Our cars Ghost in the brakes?


This month our Formentor tester considers the developing world solutions being employed to combat first-world problems.


Cupra Formentor 1.4 TSI eHybrid 204PS DSG


P11D price £39,950 As tested £41,905 Official consumption 201.8mpg Our average consumption 39.5mpg Mileage 5,112


Pete Tullin


Given that some miscreant seems to have left the hose pipe running since last October there’s a good chance your car is making a few more moans and groans than usual first thing in the morning. This has certainly been the case with our Formentor and the source of these annoying noises can be traced directly to the brakes.


This is because every time there is an overnight downpour a rapid build-up of unsightly iron oxide attaches itself to the exposed brake discs. These tell-tale signs then manifest themselves as a pronounced clunk as the lightly seized electronic handbrake pads are forced to relinquish their grip on the rear rotors, followed by a metallic screeching, akin to someone running their fingernails down a blackboard, the first-time pressure is applied to the brake pedal. First-world problem you may think but let me tell you, across the pond in Yankee- doodle land, customers are so sensitive to brake graunch and unsightly brake dust build-up on the surface of their blingy alloys, manufacturers fit specific North American brake pads. These pads operate more quietly and produce less dust but there is a downside as they are less effective at stopping the vehicle. What price vanity, eh?


When it comes to cars employing any form of electric assistance, whether it be mild- hybrids, full EVs, or somewhere between like our plug-in Formentor, brake servicing has become an increasingly thorny problem. Not because these vehicles have inferior braking capacities, quite the opposite. That’s


Why we’re running it


To see how the latest Formentor Hybrid works for fleet.


44 | March 2024 | www.businesscar.co.uk


because they use regenerative braking, so when you hit the brake pedal the first port of call is the electric motor, which produces significant stopping power as it flips into regen mode, followed swiftly by the front brakes. This is why you sometimes sense a delay between your foot and the brakes working. In many instances, unless you need some serious stopping power, the battery regeneration mode and front brakes are more than sufficient, meaning the rear brakes are employed very sparingly.


Having a reasonably large battery – the Formentor can travel approximately 30 miles solely on electric power when fully charged – and configured to produce as much regeneration as possible, little rear braking is required, so it’s not really surprising that early morning graunching is an issue. Granted, because I use the Formentor on a daily basis and cover plenty of miles the build-up of rust on the rear discs never gets out of hand, so I’m inclined to just accept the early morning groans – insert your own jokes here. However, what happens further


down the line when the Formentor moves on and perhaps finds an owner with a more sedentary lifestyle? This being the case, this issue will almost certainly become more intense, possibly leading to parking brake issues and shorter disc life.


If you think I’m being a wee bit paranoid here just look at the VW group EVs and tell me why they have horse and cart style drum rear brakes, which by design are less exposed to the elements. Of course, it is always possible some sloppy individual in VW purchasing inadvertently misplaced the decimal point when ordering up a batch of old school stoppers for that second-generation Polo van it still produces for the developing world and on discovering this cock-up needed a surreptitious way of squirrelling away an extra five million brake drums. More likely though, some bright spark calculated that less application of rear discs would inevitably lead to higher maintenance costs and drums could provide a suitably cost-effective fix. As for the extra weight associated with drum brakes, well, this probably isn’t too much of


“What happens further down the line when the Formentor moves on and perhaps finds an owner with a more sedentary lifestyle?”


a concern with vehicles weighing well over two tonnes to start with.


Excessive weight is something that was brought into sharp focus recently when I was involved in some top-notch EV group testing. Having spent the day driving many much-lauded but predominantly hefty specimens, I couldn’t help but reflect on how we are inexorably moving into an era where cars are so much more ungainly. Relying ever more on electronics, whether that be torque vectoring or active anti-roll bars to disguise their immense mass and get them around corners despite the opposing efforts of Mr Newton. I must confess I’m not a fan of this approach. In contrast to the aforementioned EV leviathans, the Formentor feels refreshing light on its loafers and I’m more convinced than ever that this plays an essential role in making it such a joyous thing to drive on a daily basis.


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