Cupra Formentor VZ5

Limited-edition crossover gets Audi's five-cylinder engine and torque-splitter diff, but to what effect?

- by ETHAN JUPP

THE AUDI RS Q3 NO LONGER IS AND, BY all expectations, shall never be again. So now Cupra is stepping in to sate what appetite is left for five-pot crossovers with a 2.5-litre 'VZ5' version of its Formentor. It's the kind of multi-cylinder heart transplant that rarely happens these days and that legislative constraints will soon make all but impossible. The VZ5, then, feels like a last hurrah for a brand otherwise backed into a corner to deliver as compelling a range of electric cars as possible.

This isn’t the first time this car has received this engine, though. The pre-facelift Formentor got the VZ5 treatment back in 2021, but while that car's 7000-unit run was almost double the 4000 units of this new one, it was exclusively a left-hooker. No longer forbidden fruit, this time 250 right-hand-drive VZ5s will be available for order in the UK, with a price tag in the region of £60,000. That compares to a £48,605 starting price for the hottest four-cylinder Formentor. How do the other numbers stack up? The VZ5 delivers 385bhp and 354lb ft of torque, up from the 328bhp and 310lb ft of the EA888-powered four-cylinder model. Zero to 62mph takes just 4.2sec, an improvement of 0.7sec, and top speed is 174mph rather than 155. Weight increases by 60kg to 1626kg. As with the 328bhp car, power is sent to all four wheels, but this time the rears receive their punch via the celebrated 'Torque Splitter' differential, as per the RS3; neither the previous VZ5 nor the RS Q3 were so equipped.