not having them backlit is just pure stupidity on behalf of cupra).
 

AndyCupra93

Active Member
Apr 21, 2021
296
127
Good.

1. Cabin interior front and rear ( also the clunk of the rear doors especially is nice, anyone else think this?)

2. Performance and launch

3. Looks ( good combination of sportiness, sexiness and elegance

Bad

1. Autohold has been a bit to keen on a couple of occasions holding me when I have touched the accelerator

2. Couple of infotainment issues but nothing like other users.

3. No backlight for touch sensors ( as much as knobs and buttons would be easier to operate I can live with touch sensitive pads but not having them backlit is just pure stupidity on behalf of cupra).

Unfortunately it’s a VAG infotainment/touch panel including the temperature sliders - which makes it even more ridiculous that such an oversight (lack of backlight) will cover millions of vehicles... it beggars belief given that it could have been solved with pennies worth of LEDs / control circuitry.

Will be interesting to see whether it gets rectified in the next facelift.
 

Agnes.Surrey

Active Member
Nov 6, 2020
770
420
Surrey
I forgot about wheel heating, so updated list:
Good
1. Looks good on paper, spec wise.
2. Good damping options.
3. Heated steering wheel in standard VZ2 spec.

Bad
1. No buttons for Aircon and infotainment.
2. Annoying smart assistants switched on at every start.
3. Some cars suffer from system errors (not mine).

I know heated steering wheels is minor thing, but it's one of the reasons I decided not to order another Audi, because it was removed from spec and you can have it only in Vorsprung model. Yet, you can have it in Kia or Alpha.
 

AndyCupra93

Active Member
Apr 21, 2021
296
127
I forgot about wheel heating, so updated list:
Good
1. Looks good on paper, spec wise.
2. Good damping options.
3. Heated steering wheel in standard VZ2 spec.

Bad
1. No buttons for Aircon and infotainment.
2. Annoying smart assistants switched on at every start.
3. Some cars suffer from system errors (not mine).

I know heated steering wheels is minor thing, but it's one of the reasons I decided not to order another Audi, because it was removed from spec and you can have it only in Vorsprung model. Yet, you can have it in Kia or Alpha.

Not all steering wheel heating is created equal either - the Cupra one provides a nice uniform consistent heat, whereas in my Leaf it’s uneven and seems to pulse on and off too often, you have to move your hands round the wheel searching for a hot spot!
 

JamesCLD

Active Member
Dec 10, 2020
34
28
Hampshire
Good:
1. Looks (inside and out).
2. Performance and handling (the latter particularly impressive for a taller, though not really that tall, car.)
3. Other people’s reactions. After 6 months I still get people asking what it is a couple of times a week.

Bad:
1: Tech for techs sake: not being able to permanently turn off lane assist, the way it slams the breaks on when gently reversing if anything larger than a wasp flies past, heating controls/heated seats all through the screen. Having a G-Force indicator is pointless enough, but then having it only on the drivers dashboard is even more pointless as whenever you’re doing anything generating forces you really should be looking out of the window not at the dashboard!
2: Infotainment system: Its working now but took 4 months to get it to do so properly. And it still has little gremlins occasionally which is a concern for long term ownership.
3: The underwhelming engine noise, and stupid fake engine noise.
 
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CupraPoopra

Active Member
Mar 15, 2021
55
45
Good:

3. Other people’s reactions. After 6 months I still get people asking what it is a couple of times a week.
I've been asked this on multiple occasions in my short 2 weeks of ownership, good on the one hand, but in my old grumpy ways I'm already bored of explaining, so I've already resorted to just saying its a Seat :LOL:
 

Agnes.Surrey

Active Member
Nov 6, 2020
770
420
Surrey
That's what I say, to avoid confusing people. But I'm used to similar questions due to ownership of Abarth. People ask me about brand, because they don't know the logo.
 

Peyton

Active Member
Jan 20, 2021
497
244
That's what I say, to avoid confusing people. But I'm used to similar questions due to ownership of Abarth. People ask me about brand, because they don't know the logo.
Yeah I usually say it's a sporty version of SEAT, effectively raised up Golf :D
 

Ricknffc

Active Member
Feb 20, 2021
464
303
One of the year 8 school kids at work said ' sir you drive a well nice Seat' I didn't have the heart to even get into a conversation and correct him saying its a cupra, and to be honest I was Impressed that he knew enough about cars to make the connection between the Formentor and Seat just from the body panels etc as I very much doubt he recognises the logo and that Cupra is an offshoot of Seat, so I just said ' thanks very much'.
 

jcbmally

Started with nowt and still have most of it left.
Dec 26, 2013
1,272
550
Cybertron
Good and bas was:

1. Looks interesting.
2. Comfortable.
3. Went very very well.

1. Tech was a PITA.
2. Infotainment was a PITA.
3. Wind noise from sunroof/roof bars.