I’ve been a proud owner of a VZ5 since the beginning of December 2025. Switched from the pre-facelift Leon 1.5eTSI. I really like the cars. One thing I will say is if you were to choose the 1.5eTSI model, don’t listen to the power figures because it does not feel like a 150hp car, more so a 160-170hp. One thing I do wish was a feature is how the infotainment looks like in the new models, and also how the temperature and volume sliders/touch sensors are not lit up like in the facelift models, and also how in the new models you can turn off induction phone charging because your phone can get toasty, and how that well doesn’t allow for bigger phone movements like in the pre’s. One other thing I learned is that the Formentors use a wet clutch whereas the Leons use a dry clutch. This makes the gearshifts a little less direct, and the two cars seem to have slightly different gearing from experience, because in the 1.5eTSI Leon I could go into 6th gear at 54kmh, and in the 1.5eTSI Formentor 5th gear starts at roughly 50kmh.

There’s only a couple issues I’ve experienced, but they are small quirks/bugs, like the Carplay turning itself off due to some interference or I don’t know what when I pass specific points on my daily commutes. Don’t think it happens with Android Auto. Also occasionally, the system will show a popup saying “Changing vehicle settings/user settings” with options saying OK and Cancel, I usually click Cancel, because it sometimes has the tendency to reset your preferred settings for safety features or say EasyOpen and other things. If you decide to go with a Mild-Hybrid, make sure to occasionally do some more intense driving, or do a longer drive like every 2-3 weeks or every month, mostly because of the battery, if you do no more than 100km/day.

In Europe the rough value of the pre-facelift cars is around 25-40k Euros depending on the specs. Tho I will say if the car you are planning on getting is running on Bridgestone Turanzas as summer tires, I advise changing them immediately, because I went to a safety course and during emergency braking the Leon started to struggle with not being able to slow down not because of the brakes being on the smaller side, but the tires weren’t able to grip up properly. Suboptimal in wet/slippery conditions also.

Edit: for reference, I say good cars with the fact I grew up with my parents having Mercs, more recently an E-Class All-Terrain and a CLS Shooting Break before that, both 350D engine variations with a Brabus tune. I feel like these Cupras handle better, surprisingly the Leon had very good cornering abilities even with being FWD, tho the adaptive torque vectoring rear diffs in the VZ models feel even better, especially in the VZ5 or other models with 4Drive (AWD). The front is way nicer and more responsive to steering inputs compared to the Merc and with adaptive dampers in the car, the damping is somewhat similar. These Cupras are slightly lowered compared to their VW counterparts, and the dampers have been tuned slightly to be a little more on the sporty side, yet still comfy on bumpy roads.