Hi, just thought I'd post a "Review" of my own personal experiences living with a Formentor 1.5 DSG auto V2.
I do this primarily for anyone interested in buying one and I myself find these type of reviews helpful in making decisions.
So I picked my Formentor up from Crewe Cupra last year 25th of July, not too long a wait as it was booked in March (So 4-5 months) especially going by some people's experiences on here.
As I said it's a V2 1.5 DSG, it's in "Mag-Tech Grey" with a petrol blue leather interior and, having never driven an auto prior to this car I have to say I absolutely love it and won't go back!
One of the first things I had done was a "Hybrid-Ceramic" coating applied by a detailer, after a lot of research, videos, reading, asking questions on the forum I STILL couldn't make my mind up whether to go full "Ceramic" so after talking with the detailer we decided (Due to useage, being parked on the street and ultimately cost) that the "Hybrid-Ceramic" was a good middle ground option, and to be honest the car is still looking good with a lot of water beading when wet and realistically should last 12 months, possibly a bit more with regular washing.
The car itself has been a joy to drive, I love the auto and haven't experienced any of the jerkiness a couple of folk have mentioned in the forum, it's very smooth and quiet and just makes driving so much more relaxed and easier.
My longest journey to date was from my home in Cumbria down to Kent at Christmas and have to say it was a very comfortable drive, the one thing I didn't try on the journey was the cruise control, two reasons, the main one being I hadn't read up on it and the other was a worry around the car possibly slowing down whilst overtaking, as reported by a few posters on the forum, my last car didn't have cruise control anyway so it's not like I'd missed it.
I averaged around 42-44mpg on the journey down, and similar going home which I thought was pretty respectable?
Annoyances are very few and far between, as far as "Driving aid" annoyances the one I don't like is the 'Anti-Collision' system, it'll flash the damn alarm up at times when there's absolutely no need, then other times when you'd expect it to alarm, it doesn't, but by far my worst experience with this was when driving in Kent, driving down a B road with a car in front, said car decided to suddenly turn left on me, no drama as I was far enough back to brake safely, however...the anti collision must've decided I wasn't braking hard enough...and just slammed on the brakes causing my wife to damn near chin the dashboard
If there'd been a car behind he could easily have gone into us, there was simply no need at all for that level of braking!
"Lane assist" I leave on and have no problem with it whatsoever, to be honest this was something I'd never experienced and was very wary of it due to a lot of negative comments on the forum, I had visions of the car jerking all over the place so was pleasantly surprised to find it no worse than going over a white line to be honest, yes if you're not paying attention it can sometimes feel like the car is "Steering" for you but I have no issues with it.
Reading the traffic signs sometimes is a bit hit and miss but again...not a problem.
The rear view camera I do find handy when parking, especially when combined with the passenger side mirror (This very handily dips to allow you to see how close you are to the nearside to help you avoid kerbing your wheel...more of which later
)
You do however have to remember the FRONT wheels, whilst parking outside my son's house, and using the rearview camera and dipped mirror, whilst the back was going nicely, I suddenly felt the sickening vibration through the steering wheel as my front passenger side wheel, which was still on full lock, hit the kerb....I was NOT a happy bunny I can tell you
This also introduced me to the vulnerability of diamond cut wheels coupled with low profile tyres
Luckily we have a top local guy who did a superb job (Without resorting to diamond cutting) for sixty quid
About the only real bug bear is, as most owners can attest to, the "Infotainment".
Now this is the FIRST car I've had with infotainment so I've got nothing to compare it with but I would say that nearly every entry into the car is (To quote Forrest Gump) "Like a box of chocolates, you never know what yer gonna git"
If it's not constantly asking you to ok a change of settings, despite not altering anything, it'll shut itself off mid journey and restart, or the dash you have programmed will show different info to what you may expect, you'll more often than not find that your profile is at maximum privacy instead of your own drive profile it just seems quite "Buggy" all that said however I find it ok, it can be a bit distracting if you need to adjust something whilst driving but a few things can be altered via steering wheel controls or, if it can understand you, voice control
SO....would I recommend the car?...yes I would, despite the buggy infotainment, my personal dislike of the Anti-Collision system not withstanding this is a LOT of car, looks terrific, drives well, more bells and whistles than you can shake a stick at, comfortable, it has a LOT going for it, yes mine only has the 1.5 engine but, for my needs is plenty, it'll cruise happily at 80 on the motorway and still accelerate acceptably should you need to, all in all very pleased I took the plunge and got one.
I do this primarily for anyone interested in buying one and I myself find these type of reviews helpful in making decisions.
So I picked my Formentor up from Crewe Cupra last year 25th of July, not too long a wait as it was booked in March (So 4-5 months) especially going by some people's experiences on here.
As I said it's a V2 1.5 DSG, it's in "Mag-Tech Grey" with a petrol blue leather interior and, having never driven an auto prior to this car I have to say I absolutely love it and won't go back!
One of the first things I had done was a "Hybrid-Ceramic" coating applied by a detailer, after a lot of research, videos, reading, asking questions on the forum I STILL couldn't make my mind up whether to go full "Ceramic" so after talking with the detailer we decided (Due to useage, being parked on the street and ultimately cost) that the "Hybrid-Ceramic" was a good middle ground option, and to be honest the car is still looking good with a lot of water beading when wet and realistically should last 12 months, possibly a bit more with regular washing.
The car itself has been a joy to drive, I love the auto and haven't experienced any of the jerkiness a couple of folk have mentioned in the forum, it's very smooth and quiet and just makes driving so much more relaxed and easier.
My longest journey to date was from my home in Cumbria down to Kent at Christmas and have to say it was a very comfortable drive, the one thing I didn't try on the journey was the cruise control, two reasons, the main one being I hadn't read up on it and the other was a worry around the car possibly slowing down whilst overtaking, as reported by a few posters on the forum, my last car didn't have cruise control anyway so it's not like I'd missed it.
I averaged around 42-44mpg on the journey down, and similar going home which I thought was pretty respectable?
Annoyances are very few and far between, as far as "Driving aid" annoyances the one I don't like is the 'Anti-Collision' system, it'll flash the damn alarm up at times when there's absolutely no need, then other times when you'd expect it to alarm, it doesn't, but by far my worst experience with this was when driving in Kent, driving down a B road with a car in front, said car decided to suddenly turn left on me, no drama as I was far enough back to brake safely, however...the anti collision must've decided I wasn't braking hard enough...and just slammed on the brakes causing my wife to damn near chin the dashboard
If there'd been a car behind he could easily have gone into us, there was simply no need at all for that level of braking!
"Lane assist" I leave on and have no problem with it whatsoever, to be honest this was something I'd never experienced and was very wary of it due to a lot of negative comments on the forum, I had visions of the car jerking all over the place so was pleasantly surprised to find it no worse than going over a white line to be honest, yes if you're not paying attention it can sometimes feel like the car is "Steering" for you but I have no issues with it.
Reading the traffic signs sometimes is a bit hit and miss but again...not a problem.
The rear view camera I do find handy when parking, especially when combined with the passenger side mirror (This very handily dips to allow you to see how close you are to the nearside to help you avoid kerbing your wheel...more of which later
)You do however have to remember the FRONT wheels, whilst parking outside my son's house, and using the rearview camera and dipped mirror, whilst the back was going nicely, I suddenly felt the sickening vibration through the steering wheel as my front passenger side wheel, which was still on full lock, hit the kerb....I was NOT a happy bunny I can tell you
This also introduced me to the vulnerability of diamond cut wheels coupled with low profile tyres
Luckily we have a top local guy who did a superb job (Without resorting to diamond cutting) for sixty quid
About the only real bug bear is, as most owners can attest to, the "Infotainment".
Now this is the FIRST car I've had with infotainment so I've got nothing to compare it with but I would say that nearly every entry into the car is (To quote Forrest Gump) "Like a box of chocolates, you never know what yer gonna git"
If it's not constantly asking you to ok a change of settings, despite not altering anything, it'll shut itself off mid journey and restart, or the dash you have programmed will show different info to what you may expect, you'll more often than not find that your profile is at maximum privacy instead of your own drive profile it just seems quite "Buggy" all that said however I find it ok, it can be a bit distracting if you need to adjust something whilst driving but a few things can be altered via steering wheel controls or, if it can understand you, voice control
SO....would I recommend the car?...yes I would, despite the buggy infotainment, my personal dislike of the Anti-Collision system not withstanding this is a LOT of car, looks terrific, drives well, more bells and whistles than you can shake a stick at, comfortable, it has a LOT going for it, yes mine only has the 1.5 engine but, for my needs is plenty, it'll cruise happily at 80 on the motorway and still accelerate acceptably should you need to, all in all very pleased I took the plunge and got one.
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