Lexus NX vs Cupra Formentor

What's the difference?

So, is the cheapest Lexus NX the grade you’d skip? Depends on where you live and drive.

If you’re urban based and bound, save up a bit more and go the petrol-electric hybrid; otherwise, out on country roads especially, the spirited and sporty NX 250 is more than up to the task.

Either way, though, the latest NX is finally fit to fight the other premium brands’ medium SUV efforts, head on and held up high. Welcome to big mid league, Lexus.

Ignore or underestimate at your own peril, everybody else.

I am stuck in two minds on the Formentor VZe, a car which took me by surprise. It's a bit frustrating as a plug-in hybrid. It has a short real-world electric-only range and takes a while to charge. While this isn't unusual for a small PHEV, I wish it were better on this front. As a hybrid crossover, though, it is intriguing - a rare case of an electrified car being seriously fun to drive and proving that hybrids don't just have to be about saving fuel. If only it didn't cost almost as much as a Golf R...

Lexus says that nearly one million of the original-shape NX versions were produced, so there’s no way that the brand was going to mess with the styling of the latest version. Which explains why picking new from old is a serious case of trainspotting.

But that migration to the TNGA GA-K platform has brought some benefits from a design point of view. The styling now breathes more, especially when viewed rear-on, thanks to a body that’s 20mm longer and wider, as well as a handy 30mm wheelbase stretch.

Drilling into the details, the headlights have an LED ‘tick’ motif, the corporate ‘spindle’ grille isn’t as in your face and the rear gains ‘LEXUS’ lettering spelled out, probably to accentuate stance.

Crisp and elegant, the design works well. This is a handsome machine. Looks expensive too.

The Formentor looks great. It’s much more a crossover hatch than it is an SUV, and one of the better looking examples on the market, too.

It’s a surprising take on the Volkswagen Group SUV formula, too, given it could have easily been a re-skinned, or worse, re-badged T-Roc. Instead the Formentor brings a quite unique look and feel to what are otherwise commonly shared parts.

The light profile is distinctive, as are the chunky, almost Porsche-style haunches over the rear wheels. The wheels themselves, despite measuring in at just 18-inches appear enormous on this design, and completing its contemporary visage are the contrast grey crossover highlights over the wheels and a contemporary light-bar running across the rear.

This car brings all the elements it needs to stand out and apart from its peers. It’s striking, cool, and aggressive, and with its signature light profile, it looks all the more menacing at night.

The interior is also interesting. The big bucket seats in the front instantly imbue it with a sporty feel, as does the neat steering wheel with a carbon-look finish and the raised centre console elements shared with the Golf 8.

The mix of manual adjust seats, modern fly-by-wire controls, and digital dash set-up makes the Cupra feel like it’s in an unusual, very European trim level, the kind you don’t usually see in Australia, and while all the individual pieces come from across the VW Group - from Skoda to Audi, the way they’ve been mixed and matched in this car gives the Formentor its own distinctive appeal.

This is helped along by a bespoke set of typefaces and designs for this car’s digital elements, on the multimedia screen and dash display. There’s been attention to detail here in setting the Cupra brand apart, and I appreciate the depth of changes this car has compared to, say, a Golf, or a T-Roc.

Though distinctively attractive and obviously well built, the previous NX was quite small for a medium-sized SUV inside, with tight rear legroom.

It also had a nonsense mouse-operated multimedia controller that was fiddly, annoying and counter-intuitive to use.

Thankfully, the new-from-the-ground-up design has rectified both these issues in the latest version.

Now the NX is properly medium-sized, and so easier to get in and out of, as well as palpably roomier front and rear. Employing the RAV4’s TNGA architecture results in a lower and roomier cabin, that benefits all in terms of packaging.

Being the entry-level 250, you might not expect much in terms of interior presentation or style, but Lexus Australia’s product planners have been deft in specifying this grade to make it look luxurious and on-brand.

Body-hugging bolstered perforated leather front bucket seats, in our example finished in a black/cream hue with orange stitching, belie the base-grade reality of the 250. This scheme is also found on the centre console, armrest and door cards, lifting the ambience no end. It looks, feels and smells expensive in here.

The only thing that seems to be missing is a smartphone charger. That's part of a $3K option pack that also throws in a sunroof and foot-operated actuation for the electric tailgate. Not bad.

Then there’s the driving position, with an electrically-operated reach/height adjustable steering column and a multi-configurable seat to help find the right spot. All-round vision is also better than you might expect, no doubt helped out by huge exterior mirrors and a large reversing camera screen.

Typical Lexus-style classy digital instrumentation, directly ahead, are positioned in such a way that you’re not really aware of/missing the available head-up display in higher grades. Though it takes a quick amount of familiarisation, all the info there is ultimately clear and easy to take in.

The same applies to the now touch-only centre screen, which has a slick rich finish and tactility, and also encompasses the climate-control display.

Along with banishing the dreaded mouse pad, kudos to Lexus for also installing physical switches or buttons for the most-used items – audio volume, temperature setting, and front and rear window demisting.

These and the simplified sub-screen menus for navigation, wireless telephony/audio streaming, vehicle diagnoses and vehicle settings amongst other features, is quickly second-nature in their accessibility and operation. And the sound system quality is great too.  

One of our very few complaints concerns the Apple CarPlay experience, which seems needlessly complicated to return to if you temporarily switch away from it to the NX’s native multimedia system. Confusing and distracting. 

Never mind. There are minivan levels of practicality at work here, from the superb and easily manipulated ventilation system to the seemingly endless storage options, that include bottle holder capability in the doors, a clever lid operation for the huge centre console and properly engineered cupholders.

Lovely lush materials of satisfying quality are further plus points.

We’re also fans of the NX’s electric door opening system with a failsafe handle, meaning you can grasp the door handle inside or out and a solenoid activated by a press in of a thumb releases the door quickly and naturally in a single action; it feels… upmarket and ergonomic once accustomed to.

Accessing the back seat is easy due to the latest model’s larger proportions. Much of the same applies out back as the front seat area in terms of quality of finish and attention to detail. Sculptured and enveloping backrests (adjustable for two reclining positions), a well-padded cushion and more-than-sufficient space for two burly adults or three smaller people means this NX is more family friendly than the swoopy exterior styling suggests.

We’re also happy to find large people-facing air vents, two USB and a 12V outlets, one-touch electric windows with that premium-car soft close mechanism, overhead LED lights, grab handles, centre armrest with cupholders, map storage behind both front seats, coat hooks and good lines of vision further enhance the appealing and comfortable back seat environment. It feels like a Lexus should.

Further back than that, after releasing the electric tailgate via either an interior button or exterior switch, you’ll find that the boot has a fairly high loading lip, but then offsets this with a long, flat floor with matching levels of appropriate-quality finishes. Another 12V plug and two bag hooks are included, along with ample lighting and tie-down hooks. There’s also a hidden deep storage compartment underneath the floor, due to the discontinuation of a spare wheel (due to runflat tyres, remember).

Capacity is rated at a fairly ordinary 520 litres, extending to 1411L with the split/fold backrests folded. You’d expect a remote actuation for the latter like Mazda wagons have had for decades, but none is found at this price point.

Note there is no solid cargo cover either, just a flexible/flimsy fabric item that’s foldable and easily stored.

Overall, though, despite of its base positioning within the NX hierarchy, the 250's interior experience is in keeping with the brand's image.

The design sells a car which is more individualistic than some of its rivals or relations, and this certainly felt true in my week with this Cupra. The big front seats, for example, are accommodating and supporting, allowing a sporty, low seating position and a good level of adjustability for the steering column.

The doors have a big bottle holder in them, and there are a further two in the raised centre console element. This area is also enhanced with a small bay thanks to the minimalist fly-by-wire controls, good for holding another phone, wallet, or perhaps keys. There is also an adjustable-height centre armrest covering a small storage box.

The area under the screen hosts dual USB-C ports as well as a wireless charger. Although we’ll call out here there’s no mechanical controls for the climate functions, which like all modern VW Group vehicles, need to be managed through some touch elements below the multimedia screen, or, more frustratingly, through the screen itself.

The screen is interesting, because it’s not one of the crazy high resolution ones which appear in some VW Group products, instead being a faster, lower resolution version, which has the benefit of making the touch elements in CarPlay or some of the sub menus large and easy to jab at while on the move.

The software is mostly good, too, with a handful of fairly self-explanatory menus, with some more advanced features buried about two menus deep, best adjusted while parked. There’s a clever little short-cut bar on the left-hand side of the screen, even when CarPlay is running, which lets you skip right to the main menu, car settings, or climate functions.

The digital dash has a welcome variety of views to play with to suit all kinds of preferences, and some bespoke Cupra ones which look neat, too.

In my week with the car, I had some passengers complain that the rear seats feel very claustrophobic with the massive front seat backs blocking the view out the front of the car, and a combination of black headliner and a large transmission tunnel closing in the space further.

I tend to agree, although I (at 182cm) had sufficient airspace for my knees behind my own driving position as well as sufficient headroom, with the only small annoyance being how low the doorline is. If you’re as tall or taller you’ll need to duck low to get in.

Welcome additions to the second row include a large bottle holder in each of the doors, dual USB-C outlets, and the third climate zone with adjustable vents is a real win.

Boot space is 345 litres. Sounds middling for the small SUV segment, and down on the 420 litres offered in the purely combustion variants, but I was pleased to find it could accept the entire CarsGuide luggage set with minimal disruption to the view out the rear window. I did have to remove the luggage cover, however.

There is no under floor storage with a small cutaway for the tyre repair kit, so you will need to store your charging cables in the boot.

Let’s get the price out of the way immediately, because on the face of it, the VZe is a tough sell.

This plug-in hybrid version of the Formentor comes in at a whopping $60,990, before on-road costs (or $66,990 drive-away). There’s no getting around how expensive it is. The bright side is it costs no more than its top-spec alternative, the VZx, which is the same car but with a bigger engine and all-wheel drive. The downside is it’s almost as expensive as a Golf R.

This puts it in a tough place. Performance-wise it can’t quite match a pure combustion rival, and on the electric car front you can have a Tesla Model 3 or Polestar 2 at a similar cost. The Cupra brand itself is even in a strange semi-premium spot, with the most direct rivals to this car being the Mini Countryman PHEV (from $64,000).  

You’d have to be committed to buying a plug-in hybrid then, with everything that entails. Thankfully, the Formentor VZe is not only notable for its drive experience (more on this later), but it’s also well equipped.

Standard gear includes 18-inch alloy wheels, a 10.25-inch digital dash, 12-inch multimedia touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a wireless phone charger, built-in navigation, surround parking sensors, bucket seats with cloth trim (these appear to be a similar style to the ones which appear in the Golf R), tri-zone climate control, full LED head and tail lights, with Curpa logo puddle lamps, leatherbound heated steering wheel, keyless entry and push-start ignition, adaptive chassis control, and a progressive steering tune usually reserved for the more upmarket Volkswagen Group products.

It’s a nice set of gear, and if you’re missing high-end seats, they can be optioned with the $2050 ‘Leather Package’ which upgrades the trim, while also adding heating and power adjust with memory.

The only other options are a sunroof ($1800) and premium paint ($475). It’s nice to see Cupra throw in the Type 2 to Type 2 public charging cable at no extra cost.

There are two ways of looking at this.

Yes, the NX 250 is powered by a variation of the same engine found in the humble base Camry Ascent in Australia at almost half the price. On the other hand, it’s a Toyota powertrain and everything that’s good and reliable and dependable about that. Which is not always the case with premium SUVs.

Dubbed Dynamic Force, which may imply forced-induction like a turbo or supercharger but there isn’t any, the 2487cc 2.5-litre naturally aspirated direct-injection D-4S twin-cam four-cylinder engine delivers 152kW of power at 6600rpm and 243Nm of torque at between 4000rpm to 5000rpm.

Drive is sent to the front wheels only, via an eight-speed torque-converter automatic. Tipping the scales at a pretty hefty 1705kg, it’s nonetheless the lightest NX, and manages a power-to-weight ratio of 89.1kW per tonne. That’s about the same as a GLC 200, which uses a 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine.

The Formentor VZe pairs a 1.4-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine producing 110kW/250Nm with an electric motor producing 85kW/300Nm. The two can combine using a boost function, for a maximum combined output of 180kW/400Nm.

The front wheels are driven via a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, and the electric motor is seated between the transmission and engine.

A 12.8kWh battery pack allows a theoretical purely electric driving range of 58km, although I was seeing more like 40 at best in the real world, with the adjustable regen set to the higher of two available settings.

Rated Euro6b, the NX 250 demands 95 RON premium unleaded petrol. Same as Camry, actually,

We recorded a decent 9.7 litres per 100km during our time using the NX 250 in city, urban and rural conditions, against the trip computer’s 9.5L/100km and the official combined average of just 6.9L/100km.

Note this may be so because there was a lot of fast back-road driving, as the engine loves a rev and there’s a palpable wave of power that comes on strongly between 5000rpm and 6500rpm. A bit like Mazda’s naturally-aspirated units, but just not as sonorous.

At 55 litres, the fuel tank will allow for up to 797km based on the combined average cycle between refills.

As with most plug-in hybrids, the Formentor VZe has a very good-looking claimed fuel consumption of 1.9L/100km, although this assumes you’ll religiously charge it up. In my week with the car I saw 5.5/100km, with the caveat that I was mostly driving it in the hybrid mode as I was far from places I could charge it up.

Thankfully, the hybrid driving mode is very good, but one of the most annoying things about this car is how long it takes to charge.

The Formentor VZe’s AC inverter offers a maximum rate of just 3.6kW, and from the base level my car informed me it would take almost four hours to charge from a public charger.

Again, like many plug-in hybrids, this car is really only suitable for those able to charge in their home garage. It takes too long to charge this car on a public outlet to make the most out of its electric features.

It also requires mid-shelf 95 RON unleaded fuel for its small turbocharged engine.

The NX 250 truly is a tale of two cars.

Around town, it is utterly capable and benign. The 2.5-litre atmo four-pot petrol unit is a revvy, raucous sort of engine, pulling away strongly off the line, responding quickly to pressing down on the throttle, shuffling up through seven of the lower gears smoothly (top is a highway overdrive), and generally being an easy vehicle to drive.

About the only concern is how noisy the engine can become if you’re needing to accelerate hard, with a definite mechanical zing that gives the Lexus a bit of a hoon attitude. We’re also a little hesitant about using the Sport mode in built-up areas, as ratios are held on to whether up or down shifting, amplifying the loud nature of this powertrain.

Other aspects of the NX 250’s driveability around town rate highly: light yet linear steering, with a tight turning circle providing easy manoeuvrability and parking; firm yet still absorbent suspension, offering an appropriately isolating ride over most bad road surfaces; and an overall sense of sound engineering. It seems quieter than an equivalent RAV4, more importantly.

Which led us to initially conclude that, in an urban environment, you’d naturally pay the extra $3K for the NX 250 Hybrid, to eliminate that noisy engine when pushing down hard on the throttle. Easy.

However, then we ventured out on a long rural drive, a few couple of hundred kilometres from the big city. On country roads, the NX 250 really sparks up in a most compelling way.

Yes, the engine is still a bit rowdy, but as the revs rise and the needle edges near the 6800rpm red line, the Lexus just keeps on building up speed rapidly, providing an unexpectedly sporty edge. Above 5000rpm this thing still has plenty of oomph, relying on a deep well of power to really extend its legs.

It also makes sense to slot the auto lever into manual, and use the finely positioned paddle shifters. That’s when you’re most aware of the gearbox being a torque-converter auto, with defined and assertive selections. It’s a good way to feel involved in the experience too.

Actually, as a mechanical ensemble, it all comes together at speed; that light and easy steering remains relaxed yet reactive, weighing up nicely if you choose Sport. The handling maintains a fluid, connected feel, with ample levels of grip from the Bridgestone tyres.

It occurred to us that driving the NX 250 Hybrid out on rural backroads would deny the enthusiast of the base model’s lightness and agility, since the latter weighs hundreds of kilos less; the brakes are perfectly modulated instead of feeling vaguely mushy and/or trigger happy as with many electrified SUVs; and – even with the road noise being well-supressed – you’re far less aware that the atmo petrol engine is singing loudly at speed.

Plus, the ride out in the sticks, even on our craggy old test strip that would jar the bones of some other midsized SUVs, remains calm and comfortably firm. That’s real progress for the NX.

We’d appreciate a bit more nuance in the way the stability control kicks in (quite late) to catch the tail; while the driver-assist tech like the adaptive cruise control and lane-keep assist do their jobs admirably, the latter’s constant chiming can be annoying; and there's a fair amount of road-noise intrusion over coarse bitumen. Like most midsized luxury SUVs, actually. Still quieter than a RAV4, though.

No jarring faults then. Lexus has done its homework and fixed most of the things that annoyed or infuriated us about the previous generation version. Good work.

The Formentor VZe might be the best plug-in hybrid I’ve driven, certainly at this end of the market. It does something so few hybrids in this class try to, or are even capable of. It’s a lot of fun.

The Formentor manages to pack all the entertaining drive characteristics of something like a Golf GTI into a car which can be driven fully electrically.

It’s a thing of brilliance. The car feels agile, responsive, and lightweight, with some magic at work to hide the weight of its nearly 13kWh of batteries under the floor.

It also blends the instantaneous response of the electric motor in quite nicely with the surge of the 1.4-litre turbocharged engine, the two complementing each other with some grace. On a rare occasion, there is a slight delay between the electric motor waning off and the torque of the combustion engine meeting it, but these instances are few and far between.

With a healthy amount of torque available instantly, it also does away with the need to worry about the occasionally fiddly dual-clutch automatic transmission. 

As to going fast in a straight line, the VZe is capable of combining its two power sources to very easily overwhelm the front wheels. It has a 0-100km/h sprint time of 7.0 seconds, although feels as though it could best this, traction allowing. A peak of 400Nm is an incredible amount of torque for such a small two-wheel drive vehicle, after all.

The electric driving is of course smooth and easy to work with, although the regeneration, even on its highest of two available settings, can be quite mild. When set to hybrid mode, it drives more or less like a Toyota hybrid, limiting the amount of electrical assistance available on the accelerator pedal.

This is good, because some PHEVs will simply drain the electric system first, with the engine only turning on with a solid press of the accelerator, but the Formentor’s combined accelerator approach means you can drive in stop start traffic for nearly 200km before it manages to drain the battery (trust me, I tested it).

It exudes sportiness from behind the wheel, too, with a low-set driving position, neat customisable dash settings which offer plenty of information, and a sporty, thin wheel which offers direct feedback unsurprisingly similar to that of a car like the Golf R.

While it might not be the most competent electric vehicle, then, nor as brilliant as something like a Golf R, it’s an excellent hybrid offering unprecedented levels of driver engagement for a car with this kind of technology. I liked driving it a lot.

The full active safety suite is available across the Formentor range. Active items in this list include freeway-speed auto emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, lane keep assist with lane departure warning, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, and side assist which warns you if you’re going to open your door into traffic.

Adaptive cruise control also features, and the Formentor has a comprehensive suite of eight airbags (including a driver’s knee airbag and centre airbag between the front occupants).

There are three top-tether child-seat mounting points on the rear row, and two ISOFIX mounts on the outer seats.

The Formentor has a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating to a 2021 standard, it scored relatively highly in three of four categories.

Since the beginning of 2021, Lexus offers a five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty with roadside assistance. It used to be four years.

Service intervals are at 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first.

The NX also includes three years and 45,000km of capped-price servicing, with each one costing $495 – and as we’ve noticed in the recent past, that is very highly competitive pricing for a luxury brand.

Plus, there’s also Lexus’ ‘Encore’ aftersales subscription program offering myriad offers and services.

Cupra shares the same five-year and unlimited kilometre warranty as its VW parent, and at the time of writing, includes three years of scheduled servicing for free.

The brand has not settled on how much its servicing plans will cost after that period (again, at the time of writing). While VW Group’s five-year service plans aren’t usually outrageous, proceed with caution.

The Formentor VZe needs to visit the workshop once every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever occurs first.