CUPRA is now one of the fastest-growing car firms in the UK, with an increasing range of models making this Spanish performance brand stand out further.
One of the key additions in the last year has been the Born. It’s CUPRA’s first electric model and has really widened this firm’s appeal.
We’ve been spending the last six months running a CUPRA Born, and with our time with this EV now up, we’re looking back at what we learned over half a year of using this electric car. Let’s dive in.
Great to drive in a range of scenarios
One of the things that impressed us in particular with the Born was just how suitable it was to a whole range of scenarios. Whether it was being used around town, or on the motorway, it always performed perfectly.
We did a lot of longer motorway trips with the Born over our time with it, and its remarkable refinement and fantastic driver assistance systems always helped to take the stress out of these sorts of trips.
But get Born back on a twistier, more enjoyable bit of road, and it equally excelled. CUPRA has deliberately tried to give the Born more of a hot hatch-like feel, and that’s how it behaves when given the chance. This fun driving experience really helps to set it apart from many in this class.
The seats are fantastic
It might seem a slightly odd point to focus on in particular, but the importance of some good seats in a car should never be underestimated, particularly if you do lots of long runs or suffer from any back problems.
And a special mention really has to go to the Born’s seats, particularly those in the top-spec V3, which we’ve been running. They’re ‘bucket’-like seats, so offer a fantastic amount of support, and help to give the CUPRA an even sportier feel. They’re heated, electrically adjustable and even massaging, and are without doubt some of the best seats we’ve come across in a car.
The range readout is very trustworthy
Range remains a crucial talking point when it comes to electric cars. Our CUPRA Born is the standard 58kWh battery model, with CUPRA claiming between 235 and 265 miles on a full charge. As with almost any electric car, you’ll struggle to get those figures, though we averaged around 200 miles on a full charge, which should be plenty for most drivers.
But the thing that impressed us most with the CUPRA Born was just how trustworthy the range readout was. Some electric cars have ranges that fluctuate all over the place, but this EV was nearly always spot-on, seemingly getting used to our driving style to give an accurate readout. It meant we would regularly run the Born’s range down to near empty, but knowing it could be trusted and not have to worry about running out of charge.
Fantastic in snow and bad weather
Our experience with using rear-wheel-drive cars in bad weather is that they can often be twitchy and quite useless when it comes to snow or ice. So we were quite apprehensive about how much use the rear-wheel-drive Born would be when the weather takes a turn for the worse.
But we certainly didn’t need to be concerned as the Born proved to be remarkably capable in the snow and ice, almost incredibly so. In a particularly bad snow spell, the CUPRA had no worries getting up a particularly steep hill, and without ever feeling like it was losing traction.
Superb technology
Technology can sometimes be a bit hit-and-miss in cars, but CUPRA got it just right with the Born, and I never stopped discovering new features and gadgets that the Born offered.
For starters, there’s a large 12-inch touchscreen that’s brimmed with features, while the augmented reality head-up display, which is able to point particular directions out so you never miss a turning was a great addition.
