Cupra Born review

The Cupra Born electric car takes its name from a district in Barcelona but is built in Germany and arguably has closer links to Wolfsburg, home of Volkswagen's HQ.

Why? Well, under the metal, the Born is essentially a VW ID 3 and, like that car, it's a five-door electric hatchback that's about the same size as a Ford Focus.

Cupra has positioned the Born as a sportier option than the ID 3, giving it sharper steering, suspension and brakes plus more aggressive styling. There's also a hot VZ version that has those elements enhanced (and, as a bonus, has a longer electric range).

The ID 3 isn’t the only electric car the Born needs to worry about of course. There are plenty of alternatives, including the Renault Megane E-Tech, the cheaper MG4 EV and, if you go for the bigger battery Born, even the larger Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6. 

Read on to find out how the Cupra Born squares up against the best electric car rivals...

With the arrival of the VZ "electric hot hatch" version, you can have the Cupra Born with one of three different battery sizes: 59kWh, 77kWh or 79kWh. Whichever one you go for, an electric motor drives the rear wheels.

In our tests, the entry-level 58kWh car managed 0-60mph in 7.0 seconds – roughly on a par with the Renault Megane E-Tech and slightly stronger than in the MG4 EV. You can cut the official 0-62mph time from 7.3 to 6.6 seconds by paying for an e-Boost option, or go for the VZ to cut it to 5.6 seconds. That’s pretty rapid, but the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is quicker still, covering 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds.

The Born's official ranges are 266 miles with the 58kWh battery, 341 miles with the 77kWh and 372 miles for the 79kWh, but you won't get that far in real life. In our real-range tests, a 58kWh model managed 182 miles in winter temperatures and 219 miles in summer. Meanwhile, a 79kWh VZ managed 294 miles in summer.

The Born is a reasonably comfortable electric car and does a good job of absorbing lumps and bumps in the road. The ride height has been lowered slightly compared with the VW ID 3, making the car a little firmer, but the difference isn’t huge and it's more settled than the MG4.

The VZ version gets adaptive suspension as standard, which means you can adjust the set-up via the driving modes to better suit the road you’re on. As such, the suspension is comfortable in the VZ, even with its large 20in alloy wheels. 

However, don't expect the Born to be quite as comfy as a non-electric family car such as the Seat Leon or VW Golf. Its ride can get a little choppier over potholes and there's a bit more fidget on the motorway.

Being more focused on sportiness than comfort means the Born offers tidy and precise handling. It won't exactly thrill you on every journey but it’s an absolute breeze to steer through town and easy to thread smoothly down a B-road.

Thanks to accurate, well-weighted steering and decent body control, every Born is more engaging than the Renault Megane E-Tech and MG4 EV (which loses its composure a little when pushed hard).

If you want the most engaging Born, the VZ is the one to go for. It gets a stiffer suspension set-up for sharper, more playful handling, and gives you more confidence through corners. That said, we do think the Abarth 500e has even more feelsome steering.

With precious little noise from the electric motor and gearbox, the Born is very quiet at town speeds – only a bit of suspension noise spoils the serene experience. Pick up the pace and you'll notice some road and wind noise (the Megane E-Tech is slightly quieter at 70mph), but the Born is still impressively hushed, and far more so than the MG4.

The brake pedal is heavier and more naturally weighted than the set-up in the ID 3 and Megane E-Tech, making it easier to judge how much pressure is required to slow down smoothly. That said, the pedal feels a little spongier than in the best electric cars, including the Tesla Model 3.

The VZ is slightly better, with a more progressive feel, but it’s by no means as easy to modulate as a petrol-powered hot hatchback. That's largely because electric cars have both regenerative braking and mechanical brakes, with the integration of the former sometimes causing a spongy brake pedal feel.

"The Born manages to show its fun side without compromising everyday comfort too much, which is a combination I'm very keen on." – Dan Jones, Reviewer

Regardless of the trim you go for, you’ll find two things in the Cupra Born: a rotating gear selector and a digital pod behind the steering wheel with a small but clear 5.3in driver's display that shows your speed and remaining range.

The position of the driver’s seat in relation to the steering wheel and pedals is very good, leaving you feeling relaxed, and the well-bolstered seats are comfortable. That’s especially true of the VZ’s bucket seats, which look great and are really supportive.

Annoyingly, like in many VW’s, you adjust the air-con using fiddly touch-sensitive sliders below the infotainment screen. They're illuminated in VZ trim but not on other versions, so they're even more of a pain at night. Earlier versions of the Born had very annoying touch-sensitive buttons on the steering wheel, but they've now been replaced with much better buttons.

Seeing out of the front of the Born is pretty easy. Its deep windscreen and slim front pillars afford you a largely unobstructed view of the road ahead, although they're heavily angled so taller drivers might find they get in the way a little at T-junctions.

The rear pillars are wide and the rear screen is a little shallow, making the standard front and rear parking sensors, and rear-view camera welcome additions when trying to park. Making life even easier, opting for the Tech (L) pack gives the Born Intelligent Park Assist (IPA), which enables the car to steer into spaces for you.

Bright LED headlights are standard, and while they do come with an auto-dipping feature, you can’t get fancier matrix lights that shape their beam to avoid dazzling other drivers.

A 12.9in touchscreen infotainment system comes as standard on all Borns, and it features wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring (the MG4 gets smartphone mirroring too, but it's not wireless). 

The screen itself is bright and clear, and the new operating system is more intuitive than it was previously. Indeed, thanks to the simplified layout and faster response times to your prods, the system is good to use. 

That said, we still prefer the systems you’ll find in the Kia EV6 and Renault Megane E-Tech, which are both even easier to use.

The basic layout is the same as the ID 3's, but the Born’s interior is not just a copy-and-paste job. A slightly different mix of materials means it looks and feels classier inside, especially around the centre console and arm rests.

Victory over the ID 3 is by a slim margin, and you’ll still find some hard, cheap-feeling plastic in places. The overall feel of quality inside the Born is much better than in the MG4 EV and the Nissan Leaf but the EV6 feels better all round. That said, most versions of the EV6 are a lot more expensive than the Born.

"I like that the Born's interior feels a little more premium than that of the ID 3, with a broader mixture of materials and colours, although it’s darker overall." – Will Nightingale, Reviews Editor

Even if you’re blessed in the height department, you won’t find yourself struggling for space in the front of the Cupra Born. Indeed, even those measuring north of six feet tall will enjoy ample head and leg room. 

On top of that, the Born feels surprisingly wide inside, which means you won’t be rubbing shoulders with your front-seat passenger, even if you’re both quite broad. 

There’s pretty good storage space available too. A large chunk of that is in the centre console, which has various cubbies and the ubiquitous cup-holders. The glovebox is a decent size, as are the door bins.

The Born is roughly the same length as the VW Golf and is just as roomy in the back. There’s space for at least a 6ft passenger to sit behind someone equally tall without feeling squished, although there's not a lot of head or leg room going spare.

To give you some context, space in the back is very similar to that in the VW ID 3. That means the Tesla Model 3 is much roomier, and the Nissan Leaf has more leg room (if not quite as much head room). The Renault Megane E-Tech is tighter in the back all round.

With three rear adult passengers on board, there won’t be a lot of shoulder room to spare, but the middle passenger will appreciate the flat floor with no central tunnel to straddle. All Borns get three rear head restraints, unlike in the MG4 EV (which has two).

There’s not a huge amount to report here. You get 60/40 split rear seats as standard, which, while not as useful as having 40/20/40 seats, is par for the course in smaller electric cars.

You don’t have the option of sliding or reclining rear seats, which you can get in some slightly pricier electric SUVs including the Hyundai Ioniq 5. To get a ski hatch (which also brings fold-down rear centre armrest) you’ll have to pay for the pricier 77kWh battery in V2 and V3 trim, or the top-spec VZ.

At 385 litres, the Born's boot is about the same size as a Golf’s and will be fine for such daily duties as carrying a small buggy, the weekly shop or a weekend away. There's no front boot.

The Leaf has a bigger boot (except in models with a Bose subwoofer that robs space) as does the Megane E-Tech’s. The Tesla Model 3 is in a different league, with much more capacity in its front and rear boots.

We managed to squeeze six carry-on suitcases into the Born's boot, one fewer than in the Megane and one more than we squeezed into the MG4. An optional height-adjustable boot floor removes any load lip when placed in its highest position and has space underneath for smaller items.

"Boot space is on a par with the ID 3's, but a slightly different shape meant I was able to cram an extra carry-on suitcase under the Born's load cover. Useful on a couple of airport pick-ups." – Darren Moss, Deputy Digital Editor

Even the entry-level Cupra Born is more expensive than a top-of-the-range MG4 EV and if you choose your Born in longer range VZ or 77kWh form with top V3 trim, you'll be spending close to Kia EV6 or Hyundai Ioniq 5 money. That's why we think the 58kWh version in V1 trim makes the most sense.

Like any fully electric car the Born is incredibly tempting if you're a company car driver, thanks to very low BIK tax rates.

The 58kWh Born has the ability to fast charge at up to 125kW while the 79kWh VZ Born can charge at up to 185kW, which means a 10-80% top-up will take around half an hour for both versions. The 77kWh version can accept 170kW and takes a similar time. With a 7kW home wall box, you’re looking at empty to full in around nine hours in the 58kWh version, and 12 hours in the 77kWh.

Entry-level V1 trim gets you LED headlights, climate control, parking aids and 19in alloy wheels. It's all you really need and there are various option packs available.

V2 comes with privacy glass, heated windscreen washer nozzles and a head-up display to project your speed on to the windscreen. It also gets heated seats and a heated steering wheel, so is worth considering if you like your creature comforts.

V3 is too expensive to recommend, but comes with 20in wheels and electric front-seat adjustment with a built-in massage function. Top-of-the-range VZ is similarly equipped to V3 but adds bespoke 20in wheels and sports bucket seats up front.

Cupra came bottom in the 2023 What Car? Reliability Survey out of 32 car makers. However, the Born itself did much better, finishing in fifth place out of 20 electric car models, with a reliability rating of 95.6%.

To give you peace of mind, Cupra now gives you a five years/90,000 miles warranty (until April 2024 it was three years). That’s better than many rivals offer, although Kia gives you seven years. The Born's battery is covered for eight years, as it is with most electric cars.

The Born gets an extensive suite of safety kit. That includes automatic emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection, lane-keeping assistance, adaptive cruise control, a driver fatigue monitor and traffic-sign recognition, which shows you the speed limit of the road you're driving on. 

Just like the closely-related ID 3, the Born scored a full five stars when it was tested for safety by Euro NCAP. Looking deeper into the results, the Born actually scored better than the ID 3, but as the Born was tested more recently and in harder tests, it’s impossible to directly compare.

The Renault Megane E-Tech was tested by Euro NCAP at the same time and scored less than the Born in every area.

"I reckon the Born should work out a few hundred pounds cheaper than the ID 3 over three years due to its slightly lower predicted depreciation and electricity costs." – Claire Evans, Consumer Editor

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