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Syphon

Site Owner
Staff member
Feb 28, 2002
9,452
2,181
South West
www.seatcupra.net
Key Highlights




The new CUPRA Formentor embraces CUPRA’s new exterior design language DNA with the shark-nose front end, integrated CUPRA badge onto the bonnet, triangular LED headlights, and integrated and illuminated CUPRA logo positioned at the centre of the rear LED light.



The interior offers a higher quality feel, with newly designed elements such as the centre console, door panels, dashboard, and upholsteries. It is also enhanced with new materials, while also embracing a more sustainable approach, including Bucket seats wrapped in either 73% recycledmicrofibre or environmentally conscious leather.



Digitalisation is at the centre of the driver’s focus. A new and improved HMI is implemented in the digital cockpit behind the steering wheel as well as in the larger 12.9’’ infotainment system, with a retro-illuminated slider.



New high-fidelity 12-speaker audio sound system developed in collaboration with the audio experts of Sennheiser Mobility is available on the...

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Karbonfaiba

Active Member
Jul 9, 2023
175
112
Hampshire, UK

happy count dooku GIF


As an owner of the (now) previous generation I feel relieved the changes were insignificant after all.

No padded door pockets on the facelift is a shock, the economy must be really hurting to this day!

The passenger seat is now electric as standard, good!

New part microfibre seats, very good! I would definitely spec that, if I bought it again.

Don't get matte paints ever, unrepairable. But would be interested in any new metallic colour choices.

Pure engine sound mode, possibly removing the need to buy OBD11, good. But CUPRA mode will presumably keep the soundaktor on anyway, so therefore not as good as a RS1 / RS2 style mode with customisation on both that Audi provides - say if I wanted just to jump between 2 modes, like I do frequently, and don't want the fake sound in CUPRA mode either, probably locked down.

Obviously the infotainment is updated to be faster, but still no climate control knobs, no fan / volume knobs. Essentially the original has just been fixed, yay I guess!? Never used the wireless phone charging pad, but they look to have fixed the overheating problem. I'm aware most of these wireless charging pads of last generation vehicles have issues with that though.

Could just be the PHEV model but I noticed the convenience rear seat fold handles have been removed - lost a good feature here, oh dear.

Subjectively; the design changes have made the Formentor look more flat and generic, like a Chinese knock-off as one commenter said, which I understand.
The new lights don't save it for me. As I've said before, only the VZ5 would interest me - but there's no news about this from CUPRA yet, even if they do it again, UK customers would potentially get shafted again. RS3 time I feel.

Lastly, the performance bumps carried over from the facelift Audi S3: Torque splitter is a desirable bonus for sure, but just 333hp? Probably necessary to help people like me, sway me from the previous generation as a new purchase, but then again people like me already on the 310hp model are just going to tune it to 390hp with an exceptional TCU tune for under £1300 that will beat it easily for less money than whatever this new facelift is going to cost. The TCU tune in particular will be worth way more for daily driveability than a torque splitter will provide.
 
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dashnine

Active Member
Oct 31, 2012
453
174
Warwick, UK
What on Earth does “retro-illuminated slider” mean? We’ve brought it back because you lot didn’t like our modern un-illuminated slider, so we think you all just like old style sliders (that you can see in the dark)?

No red paint? Shame as I was thinking of a red one next time round.

As this is a facelift, will it have the speed warning and steering correction nonsense that post-2022 (I think) homologated cars have to have and we’ll have to keep turning them off? Or is it sold under the original homologation?
 

Wyld Stallyn

Be Excellent To Each Other and... Party On Dudes!
Mar 10, 2022
405
248
For those of us whom are just about to to run out of warranty (3 years) some of us might feel somewhat cheated by new cars being gifted 5 years factory cover and some may decide that playing by the open wallet surgery servicing rules is simply no longer offers good value for money.

TCU tune 80+ Horses 🤩 £1300 👍
🤔 how many more torques?

😎 Even More smiles per Gallon 😎

Where do I sign up?

Save the Haldex! 😆
 
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Karbonfaiba

Active Member
Jul 9, 2023
175
112
Hampshire, UK
TCU tune 80+ Horses 🤩 £1300 👍
🤔 how many more torques?

😎 Even More smiles per Gallon 😎

Where do I sign up?

Save the Haldex! 😆

Yeah... actually it's more like up to 430hp for £1300 haha! I'm just quoting the Stage 2+ package deal from TVS engineering - which is widely considered the best and safest company for the TCU.

Stage 1 is 390hp and 500Nm.
Stage 2 is 415hp and 560Nm.
Stage 2+ is 430hp and 600Nm (with extra hardware).

TVS does staging differently from most other tuning companies, as they go up to Stage 4.

Their stage 2 ECU is more like a stage 1+ everywhere else. I'm weighing up the cost of the Stage 2+ TCU is where you get most bang for the buck. But I'm only doing software, no hardware costs except an AEM panel filter, so I'm not expecting claimed HP figures but I don't care so much about power, next to better TCU drivability. So it's a minimum of 390hp with most Stage 1 ECU tunes on the EA888.4 which is excellent, gets better every generation!

If you can find a dealer garage (in the UK for me) it's certainly the pay once, cry once, Stage 2 ECU / Stage 2+ TCU combo package, end-game tune for most people imo.

I've just got to calculate the finances between tuning the VZ2 310 with the increase in my insurance premium with AdrianFlux vs putting that money towards an Audi RS3 as honestly, the tune isn't going to help get me a better sounding engine. It's such a shame, as the Formentor is the greatest daily driver I've ever owned, in looks, features and on paper (performance) it really can't be beaten in value! But I have a mission to extract it's maximum potential before it leaves me.

Sidenote: the Audi RS3 8Y faces the same TCU drivability issues as the Formentor in it's unresponsiveness to throttle in D.
 
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Wyld Stallyn

Be Excellent To Each Other and... Party On Dudes!
Mar 10, 2022
405
248
Yeah... actually it's more like up to 430hp for £1300 haha! I'm just quoting the Stage 2+ package deal from TVS engineering - which is widely considered the best and safest company for the TCU.

Stage 1 is 390hp and 500Nm.
Stage 2 is 415hp and 560Nm.
Stage 2+ is 430hp and 600Nm (with extra hardware).

TVS does staging differently from most other tuning companies, as they go up to Stage 4.

Their stage 2 ECU is more like a stage 1+ everywhere else. I'm weighing up the cost of the Stage 2+ TCU is where you get most bang for the buck. But I'm only doing software, no hardware costs except an AEM panel filter, so I'm not expecting claimed HP figures but I don't care so much about power, next to better TCU drivability. So it's a minimum of 390hp with most Stage 1 ECU tunes on the EA888.4 which is excellent, gets better every generation!

If you can find a dealer garage (in the UK for me) it's certainly the pay once, cry once, Stage 2 ECU / Stage 2+ TCU combo package, end-game tune for most people imo.

I've just got to calculate the finances between tuning the VZ2 310 with the increase in my insurance premium with AdrianFlux vs putting that money towards an Audi RS3 as honestly, the tune isn't going to help get me a better sounding engine. It's such a shame, as the Formentor is the greatest daily driver I've ever owned, in looks, features and on paper (performance) it really can't be beaten in value! But I have a mission to extract it's maximum potential before it leaves me.

Sidenote: the Audi RS3 8Y faces the same TCU drivability issues as the Formentor in it's unresponsiveness to throttle in D.
Perhaps we could start a new thread, or we might have to report ourselves for going off topic 😁👍
 

Karbonfaiba

Active Member
Jul 9, 2023
175
112
Hampshire, UK
Yes it's off-topic :D but I feel it's also trajectorial to show my thought process of a current Formentor owner when weighing up the news of the new facelift Formentor.

I would like future readers to know a modified mk1 Formentor is a very viable performance project to off-set the feature improvements bought in by the latest facelift, depending on how important the infotainment upgrade means for most, I would imagine.
 

pkaps

vz310
May 10, 2022
277
133
This new one does not look as aggressive as the old one, not even the new lights, however the rear lights are awsome, the new front kind of paves the way for an electric version. The inside is improved where it should be, especially the illuminated voice and ac bar although not sliding anymore. New sound system in place of the Beats with livlier bass is a welcome upgrade, most probably raising the cost if you opt for it. If the VZ now does 333 hp and has the same rear diff as the s3 and golf R , that I would call a real improvement.
Have to wait and see how all this new stuff is translated in pricing.
 

Agnes.Surrey

Active Member
Nov 6, 2020
772
420
Surrey
"Digitalisation is at the centre of the driver’s focus." Like in original version, but due to annoying issues, not because it's so great.

I check the forum from time to time and noticed that not a lot have changed in last 3 years, software issues still the most popular threads. I wonder if new hardware and software will be better.
 
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pkaps

vz310
May 10, 2022
277
133
Havent had any real software issues, just the infotainment gone mute 3-4 times in 2 years of ownership and 48000 km, and that temporarily. Since last sevrice and software update no issues at all thus far.
Most probably the facelift model will not be facing any such issues, although even on our model there were only very few exceptions with serious software issues, you can even see in the forum that there are not any new posts on that matter.
 

SRGTD

Active Member
May 26, 2014
2,564
1,410
I prefer the looks of the previous generation! The facelift makes it look too... Average??
That’s often the general consensus; i.e. that the current / outgoing model looks better than the new one. When the mk4 Leon was launched, I remember it being likened to a Ford Focus and not being as sharp looking as the outgoing mk3 / mk3.5.

Interesting thought; could that mean a car model gets uglier with each facelift and / or subsequent new model launches?……….🤔🤣
 
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Wyld Stallyn

Be Excellent To Each Other and... Party On Dudes!
Mar 10, 2022
405
248
That’s often the general consensus; i.e. that the current / outgoing model looks better than the new one. When the mk4 Leon was launched, I remember it being likened to a Ford Focus and not being as sharp looking as the outgoing mk3 / mk3.5.

Interesting thought; could that mean a car model gets uglier with each facelift and / or subsequent new model launches?……….🤔🤣
🤔 Ford Granada is, I think, an excellent case in point - he says showing his age 🙈
 
Sep 28, 2023
7
1
Pure engine sound mode, possibly removing the need to buy OBD11, good. But CUPRA mode will presumably keep the soundaktor on anyway, so therefore not as good as a RS1 / RS2 style mode with customisation on both that Audi provides - say if I wanted just to jump between 2 modes, like I do frequently, and don't want the fake sound in CUPRA mode either, probably locked down.
The mk1 formentor already has a pure engine sound mode, not sure about the cupra leon cos my leon is the mk3 290, i suspect the more powerful models will have this also