Roar deal for a road rocket

WITH 328bhp, a top speed of 155mph and four-wheel-drive the Cupra Formentor VZ1 is hardly your average family car.

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But other versions of the Formentor are. And there’s the rub. For while the entry level model with its 1.5-litre engine costs around £34,000, the 2.0-litre VZ1 I drove, with its special matte bronze paintwork (an extra £2,000) had a price tag of more than £48,000.

So the question is, is the VZ1 version of the same car worth that much extra cash? And the answer after driving it for a week is a resounding ‘yes,’ particularly if you enjoy the sort of car that puts some fun into your motoring.

The VZ1, with its racing-style push-button starter built into the steering wheel, is a powerhouse on wheels that gets you where you want to go in double quick time.

It's a road rocket that, in Cupra mode, will get you from standstill to 62mph in just 4.8 seconds, with a roar that would impress any racing circuit. It uses the same engine as the Golf R and the Audi S3 but the nice thing is it has so many permutations which allow you to vary your driving to suit you at any given time and make it interesting.