From the moment I first saw the Cupra Born, I knew I’d love it. A sporty hot hatch with a beautiful interior and a terrific exterior, lower to the ground than most other EVs in the country with a hatchback styling, the Cupra Born should be celebrated for its obvious strengths.
However, it is not a perfect vehicle. Issues with the operating system, the lack of some features expected at this price point, and a style oriented towards younger people may make the Born a difficult purchase for some prospective electric vehicle customers.
I spent a week with the Cupra Born and have some thoughts on the fun new electric car from Spain.
The Born Identity
If you’re unfamiliar with the ‘Cupra’ name, know that it’s a car company under the ‘Seat’ umbrella, which is owned by German car giant Volkswagen. Since its inception, Cupra has had a focus on sporty aesthetics, though in recent years, the company took a turn to focus on electric vehicles and hybrids. The company has announced it will no longer be making petrol-engine vehicles and will only be making hybrids and EVs going forward, with the Born being its first fully electric car.
And as a first, the Cupra Born is quite strong. The Born ($59,990) is priced at around the same point as the Tesla Model 3 ($61,300) and the Polestar 2 ($63,900), two massively popular electric sedans. Unlike those cars, though, the Born has a much heavier focus on style points over neutral, inoffensive aesthetics. The focus is obvious – younger people with a sporty itch. If only us young people could actually afford it.
Simply sitting in the Born feels fast. The seats make you feel like you’re in a racing car, the interior panelling is styled like something you’d see on the track, and there’s a wealth of space in the front seats, both in terms of legroom and breathing room among the car’s small but intuitive screens.
Visibility in the Born is brilliant. It’s low to the ground, which may make you cautious, but the visibility out the front window is tremendous, aided by side windows between the windshield and the doors (a feature you may be familiar with on some Volkswagen models). The rear window has great visibility too, with rear vision and parking aided by the tremendous array of cameras around the car (the car has a 360 camera mode, and a great rear camera that turns depending on your wheel lock). In traffic, among much bigger cars, I felt no disadvantage being as low as I was.
Here’s the 360 camera. The front-facing camera swaps to the back if you enter reverse.
Additionally, adaptive cruise control and lane assistance were strong and intuitive, but not so strong as that it would snatch driving entirely from you if you went over a line. Acceleration is a brilliant 0-100km/h in just seven seconds, and although the car is only available in RWD, I never felt any particular disadvantage – it’s simply a sporty and well-tuned car.
The Australian model is capable of 511km range, more than enough for a road trip with well-placed chargers along the way. When connected to an ultrafast charger, the car can charge at up to 135kW, capable of charging between 10 per cent and 80 per cent in 33 minutes (as per EV Database). In my experience, the car aligned with charging expectations, though I never went below 48 per cent.
Extra packs
Let’s just quickly gloss over the extra packs.
- The base model comes with 215/50 R19 wheels, while 235/40 R20 wheels are also available (adding $2,600 to the price). With this extra, while there’s better responsiveness, there is also less range – 511km with the R19s, but only 475km with the R20s. My review was conducted with R20s
- The only colour option that costs extra is Metallic Blue, which adds $475 to the price. I did not have this colour during my review
- The ‘interior package’ adds BeatsAudio speakers and ‘Dinamica Aurora Blue Bucket Seats’, which adds $2,900 to the price. I did not have this package during my review.
The Born Supremacy
I’ve been kind to the Born so far, but there were certainly a number of things that I was either quite neutral about or didn’t really like at all.
Let’s start with the styling. While I don’t mind a sporty feel, this car feels extra without any of the earlier mentioned extras packs. During the night, the trimming of the front doors change colour depending on your selected driving mode. This was cool, but it also felt quite campy for a $60,000 purchase. It’s fun, but I feel it’d get old quickly.
The sides of the car also have ground-focused projectors – yes, projectors – attached to the wing mirrors. These beam the Cupra logo onto the ground. I’m not sure why the car lacks electric front seats and an electric boot but has something like this.
The car also, for seemingly no reason, only has four seats. This doesn’t really feel justified, as the back seats are about as spacious as any mid-sized hatchback (so is the boot), and having the option would be nice. That being said, as a tall colleague of mine notes, the ceiling isn’t particularly high.
It’s worth noting that the Cupra is one of very few electric hatchbacks available in Australia. The Nissan Leaf has been available for years, sure, but apart from that, the only other electric hatchbacks on the horizon are the MG4 and BYD Dolphin.
I’m a great fan of the car’s copper-bronze detailing, which is visible through the logo and trimming around the car, but it might not be that attractive to some buyers. Keep in mind that I’m in my 20s, a journalist, and of a very different demographic to somebody who may be my age but can also actually afford a $60,000 car.
So that’s all aesthetics. What about performance? Well, the driving modes are a headscratcher. A car having three performance modes is fine, but anything else feels just unnecessary. Not only does the Born have five driving modes (dubbed Individual, Range, Comfort, Performance, and Cupra), but it also has two buttons dedicated to cycling through those modes prominently attached to the steering wheel. Not a back and forward, mind you, but one button that cycles through all five, and one button that swaps between your most recently used mode and ‘Cupra’ mode, which is the highest performance mode… Even though there’s also a mode called ‘performance’?
I also wasn’t a big fan of the buttons on the steering wheel. Not only are they fake buttons with vibrating haptic feedback instead of just being a button, but the volume control and cruise speed dials are fake dials. These took forever to get used to and ultimately just don’t feel premium. The plastic feels easily broken and flimsy, and the touch responsiveness is just not on par with a real tactile button.
Additionally, the car’s infotainment system had a fun little quirk where, no matter where you tapped on the screen, it would make a ‘tap’ noise. This may seem inoffensive, but if you’re focused on the road and want to tap something on the infotainment system, such as a map setting or a contact to call, you don’t want to hear an audible tap noise potentially indicating that button you pressed had actually been pressed when it really hadn’t. It means you need to check whatever you’re tapping with your eyes. Have I convinced you that buttons are far superior to touchscreens yet?
There’s also no integrated maps app, which is fine, assuming you’d be using Android Auto or Apple CarPlay anyway, but again, not having the option sucks. Wireless Auto and CarPlay don’t come with the Cupra Born, which makes it extra unfortunate (however, the USB-C port connection to enable these front-end modes is located in the centre box, with space to lead through to a pocket below the armrest – I actually really liked this approach).
Finally, Volkswagen’s driver window control panel has snuck across into the Born, meaning that there are only two switches and that you need to press a button to switch between those switches controlling the rear windows and the front. It’s not a terrible thing, but I’m never going to prefer it over simply just having four switches.
The Born Ultimatum
The Cupra Born feels a bit niche with its styling and non-SUV body, but I love it nonetheless. During my week, the problems listed above were eventually overcome just by getting used to the vehicle, but they may annoy other drivers.
The Born is a pleasure a drive, be it on a highway or in the inner city. Of all the EVs I’ve reviewed, the Born has felt sportier and more nimble than most, and with its terrific visibility and spaciousness, this is likely the EV that I’d gravitate to if I were in the market.
The Cupra Born is for a young and sporty customer. At an RRP of $59,990, it’ll be interesting to see if this target works out for the company.
Image: Zachariah Kelly/Gizmodo Australia
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