Cupra Born review

First impressions are good. The Born seems to have got the choice bits of the ID.3 (such as the rotary gear twister on the dash), and it's offered with dynamic options such as DCC adaptive chassis control, suede-like Dinamica bucket seats and big 20in alloys in a bid to reflect its sportier character. That at least has been successful.

Is it sporty though?

The standard car certainly isn't. There used to be a handful of powertrain options but now there are only two, and most of the line-up is fitted with the 'e-boost' set-up that chucks out 228bhp and 229lb ft for 0-62mph in 6.6 seconds. Opt for the bigger battery and that drops slightly to seven seconds flat.

DCC (an £830 system that offers 15 different levels of suspension firmness) does make a big difference, allowing you to vary the suspension stiffness over a wide range, but we found ourselves erring more towards the comfort settings than the sport, as that seemed to suit the car better.

Ramp it up and it goes around corners flat and level, but there’s no more engagement than that, so you get to the end of a good road and just, kind of… shrug.

But the VZ is much better, right?

Good grief yes. The VZ gets a more powerful motor maxing out at 326bhp and 402lb ft, all of which still goes through the rear wheels to maintain that inherent sportiness. 0-62mph? A heady 5.6s. And it feels more urgent than that.

More importantly though, stiffer springs and anti-roll bars, bigger tyres, adaptive damping and retuned brakes give the Born some proper tools to work with, and the end result is the closest thing to an electric hot hatch this side of the Hyundai Ioniq 5N. And that's £20k more than this. Yikes.

The most impressive thing about the VZ is the grip; you'd never know it weighs close to two tonnes. But turn in and it demolishes corners like it's on rails. Prod the accelerator and the front tucks in; throttle response is immediate, the steering direct and precise. Golly is it a hoot on a twisty road. Sure, the ride is a bit firm, but you won't notice because you'll be having too much fun. 

Need more detail? Go ahead and read our separate review of the VZ.

And if I only want an everyday hatch?

The Born is right up there. The rear-wheel drive layout and low-mounted battery pack means it turns in sharply, gets a neat little turning circle and limits bodyroll well. Rather frustrating that you don’t get a full ‘one-pedal’ driving mode, though: even in Brake mode there could be more immediate regen.

But the throttle is precise, so it’s an easy, nimble car to guide around town. Although it's a little hard to judge where the extremities are and the forward visibility is restricted by those sweeping A-pillars. Mind how you go at roundabouts...

Talk to me about refinement.

Like the ID.3, the Born repels road noise well. Even at motorway speeds you’ll only really notice a touch of wind noise.

Is it efficient?

Very good question. With a drag coefficient of 0.27 the Born is fairly slippery despite its height, and in a 59kWh car we managed over 3.0 mi/kWh with a mix of town and country driving in warm weather. With the bigger battery that fell to about 2.7, but stay slow and local and over 4.0 miles per kWh is achievable. Even in the VZ.

What does that mean for range? If you're pulling 3.0mi/kWh from the smaller battery then you're looking at real-world range of 180-ish miles against a claim of 264. About what you'd expect then. The 79kWh car might manage 240 miles in mixed driving; 342 is the lab number and at the height of summer, we've seen the Born get close to that claim. Not bad at all.

Home charging is possible at up to 11kW, fast DC charging can be done at up to 170kW (or 185kW in the VZ), meaning a 30 minute stop would be enough to rejuice the cells from five to 80 per cent full.