I lamented a lack of an Octavia PHEV in Australia (especially one with this power train shared with a Golf GTE that’s supposed to be punchy and efficient) but this is quite an underwhelming car for nearly $70k. The interior looks a step below Skoda/VW and the manual unseated seats are laughable when our $48k Octavia Limited Ed has ventilated and heated front seats, with full power adjust AND memory on BOTH sides and extended thigh support AND heated rear seats with a third climate zone. Would it kill VW Group to simply drop these front seats in the Cupra?
For this kind of money a BMW X3, Genesis GV70, Lexus NX or Mazda CX-60 are all more compelling options that actually feel premium inside.
And back on the Octavia, the Formentor’s performance figures of around 7s 0-100 sound closer to my 140TSI model than the 180kw RS it’s meant to be like and 6.0L/100km is not far off the Octavia 2.0 either (at least the efficiency tuned 140kw version) and I think that’s attributable to the turbo that means I don’t have to plant my foot down like in my other NA 4cyl cars that are thirstier.
There are four Formentor variants on offer (V, VZ, VZx and VZe) priced from $54,990 up to $66,490 drive-away.
The most direct competitor would be the Mitsubishi Eclipse PHEV. It offers 4WD and a well proven driveline. Would be interesting to see a head to head comparison.