A camouflaged Cupra Terramar was recently caught lapping the Nürburgring, and according to the spy photographers who saw it, it didn’t sound like a Terramar should. It sounded like an Audi RS3.
That’s probably because it has the RS3’s heart. The turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-five, the engine Audi is being forced to retire in Europe, looks headed for a new home in a Spanish family SUV.
The timing is almost absurd. Earlier this year, reports confirmed that Audi will kill the RS3 in the third quarter of 2027 because the five-cylinder can’t pass Euro 7 emissions rules. The Terramar VZ5 is expected to debut in early 2027.
So one VW Group brand is writing a eulogy while another is printing birth announcements. It’s the same engine hitting the same regulatory wall, with opposite plans.
If the Terramar VZ5 reaches production, it joins a short list of five-cylinder VW Group cars and becomes only the second without an RS badge. The first was the Formentor VZ5, a compact crossover that hid the RS3’s drivetrain under sheetmetal nearly identical to the cheaper trims.
The Terramar appears to follow the same recipe. The prototype wears the same dark gray grille and intakes as every other Terramar, and the wheels look ordinary.
Even the brakes give nothing away. The bronze-painted front calipers are the same ones found on lesser versions.
The one visual clue Cupra gave the Formentor is missing too. That car’s stacked quad exhaust, arranged like the old Lexus IS F and Ferrari California, was the only real tell.
This Terramar tester runs the same four conventional tailpipes as the VZ and VZe. That could change before production.
If the numbers carry over from the Formentor, they’re serious. Expect 384 horsepower and 354 lb-ft (480 Nm) of torque, sent to all four wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.
The Formentor VZ5 hits 62 mph in about 4.2 seconds. The Terramar should land close to that, a step behind the RS3 but quick enough to embarrass plenty of cars with louder badges.
None of that explains why the five-cylinder has a cult following. The sound does. That uneven, off-beat warble is what buyers pay for, and it’s exactly what Brussels has decided it can live without.
Audi isn’t giving up entirely. The engine could survive in markets with looser rules, including the U.S., which would keep the production line running after the RS3 leaves Europe. Audi has also said it’s willing to explore electrifying the five-cylinder if that’s what European regulators demand.
That’s the part nobody has explained. A Terramar VZ5 arriving months before the RS3’s European deadline doesn’t fit with an engine that can’t pass Euro 7 in its current form.
Either the Cupra gets a short European life, or something changes under the hood. The sources don’t say which.
Scarcity may matter too. Global Formentor VZ5 production was capped at just 4,000 units. Cupra hasn’t confirmed a similar limit for the Terramar, but a short run would fit a brand squeezing the last good years out of an engine on borrowed time.
For now, there’s a mid-size SUV lapping the Nordschleife that looks like a commuter and sounds like a rally car. Cupra still has to tell us how long it plans to let it sing.
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