Talk about torque. I’m indebted, I should confess, to Google and AI for this working dedication of the term, tricky as it is to explain: “Think of it as the effort needed to start something rotating (like loosening a stubborn jar lid) versus horsepower, which is about the speed it can keep rotating”. Or “grunt” if you will.
Anyway, my test car this week has it in super-abundance. It is the thing I remember best about the Cupra Formentor 1.5 E-Hybrid VZ1 272PS DSG, to give it its full pedigree-dog-at-Crufts-style name, is how frisky it could be from rest with even the gentlest of encouragement. Although I don’t make a habit of stamping my Dr Martens boot on the accelerator, I was actually frightened of giving the Formentor full welly when setting off from the lights.
