Cupra Born review: Entirely predictable but very well executed

You know the déjà vu thing – where you get the definite impression while experiencing something which you’ve never experienced before, that you have actually been in this time and place on some occasion previously.

It can be a little weird and discommoding to know – truly know – that you’ve not done this thing before and yet, somehow, it feels like you already have.

Such was the case with a recent test of the otherwise very decent Cupra Born all-electric. When it arrived chez Colley, I initially thought some awful mistake had been made and that I had been sent a Volkswagen ID.3 instead of the new Cupra.

Of course SEAT is a sub-brand owned by VW and as Cupra is a sub-brand of SEAT, it is also therefore in the VW firmament and no surprise then that it has taken a good deal of its’ technology from Wolfsburg’s overflowing parts bin. What is something of a surprise is that it has not done as good a job as fellow sub-brand Skoda’s initial electric take, the Enyaq.

I’m getting dizzy from all these sub-brands here, but the bottom line, essentially, is that Skoda has done a great job in distancing its first electric contender from its VW heritage, while Cupra could be accused of toeing more to the party line.

Despite the Born’s characteristic copper-coloured badging – that curious four-legged spider insignia emblem thing – and the very attractive copper accents inside and out, not to mention the very ‘Cupra’ exterior folds and creases designed to make it stand out from the crowd (a bit like the Cupra Leon and Cupra Formentor, which look quite different from the SEATs they’re based on), it still manages to come across as a trendy ID.3, but a definite ID.3 derivative nonetheless.

But that being said and given that a lot of the new VW electric cars do a passable impression of automotive white goods, it is a good thing that the Cupra avoids doing an replication of a washing machine. But, thereafter, the similarities between the Born and the VW are impossible to ignore.

Those similarities are such it is hard to say if the Born will make any sort of a sizeable dent in a marketplace which VW is beginning to consider its own. 

Indeed a press release from the Wolfsburg outfit late last week hailed the company’s new-found position as Ireland’s all-time leader in electric car sales, a position it seems pretty smug with, despite the fact it only really had to beat a moderate and early starting electric, the Nissan Leaf, to attain the goal.

Sure, bigger challenges lie ahead for VW and electric supremacy, but will the Cupra Born be part of the raiding party which takes on its’ own parent? Well, who knows.

If Cupra has done anything, it is to make the Born more appealing to the ‘yoof’ market and you can expect that a majority of its sales will be in the 25–40-year-old age group, while the mainstream VW products will be expected to appeal to a more mature crowd.

To this end the Born has been endowed with 18” fancy dan alloys as standard – 20” black ‘Hurricane’ alloys on the tester, which are more fancy again – the suspension has been lowered by 15mm at the front and 10mm at the rear to give a more road-cosy look, sports suspension and it also has a quicker steering rack than the ID.3 to give it a little more zest when you press on in the corners.

Like its cousin, it is also rear wheel drive, but it has been fitted with wider tyres and these too add to a more zingy look all round for the Born and that will stand it in good stead with the intended audience.

Our car was fitted with the smaller of the two battery sizes available – 58 kWh – and that gives it a solid range of just over 420 km. This is another of the second-gen electrics that doesn’t lie too much when it comes meeting the claims of the manufacturer. What you get, largely, is what Cupra says you’ll get and there is no alarming drop-off in range values if you’ve been a little bold.

Power output is 204 bhp and lends the Born the ability to work well in town and on the open road. Acceleration is punchy rather than punch-in-the-head and if you’ve been sold on the idea this is something of an electric GTi hot hatch, then you’ll be a little disappointed.

That said, the 6.6 second 0-100 km/h is rather quick, but the performance does diminish a little and the top speed is only 160 km/h, which is modest enough. Worth noting though is the 320 Nm of torque which makes the car particularly smart around town and from a standing start.

There are a number of driving modes to choose from but, as is the case with most such systems, you will ultimately find that ‘comfort’ is the most optimal because you get most of the power without the range drain that usually accompanies ‘sport.’ 

On the road the car handles and rides very well although it will get a tad iffy if you are too adventurous. But, if you are, the electronic systems will save you – and the car – from any mildly embarrassing moments. It is not too intrusive, but if you’re in hooligan mode approaching a corner, the power will be cut and brakes applied without your say so.

The interior has a real premium feel and innovation too. The seats are covered in a material that has been recycled from recovered marine plastic and I’d have to say you would never think this to be the case. The bucket seats too are more for the youthful as a fuller, older body profile (ahem) will find them a little tight.

Passengers a well looked after space-wise and there’s something of a Skoda vibe going on here as the Born appears to be endowed with the sort of roominess of a car in a bigger segment. Maybe the Spanish have learned something from their Czech stablemates. The flat floor also means there’s plenty of foot room for the middle passenger in the rear. The boot is okay size-wise but not over-generous.

And, sticking with Skoda for a moment, we had hoped the Born would be significantly different from its’ VW counterparts and, really, apart from styling touches and décor, it is not really. Skoda bit the bullet and stood apart with its’ Enyaq, but Cupra has not does so with the Born.

Don’t get me wrong here, that does not make it a bad car and there is plenty on offer here that will attract the target market. But the fact is that they had a chance to put a stamp on the electric scene with this car and did not really take it.

Even so, this could be somewhat of a market sneaker and if it is successful from a sales point of view, maybe that will give Cupra the courage to press on with more ambitious and individual projects.