It's so frustrating having car problems, which lead to a lot of posts on here. I just feel compelled to tell a story about how much I love my new car...
I got my v2 150 Formentor early December. I got it 4 days late due to electrical issues (bad crimp on reversing camera taking out lane assist, acc and start/stop). They weren't actually fixed and it had to go back to the garage for another ten days. Cupra (SEAT) Assistance provided me with a decent Q3 for the duration so whilst frustrating it wasn't the end of the world.
Didn't really go far for the next few weeks so it was mainly just sitting around looking pretty, but then I did the journey up the A9 to the far North of Scotland and back - something I've grown extremely tired of over the years - for Christmas and I'm just really pleased with what a great drive it is. It's just the smoothest, safest feeling, most comfortable car I've driven:
I've driven quite a few cars over the years, including older Leon Cupras, and this Formentor is just better. I suppose I'm probably mostly in a VW Group "bubble", and maybe this is just a culmination of everything I'm used to improving?
Just annoyed I never got an electronic tailgate that the courtesy Q3 had me appreciating. And maybe I should have got a faster model. Not that I go far often, nor fast, but my "early 20s GTi days" younger self may be wondering what 310bhp would be like in such a nice car.
Ha ha, sorry for the essay, I just like cars again.
I got my v2 150 Formentor early December. I got it 4 days late due to electrical issues (bad crimp on reversing camera taking out lane assist, acc and start/stop). They weren't actually fixed and it had to go back to the garage for another ten days. Cupra (SEAT) Assistance provided me with a decent Q3 for the duration so whilst frustrating it wasn't the end of the world.
Didn't really go far for the next few weeks so it was mainly just sitting around looking pretty, but then I did the journey up the A9 to the far North of Scotland and back - something I've grown extremely tired of over the years - for Christmas and I'm just really pleased with what a great drive it is. It's just the smoothest, safest feeling, most comfortable car I've driven:
- ACC - once I figured out how to adjust it to make it slightly more... aggressive... my only issue is that the car feels the same at 50mph as it (probably
) would at 80mph, so a couple of times I found myself going slower than I'd have liked to before remembering to overtake - Automatic full beam - pretty cool when I figured out that was happening; bit blinding when it did it in a blizzard
- Loving the shape, and heating, of the seats
- I've got winter tyres on (falken eurowinter runflats - not my preferred option to be honest, but beggars can't be choosers) and the fuel consumption doesn't seem great but I suppose 245/40/R19 is likely to do that compared to my old Leon FR 150 which I would run on 205/55/R16. I don't normally go far so it won't affect me.
- Drove through some awful conditions - snow, ice, slush, torrential rain with standing water, fog - and it just wasn't as intense and draining as it often can be. I think ACC is a big reason for that - with average speed cameras you can just tell the car what speed you want to go (for me, the speed limit) and then not worry about speed at all. If the car is doing a few mph below because it is in a queue of traffic, then not a big deal. And it's great for following the cars that randomly go between 45mph and 60mph - no frustration at all, whereas before the constant speed adjustments would tire me.
- Lane assist is far more trusting of me than in my old Leon. I used to have to turn it off up North because it was really annoying getting haptic feedback for crossing the center line a little to avoid potholes - seems different in the Formentor. If I make a deliberate decision to cross a line, it seems ok with that. But if I were potentially drifting over by accident, it doesn't like that.
- The handling, to me, is just superb. It's like it is on rails. I don't think I've got "travel assist", but I swear the car is preemptively starting to turn for me on bends. Not in a "about to cross the middle line so going to do some lane assist" way, but more the car saying "I want the steering wheel turned 30 degrees clockwise to take the curve up ahead - if you blow hard enough on the steering wheel I'll make that turn for you - no need to actually put pressure on with your hand" sort of way. (Sorry, I know that probably makes me sound mental, but I swear the car is easier to drive if you do what it expects you to do lol)
- ACC did disable for about 15 minutes at one point of horrendous sleet. I guess it had maybe built up on the sensor. Once the sleet stopped I really did consider pulling over to wipe the sensor so I wouldn't have to maintain my speed manually like the bad old days, but it was raining really heavily by that point and just started working again
- Interior lighting is great
- Wireless android auto is great
I've driven quite a few cars over the years, including older Leon Cupras, and this Formentor is just better. I suppose I'm probably mostly in a VW Group "bubble", and maybe this is just a culmination of everything I'm used to improving?
Just annoyed I never got an electronic tailgate that the courtesy Q3 had me appreciating. And maybe I should have got a faster model. Not that I go far often, nor fast, but my "early 20s GTi days" younger self may be wondering what 310bhp would be like in such a nice car.
Ha ha, sorry for the essay, I just like cars again.
