Had the car a week - first thoughts (VZ2 310)

[Napmasterflash]

So I have had the car just over a week and done a reasonable mix of driving from motorways to urban and my first impressions are of a great car with mixed personalities which can be changed based on your mood. Its a lovely place to sit with the long bonnet and modern dash and feels really well put together and driving it seems like a bit more of an experience than it did in my previous car, maybe overtime that feeling could reduce. For some context my previous car was a Volvo XC60 T5 which had 250 bhp and whilst it was reasonably pokey in a straight line, the handling was similar to a 3 story house on sloppy springs.

I had quite a long drive back south from Stockport and was worried that during that time the infotainment system would blow up and all the safety systems would be driving me mad, but I am happy to report I have had no problems with either and did try to confuse it/see how it worked by jumping between different functions and crossing lines without indicating (how naughty). I need to try the ACC a bit more, which again from the limited amount of using it seemed ok. I did have some issues flipping between profiles with each key but have learnt that providing you let the car switch off completely ie all the screens inside turn off before unlocking again, its fine. My car was built in March 2021 and has the 1790 software but I am not finding the system to be buggy or unresponsive, which is something I was really worried about and asked the dealer to do the v1803 upgrade which they didn't seem to know anything about. I hope I am not tempting fate by writing this but will update if there are any issues.

I accept there are some badly designed bits in the car like the touch controls for temp/vol not being illuminated but I have been using the voice control and just saying "the car is too hot/cold" and it goes up or down by 1 degree in all the zones. I know some have said the voice control isn't the best but for simple instructions it seems to work even at motorway speeds. I have spent quite a bit of time setting everything up so in most situations now I am not needing to fiddle with the screen whilst driving so to change the radio stations I am able to cycle through my favorite stations from the steering wheel control and satnav/calls are being done through voice control.

Its disappointing to read that some people have had serious issues which as we all know generally seems to be on the earlier cars but from my own experience they seem to have things sorted. I am loving it one week in and hope it continues.

 

[Cupradev]

So I have had the car just over a week and done a reasonable mix of driving from motorways to urban and my first impressions are of a great car with mixed personalities which can be changed based on your mood. Its a lovely place to sit with the long bonnet and modern dash and feels really well put together and driving it seems like a bit more of an experience than it did in my previous car, maybe overtime that feeling could reduce. For some context my previous car was a Volvo XC60 T5 which had 250 bhp and whilst it was reasonably pokey in a straight line, the handling was similar to a 3 story house on sloppy springs.

I had quite a long drive back south from Stockport and was worried that during that time the infotainment system would blow up and all the safety systems would be driving me mad, but I am happy to report I have had no problems with either and did try to confuse it/see how it worked by jumping between different functions and crossing lines without indicating (how naughty). I need to try the ACC a bit more, which again from the limited amount of using it seemed ok. I did have some issues flipping between profiles with each key but have learnt that providing you let the car switch off completely ie all the screens inside turn off before unlocking again, its fine. My car was built in March 2021 and has the 1790 software but I am not finding the system to be buggy or unresponsive, which is something I was really worried about and asked the dealer to do the v1803 upgrade which they didn't seem to know anything about. I hope I am not tempting fate by writing this but will update if there are any issues.

I accept there are some badly designed bits in the car like the touch controls for temp/vol not being illuminated but I have been using the voice control and just saying "the car is too hot/cold" and it goes up or down by 1 degree in all the zones. I know some have said the voice control isn't the best but for simple instructions it seems to work even at motorway speeds. I have spent quite a bit of time setting everything up so in most situations now I am not needing to fiddle with the screen whilst driving so to change the radio stations I am able to cycle through my favorite stations from the steering wheel control and satnav/calls are being done through voice control.

Its disappointing to read that some people have had serious issues which as we all know generally seems to be on the earlier cars but from my own experience they seem to have things sorted. I am loving it one week in and hope it continues.

Thanks for the feedback and I too hope you continue to live with the car, and the tech, issue free(ish).
I think my main takeaways from reading people’s experiences are that if you’re not used to some elements of new tech, these can compound some of the genuine flaws. I also think that as an owner, you need to invest some time into the personalisation of the car. I know a lot of people won’t agree and just want to sit down, turn a key/push a button and drive off. BUT that isn’t how these cars have been designed, so setting up the shortcuts and screens to your own liking with make the car easier to live with. I am not including the earlier cars in the above as I know that the early cars across VW, Seat, Skoda and Cupra have been blighted by poor pre release testing, so your experiences will be much different than those with more recent cars.
This lovely weather is making my wait for my new car even more difficult, but for those of you driving yours already, enjoy the sun, find some favourite roads and drive.

 

[Peyton]

Honestly I don't really have issues with most systems in the car. Only exception might be start/stop that I feel is very eager to shut down the engine when in D/Comfort.

As you said, the car can have multiple personalities, if you are in Comfort/D it is quite comfortable, even sluggish until you depress the pedal over half way, while in Cupra/S it is much more lively and aggressive.

What needs to be understood, people who owned "proper" sports cars, two seaters and the like should not expect Formentor to be better than that. Formentor is effectively a raised up Leon with a 4-cylinder engine under modern sound restrictions. It gets the job done really well but it is not the most exciting or emotional car if you are used to older more noisy and lively cars.

 

[tetrad]

Thanks everyone, good to see positive experiences too, especially as I have a VZ3 on order. Maybe Father Christmas will be delivering it at this rate!

 

[TheUkWizard]

Had mine a week now too. Not totally made my mind up yet. Not sure if it's in some sort of 'running in' mode, but feels so slow in regular driving mode. Turbo lag and gear changes feel slow too, even in cupra mode.
Sport mode clings on to revs badly as well. And do not get me started on the fake exhaust noise. Can that be turned off for cupra mode?

It drives like a tiny powered car, unless you floor the pedal, count 2 seconds before it picks up.
Tech wise it's great, but finding the menu a bit unorganised.

Anyone else see this on theirs?

 

[Ricknffc]

So I have had the car just over a week and done a reasonable mix of driving from motorways to urban and my first impressions are of a great car with mixed personalities which can be changed based on your mood. Its a lovely place to sit with the long bonnet and modern dash and feels really well put together and driving it seems like a bit more of an experience than it did in my previous car, maybe overtime that feeling could reduce. For some context my previous car was a Volvo XC60 T5 which had 250 bhp and whilst it was reasonably pokey in a straight line, the handling was similar to a 3 story house on sloppy springs.

I had quite a long drive back south from Stockport and was worried that during that time the infotainment system would blow up and all the safety systems would be driving me mad, but I am happy to report I have had no problems with either and did try to confuse it/see how it worked by jumping between different functions and crossing lines without indicating (how naughty). I need to try the ACC a bit more, which again from the limited amount of using it seemed ok. I did have some issues flipping between profiles with each key but have learnt that providing you let the car switch off completely ie all the screens inside turn off before unlocking again, its fine. My car was built in March 2021 and has the 1790 software but I am not finding the system to be buggy or unresponsive, which is something I was really worried about and asked the dealer to do the v1803 upgrade which they didn't seem to know anything about. I hope I am not tempting fate by writing this but will update if there are any issues.

I accept there are some badly designed bits in the car like the touch controls for temp/vol not being illuminated but I have been using the voice control and just saying "the car is too hot/cold" and it goes up or down by 1 degree in all the zones. I know some have said the voice control isn't the best but for simple instructions it seems to work even at motorway speeds. I have spent quite a bit of time setting everything up so in most situations now I am not needing to fiddle with the screen whilst driving so to change the radio stations I am able to cycle through my favorite stations from the steering wheel control and satnav/calls are being done through voice control.

Its disappointing to read that some people have had serious issues which as we all know generally seems to be on the earlier cars but from my own experience they seem to have things sorted. I am loving it one week in and hope it continues.

Does the car response to nav voice controls well? Not really used the voice controls much yet and not at all for nav. Does it respond to basic nav requests or can you ask it slightly extensive requests?

 

[Napmasterflash]

Does the car response to nav voice controls well? Not really used the voice controls much yet and not at all for nav. Does it respond to basic nav requests or can you ask it slightly extensive requests?

I am just using voice with the nav at quite a simple level so just saying go to places etc. We haven't got involved in any deep conversations yet about politics

I think the simpler and clearer the instruction is, the better though.

 

[Agnes.Surrey]

Had mine a week now too. Not totally made my mind up yet. Not sure if it's in some sort of 'running in' mode, but feels so slow in regular driving mode. Turbo lag and gear changes feel slow too, even in cupra mode.
Sport mode clings on to revs badly as well. And do not get me started on the fake exhaust noise. Can that be turned off for cupra mode?

It drives like a tiny powered car, unless you floor the pedal, count 2 seconds before it picks up.
Tech wise it's great, but finding the menu a bit unorganised.

Anyone else see this on theirs?

You can physically disconnect sound device under the bonnet. It's on the right hand side (when standing facing the front of the car), just the by windscreen. There's thread with manual how to do it.

 

[TheUkWizard]

You can physically disconnect sound device under the bonnet. It's on the right hand side (when standing facing the front of the car), just the by windscreen. There's thread with manual how to do it.

Thanks, i read this during my research too, the other option seems to be tweaking the volume to 0% via OBD setting tweaks. I hope Cupra add it into the car menu though at a later date.