Introduction to the 2026 Cupra Formentor
The Cupra Formentor was the first bespoke model ever sold as a Cupra, whereas the two preceding cars from the firm (the Ateca and the Leon) were based on existing SEAT cars. The Formentor has since gone on to prove itself one of our favourite vehicles from this manufacturer, offering great driving manners with a generous helping of style, interior quality and space.
From entry-level 150hp car to the VZ5 range-topper, there's a Formentor that should suit everyone's needs.
Pros & cons of the 2026 Cupra Formentor VZ5
Pros:
• Makes a terrific noise
• Goes like a train
• Handles impressively
Cons:
• The ride's firm
• We prefer the look of pre-facelift Formentor
• Will the VZ5 sell in Ireland?
Exterior & design of the 2026 Cupra Formentor VZ5
• Diagonally stacked quad exhausts
• Sits 10mm lower than other Formentors
• No bright paint colours
The Formentor received a midlife facelift in 2024, which visually brought it into line with other products from Cupra - such as the Born, the Tavascan and the Terramar - by implementing the 'shark nose' appearance.
Whatever you think of the relative merits of this update or otherwise, the fact remains the Cupra is one of the better-looking compact SUVs out there.
If you want to identify the ultra-special VZ5, though, you'll need your glasses on and a spotters' guide to precisely what's different.
The flagship Formentor doesn't exactly shout about its near-400hp status, but it has a slightly more aggressive-looking front bumper and splitter area, subtly wider wheelarches, plenty of carbon fibre and copper-coloured exterior detailing, a gorgeous design of 20-inch alloy wheel (every other Formentor runs on 18s or 19s), the discreet 'VZ5' emblem on the right-hand side of the tailgate and the most obvious flourish, a set of copper-tinged quad exhaust pipes which are arranged in a diagonal-stacked formation.
You might also notice the VZ5 looks hunkered-down and muscular - that's because it sits 10mm closer to the deck than any other model in the line-up.
Dimensions of the 2026 Cupra Formentor VZ5
Length: 4,451mm
Width: 1,839mm (mirrors folded)
Height: 1,511mm
Wheelbase: 2,679mm
Paint colours for the 2026 Cupra Formentor VZ5
The only no-cost finish is Fiord Blue, while above that are Midnight Black, Magnetic Tech and Glacial White, all costing €1,439.
Another step up again are Graphene Grey and Dark Void (both €1,969), and then right are the top are three matt-effect paints which are a hefty €3,938 apiece: Enceladus Grey Matt, Century Bronze Matt (probably the most eye-catching finish in the range) and, finally, a non-shiny take on one of the previously mentioned colours, in the form of Magnetic Tech Matt.
The VZ5, though, has what Cupra calls a "specially curated palette" of finishes. Which basically means only five of the above colours are available to it - these being Midnight Black, Dark Void, and then all three of the matt-effects.
Whether these will be the same individual paint prices on the VZ5 as they are on the rest of the range remains to be seen (at least one of them will need to be no-cost, so we'd guess the cheapest which is Midnight Black, but maybe all of them would be included in the lofty price of the Formentor VZ5), yet we can't help feeling that some really bright shades - such as a fiery red, or a vivid yellow, or even a searing lime green - would have done wonders for this five-cylinder Cupra's kerb appeal.
Interior, practicality, tech & comfort of the 2026 Cupra Formentor VZ5
• High-quality cabin with 'Cup' bucket seats
• Digital cluster is clear to read and use
• Loads of rear space as ever
The Cupra Formentor, for all its sportiness across the line-up, is at its heart a family SUV, though bear in mind that it's quite a compact car. Nevertheless, build quality and design are excellent across the range, making the Cupra's interior a rewarding place to be.
Getting comfortable in the driver's seat
The Cupra Formentor is a lower, more car-like SUV in the first place, but as the VZ5 sits 10mm nearer the floor and has a set of truly exquisite 'Cup' bucket seats, there's an amped-up sense of anticipation that you're about to drive something highly noteworthy.
Those magnificent chairs have a full range of electric adjustment, while the steering wheel can be moved for rake and reach too, so a superb driving position is not too difficult to attain at all.
Infotainment and technology
Cupra addressed a few failings with the pre-facelift Formentor's infotainment system as part of the 2024 model update, so the 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster and high-mounted 12.9-inch touchscreen both look good and operate in a slick manner.
In the VZ5, there's also a wireless smartphone charging pad, multicolour ambient interior lighting and a powerful 21-speaker, 425-watt Sennheiser sound system to play with.
Practicality around the cabin
As an SUV, the Cupra Formentor has plenty of useful touches around the cabin to help occupants stash their stuff, including deep and scalloped-out door pockets that can take drinks bottles, a couple of cupholders up front, USB-C sockets in various handy locations and a decent-sized glovebox.
Yes, there are more practicality-oriented rivals in the car's class, but the Cupra is not without merit on this score.
Rear-seat passenger space
Passenger space is not bad in the back of the Cupra Formentor, although the Cup bucket seats of the VZ5 model have hard-backed carbon-fibre shells that impinge on space in the second row.
But there are some other features in the back that enhance the comfort levels - such as two air vents, a few USB ports, a central armrest with cupholders and sizeable door pockets.
Boot space in the Cupra Formentor
The drivetrain you go for in the Formentor affects the boot volume. The entry-level 1.5 TSI and eTSI mild-hybrid cars, which are both front-wheel drive, can lay claim to 450 litres of cargo capacity.
Choose either of the all-wheel-drive variants, though, which are the 333hp 2.0-litre TSI and this VZ5 range-topper, and the rear differentials rob a little room to leave the figure standing at 420 litres. It's the plug-in hybrids which suffer the worst, though, as their chunky 19.7kWh battery packs savage the boot down to 345 litres.
Cupra has never specified the outright volume of the Formentor's cargo capacity if you fold the 60:40 split second row of seatbacks down, but we'd suggest something in the region of 1,400-1,500 litres wouldn't be out of the question.
Safety in the Cupra Formentor VZ5
The revised Cupra Formentor was subjected to a Euro NCAP examination in 2025 and duly picked up the full five-star award, recording an impressive set of scores of 91, 86, 79 and 77 per cent respectively for adult occupant, child occupant, vulnerable road users and safety assist.
As the flagship model, the VZ5 comes with pretty much all the advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) available to the wider Formentor family fitted as standard, and there's a straightforward way to configure the car upon start-up to switch off the electronic oversight nannies you prefer to do without.
Performance of the 2026 Cupra Formentor VZ5
• Incredible performance
• Phenomenal noise from five-cylinder engine
• Chassis lives up to the powertrain
Every petrol-powered Formentor, from base variant to flagship, is quick and fun to drive. Things kick off with the 1.5-litre TSI at the bottom of the pile, which has 150hp, front-wheel drive and a six-speed manual gearbox.
Don't discount it, though, as it's still really polished and involving to drive. If you select it with a seven-speed DSG transmission, the powertrain then gets mild-hybrid assistance and becomes an 'eTSI', but it's otherwise the same vehicle.
There's a 150hp 2.0 TDI diesel model if you want it, although that's the one version we'd steer clear of. Moving up, two plug-in hybrids offer either 204- or 272hp, but - excluding the VZ5 - the Formentor to aim for if you've got deeper pockets is the 2.0-litre TSI 4Drive, which has 333hp and the same powertrain as the Audi S3. It'll run 0-100km/h in 4.8 seconds, more than quick enough for most people's needs, but still not a patch on the VZ5...
Driving the Formentor VZ5 on Spanish roads
Given a closed road to exert the Formentor VZ5 to its maximum, as well as some useful time on surrounding routes in the northern Spanish hills not far from Barcelona, we had a full demonstration of the Cupra's dynamic repertoire. And what a thoroughly extraordinary performance it staged.
While by no means suggesting the VZ5 is dynamically perfect, nor even the best high-performance SUV we've ever sampled, it nevertheless quickly made an indelible impression on us.
Fitting the 2.5-litre five-cylinder engine to the Formentor has blessed it with the sort of joyous, charismatic powertrain it has always so richly deserved but previously been denied; no disrespect to the 'EA888' 2.0-litre four-cylinder that was formerly the most potent motor in the Cupra, but the RS 3 powertrain is from another dimension entirely.
The chief benefit it brings to the Formentor is the noise. In all truth, the five-cylinder engine only produces an additional 57hp and 60Nm over the 333hp EA888 and, given it also brings an extra 44kg to the party, the gulf in on-road, real-world performance is perhaps not quite as wide as you might expect.
This is mainly because, for all its brawn and melancholy caterwauling, the 2.5 is actually quite a peaky unit, only delivering its maximum torque at 5,700rpm. In contrast, the 2.0-litre four in the next Formentor down the line is punching its hardest from just 2,100rpm and holds such grunt all the way up to 5,500rpm.
So unless you're really working the VZ5 hard and letting it enjoy a healthy dollop of revs, you might wonder precisely where the speed gains have got to. But that doesn't detract at all from the soundtrack.
Sure, this powertrain has been louder in the era before the EU noise regs that came into force in 2016, so don't perhaps expect the full operatic blood-and-thunder from the VZ5. Yet there's no mistaking the minor-key, offbeat howl that permeates everything the Formentor does from about 2,500rpm upwards, and which builds to a terrific crescendo of pseudo-Ur-Quattro proportions as you hammer round to the 6,500rpm redline. The sensational tune the Formentor VZ5 emits is almost worth the asking price alone.
It is, of course, monstrously quick if you have got the space to give it a full head of steam. The 0-100km/h time gap between it and a 333hp Formentor is six-tenths of a second, while the VZ5 also has a 30km/h-higher ceiling for the, largely irrelevant, V-max.
It's therefore something of a shame that the seven-speed DSG which is attached to this mighty engine is not quite as fleet of response as the car is. There are occasions where it fluffs a redline upshift on the paddles, and also times when it's in fully automatic mode where it doesn't quite seem to know what it wants to do next when the driver suddenly depresses the throttle.
Not to worry, though. Because the chassis of the Formentor has always been a peach, and lowering it, giving it additional focus in the suspension department and then fitting a set of whopping Akebono six-piston brake callipers to the front - gripping mammoth 375mm discs - only makes it even better.
Make no mistake, even with 15-mode Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) damping fitted and dialled down to the softest setting, the VZ5 is firmly set up. It will constantly remind you, through abrupt vertical body movements, that it's a high-end performance SUV sitting on 20-inch wheels and with a firm suspension calibration.
Yet the quality of the shock absorption is such that the Formentor VZ5 is, curiously, never out-and-out uncomfortable. There are better cars for long-distance motorway work - as there's quite an amount of both wind and tyre noise at speed in the Cupra - and crawling about on cratered city streets, naturally, but the kinematic payoff the VZ5 delivers when the roads turn way more interesting more than compensates for a slightly gritty ride and rolling refinement which is only eight-out-of-ten.
In the curves, this thing is majestic. The clever torque-splitting rear diff, again borrowed from its Audi RS 3 cousin, gives the VZ5 an agility and balance that's quite stupendous for a car of this size and class.
Yes, it could be argued that the Cupra is perhaps a little too foursquare, tractive and capable in the corners for its own good - that there are other performance machines, of all shapes and types, which are a little more playful when provoked.
But that won't matter when you can see what the VZ5 can do in extremis. And its roadholding is wilfully aided and abetted by steering which is marvellous, albeit just lacking those final few degrees of ultimate feedback and feel that might, along with a more mobile rear axle, have transported the VZ5 from the level of 'exceptional' into the hallowed realm of 'all-time great'.
Irish pricing & rivals to the 2026 Cupra Formentor VZ5
• Won't be many coming to Ireland
• Figure on a price of €80,000+
• Competes with more expensive cars
The key issue with this vehicle is getting hold of one. Of the 4,000 units confirmed globally, the chances of many of the allocation of right-hand-drive VZ5s coming to Ireland are slim.
As of the time of writing, 250 of them were slated for the UK, with that market fighting to see if it can bump its numbers up to 400 - but that suggests demand outstrips supply over there. So even importing one in the first place would be tricky, and then you'd certainly be looking at a price tag beyond €80,000.
That's down to its profligate CO2 output of around 220g/km triggering high rates of VRT and motor tax - and also taking into consideration the €75,755 ticket of the current 333hp Formentor at the pinnacle of the line-up.
As to rivals, previously we've suggested smaller premium performance SUVs as alternatives to the Formentor 2.0 TSI 4Drive, such as the BMW X2 M35i and related MINI John Cooper Works Countryman. But by the simple expedient of putting its cylinder count up to five and going much closer to the 400hp marker, we think the VZ5 should be compared to much more expensive machines - such as its Audi SQ5 and the BMW X3 M50. Tough competitors, but the Cupra has both the chutzpah and character to see them off.
Servicing the Cupra Formentor VZ5
On cars with a combustion engine fitted, Cupra recommends an alternating service schedule running at an annual or 12,000km basis - having a minor programme after a year, then a major service 12 months later, then minor, then major, and so on.
Although the VZ5 uses a specialised engine, it is an 'in-group' powerplant and so there's no reason to think its maintenance pattern would be any different.
Cupra Formentor VZ5 warranty
Cupra Ireland's warranty covers a five-year period, with unlimited distance back-up in the first two years of that period, then governed by a 100,000km cap for the final 36 months of the guarantee. We'd expect the VZ5 to conform to the same level of cover if it were to even come here officially.
Verdict - should you buy 2026 Cupra Formentor VZ5?
Getting hold of a Cupra Formentor VZ5 in the first place will be the big challenge - but if you have the disposable income to do so, you should go out and bag one of these rarities while you can.
It's one of those crazy but utterly wonderful automotive creations we thought had long since gone out of vogue yet installing the turbocharged 2.5-litre engine has unleashed a new side to the Formentor's already-likeable character.
It's not flawless, and it will be expensive to both buy and then run, but the fantastic, beguiling and deeply talented VZ5 is definitely worth the effort.
FAQs about the 2026 Cupra Formentor VZ5
Has Cupra ever borrowed an Audi engine before?
Yes. In fact, this is not the first time this exact thing has happened to the Formentor. Back in 2021, Cupra performed the same trick, but the first Formentor VZ5, built in a run of 7,000 units, was only ever offered in left-hand drive. This new VZ5 for 2026 is the first one where you can have a steering wheel on the 'correct' side of the cabin.
Is the Cupra Formentor VZ5 as powerful and quick as an Audi RS 3?
No, the engine here delivers peaks of 390hp and 480Nm, whereas in the latest version of the Audi its specification is 400hp and 500Nm. Add in that the RS 3 is lighter and lower than the Cupra, and it shouldn't be a surprise that the Audi can run 0-100km/h in 3.8 seconds, some four-tenths quicker than the VZ5's 4.2-second sprint.
Has the Cupra Formentor been assessed for safety?
Yes, it has, picking up a full five-star award from Euro NCAP in 2025 and charting high scores across the board for the four sub-disciplines of the test procedure. You can read the full Euro NCAP report into the Formentor's efforts right here.
Want to know more about the 2026 Cupra Formentor VZ5?
If there's anything about the new Cupra Formentor VZ5 we've not covered, or you'd like help in choosing between it and other cars, you can avail of our expert advice service via the Ask Us Anything page.
