2023 Cupra Formentor vs 2022

What's the difference?

Cupra is a new brand under the Volkswagen Group, designed to be a cool, sporty, and youth-focused alternative to the likes of VW and Skoda, as contemporary and disruptive as it comes, and the Formentor we’re testing here treads the delicate ground between the world of hatchbacks and SUVs. 

The VZe spec we’re specifically looking at for this review is even a hybrid with a plug - arguably a concept Australians are barely ready for.

It’s very much a symbol of what’s going on in the car industry at the moment. New names, shapes, and technologies are coming to shake the status quo, and permanently alter the kinds of cars Australians buy.

It’s all well and good to be on the front foot. But does the Formentor VZe make sense in an increasingly crowded marketplace? Read on to see what I found.

New-brand Cupra (though not that new, given it's a performance-focused off-shoot of the VW Group – in much the way Skoda wears the brand's sensible shoes – that has been around in Europe for some time) reckons the Formentor will be its best-selling model in Australia. 

Why? Because it kind of straddles the line between a VW Golf, T-Roc and Tiguan, with sporty hatchback styling but the space of a mid-size SUV (which is the  vehicle category Cupra expects the Formentor to land in).

So the performance of a hot hatch and the space of an SUV? Sounds a winning combo to us. But let's take a closer look, shall we?