Gabriel Jimenez
Gabriel Jimenez
Driving an electric car like the Cupra Born on snow and ice is challenging, but also surprisingly fun
Cupra Snow Experience 2022. Perhaps it is because seeing snowy pictures evokes an emotional bond that takes us back to Christmas, to childhood, to a more innocent world. Or maybe it’s because being in the very home of Santa Claus brings out the child in us. Or it is simply because when you witness a spectacle of nature like the northern lights you feel tiny.
Whatever the reason, Finland inspires many emotions. And these intensify when you land in Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland, the only city in the middle of a gigantic piece of ice and snow called the Arctic Circle.
How not to feel like a child with new shoes when they give you the opportunity to put the Cupra Cupra models to the test on snow and ice.
Yes, two models with different profiles, but the same sporting spirit: on the one hand, the Cupra Born, the first electric car of the Spanish brand, related to the Volkswagen ID.3, but with much more dynamic character and that transmits much more emotion , thanks to a Seat brand running gear. Of the good the best.
Power of 150 kW (204 CV) on the rear axle (propulsion, as the canons command), 310 Nm of immediate torque and up to 424 kilometers of autonomy, which will have to be seen how the battery manages it with temperatures as icy as the ones there are in the Arctic Circle.
On the other, the Cupra Formentor VZ5. This is the “fast” version of the Cupra Formentor, of which only 7,000 units are going to be marketed for as many lucky ones.
The Formentor VZ5, in whose development the pilot Jordi Gené has participated [dale al play del vídeo que abre este contenido, donde nos cuenta muchos detalles que le gustan del Formentor VZ5]It is a wonderful car.
Under its SUV coupé silhouette hides a powerful five-cylinder engine of Audi origin that develops 390 horsepower, has a torque of 480 Nm and accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in just 4.2 seconds.
The Cupra Formentor VZ5 also has a technological ingenuity that gives it more control and stability in curves: the Torque Splitter. It is a torque distribution system that works through two independent clutches with electrohydraulic control.
The mission of the Torque Splitter is to distribute the force of the engine on the cornering supports, not only between the front and rear axles, but also between the left and right wheels of the rear axle. With all this, the Formentor VZ5 is also much more agile in the most demanding conditions.
If we add to all this the Adaptive Chassis Control (DCC), with 15 levels of damping adjustment, and which has a Drift mode to experience a higher level of dynamism and fun on a closed circuit, it can be said that the Cupra Formentor VZ5 is an artifact of care.
Two Cupra Cupra, as we mentioned above, with different profiles but the same sporting spirit. But how about snow and ice?
brake to break the ice
Precisely to break the ice and begin to get used to the sensations of driving with such a challenging electric road, it is best to go from less to more, and start with some downhill braking tests and with an avoidance obstacle. And we will do it with the Cupra Born.
We go with the ESC disconnected and the important thing is to brake with all the forces in the world, let the ABS kick in, be clear about where we want to go, look at the objective, not at what is close by.
It is nothing more than the appetizer of what will come later: the ice circuit. I don’t know how the Finnish pilots do it… Well, I do. To begin with, to get a driving license in Finland, every candidate has to overcome this braking with dodge. And I think it’s a great decision.
I said that I don’t know how the Finns do it, but at least the work on the circuit accumulates for me. Look at the bottom, approach the vertex, look for the exit… but… how the hell can I distinguish one thing from another if it’s all white!
By dint of practicing the ideal trajectory, it comes out, and with more confidence, more fun. The ESC off doesn’t really turn off at all on the Born, and it shows when you push it around corners. Although the most difficult thing is to be fine fine with the direction and the gas.
Although when the Born is placed by inertia in the curve, and the rear end gives you a couple of controlled lashes, the emotion runs through your entire body. For a moment you look at the horizon, and you see how the mid-afternoon sun tears the sky reds and oranges, while the rays of the sun (poor people) reverberate in the snow and ice. They are seconds of pure spectacle… you fall in love with the place.
And the night comes and magic makes its appearance. They warn us that this clear night we will be able to see the northern lights. I had only seen it once, in Iceland and it was an indelible moment. And then, while we’re having dinner, they yell at us: “The Northern Lights!!!!” (“the Aurora!”).
Gabriel Jimenez
And with that image I go to bed, thinking about the next day. Another sunny morning in this desert of snow and ice and with a careful mount: the Cupra Formentor VZ5.
Before starting the experience, Jordi Gené himself gives us some basic notions. The Formentor VZ5 is a very powerful device and the grip in these parts is minimal.
He tells us about the Kamm Circle, which graphically represents the loads that a tire can be subjected to. To maintain stability, it must be ensured that the sum of the tractive force and the guiding force never exceeds the tire adherence limit. Otherwise the car will lose stability, a very plausible extreme on ice and snow.
The best way to warm up is to take the measure of the Cupra Formentor VZ5 on the track. And for this nothing better than doing a section of the Arctic Rally (Rally of the Arctic) that has been held since 1966.
Jordi Gené tells us that this section crosses a private track in the surroundings of which wealthy people live and the last thing they want is car maniacs going full throttle behind the wheel of a Cupra Formentor VZ5. We’ll be good…
It is a narrow road, flanked by slopes of ice covered with snow. We go in a caravan, without exceeding the limits, and that the Formentor VZ5 feels like the figure skater Javier Fernández: in his element. And that doesn’t mean that at certain times the playful rear end gives you a scare…
But the adrenaline rush comes when we return to the circuit. And that the work accumulates again: look there, be careful with the gas, smooth with the direction, brake hard, turn…
First with the ESC off mode the Cupra Formentor is more controllable, and when you go over the throttle it growls wonderfully, but it’s too much power, and on that road it doesn’t need as much. You have to make hands and more hands, until the Formentor straightens up. And start again.
We tried the Drift mode. Before going to work, a shiver runs through my body: it’s not cold, it’s emotion, like that produced by love… The fabulous sports bacquet welcomes me in its bosom, as if it knew that I want it to rock me.
To the mess! In Drift mode, the Cupra Formentor VZ5 is less controllable; It is a free spirit that as much as you force it, it abandons you to your fate. My work is piling up again… Mixed feelings: on the one hand I don’t want to spin, but on the other this thoroughbred asks me for a cane. I step on the accelerator measuredly but steadily, and for a moment I feel like I’m dancing.
For a moment, when the work doesn’t pile up for me and I do everything as it should be done, it seems as if the Cupra Fomentor VZ5 was dancing a waltz… But suddenly the magic breaks, I go overboard with the gas and the waltz passes to rock & roll, while the engine growls and growls. My rear end goes away, I correct, and I correct again, but no one takes the fun away from me.
It’s time to recap. The song says that “how can you love two people at the same time and not be crazy”. In this case, I liked the two Cupras, each in its own style. Of course, the one that has driven me the most crazy is the Formentor VZ5. They are the things of love…
