diff --git a/src/hb-ot-font.cc b/src/hb-ot-font.cc
index 5d4aa2d09..a0167e696 100644
--- a/src/hb-ot-font.cc
+++ b/src/hb-ot-font.cc
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ hb_ot_get_glyph_v_advances (hb_font_t* font, void* font_data,
 #if !defined(HB_NO_VAR) && !defined(HB_NO_OT_FONT_ADVANCE_CACHE)
     const OT::VVAR &VVAR = *vmtx.var_table;
     const OT::ItemVariationStore &varStore = &VVAR + VVAR.varStore;
-    OT::ItemVariationStore::cache_t *varStore_cache = font->num_coords ? varStore.create_cache () : nullptr;
+    OT::ItemVariationStore::cache_t *varStore_cache = font->num_coords * count >= 128 ? varStore.create_cache () : nullptr;
 #else
     OT::ItemVariationStore::cache_t *varStore_cache = nullptr;
 #endif