Should you buy one?

There’s an awful lot to like about the Cupra Formentor. It’s one of the least SUV-ish performance SUVs on sale, which makes it the ideal gateway drug for those stepping out of hot hatchbacks. It isn’t as desperately impractical as its rakish looks would suggest, either – there’s loads of room in the back for passengers and enough space in the boot to handle most daily duties. However, if you need outright practicality, you’d probably be better served by the Skoda Karoq.

If you do go for the Formentor, though, you’ll certainly stand out from the crowd. And, if you can stretch your budget to the £44,340 required for the fastest 310hp model, you’ll have an awful lot of fun doing so. It’s a riot to drive in all weathers, so your commute will be anything but boring.

You can also have it with a choice if two PHEV powertrains, which is important in our rapidly electrifying world. Not only do they drag the Formentor’s Benefit-in-Kind tax rating down to an attractive 11%, but they also have the potential to save you a lot of money on fuel if you remember to keep them charged up. Granted, they’re not as fun to drive as the pure-petrol options, but you can’t sneer at an electric range of around 30 miles and everyday fuel economy of more than 50mpg.

Things we like

The speed. Cupra’s 310hp petrol engine makes the Formentor fast enough to shame hot hatchbacks like the Ford Focus ST, Volkswagen Golf GTI and Hyundai i30 N – and it’ll happily nip at the heels of super hatchbacks like the Volkswagen Golf R, BMW M135i and Mercedes-AMG A 35.

We also like the way the Formentor drives. It’s sporty when you want it to be, but you can soften it off when you just want to get home comfortably. The steering is direct, too, and it corners with almost the same level of precision as a hot hatchback. It’s very nearly the best of both worlds.

Things we don’t like

Cupra has shoved all the car’s interior functions into the infotainment system, which makes it frustrating to adjust things like the heated seats and driver assistance systems on the fly. The infotainment system is also slow to respond and we’re not huge fans of the climate control sliders. Dials are better.

The plug-in hybrid systems are another bugbear. They’re great from a fuel-saving standpoint, but they impact the Formentor’s practicality. You lose more than 100 litres of space the battery pack, which makes a difference if you regularly need to carry a lot of luggage (or baby clobber).