CUPRA BORN VZ

When Cupra launched the Born, we liked it enough to give it a Company Car & Van Award as the Small Electric Car of the Year. The only thing it lacked was the Cupra DNA, so Cupra’s engineers decided to change that & came up with the Born VZ.

What’s new ?

Firstly the VZ moniker. It’s a shortening of the Spanish word ‘veloz’, which when translated into English means ‘fast’. In order to achieve this the VZ comes with a new rear drive motor which produces 320 bhp. You also get lower suspension by 10mm on the front & 15mm on the rear,  the latest generation adaptive dampers & some stiffer anti-roll bars. There’s also new software that tweaks the steering for example & improves the general usability of this Born.

Model choice

The standard Born specs offered are V1, V2 & V3. V1 comes standard with 19″ alloys, heated leather steering wheel, LED headlights, LED tail lights, 12.9″ touchscreen 5.3″ digital cockpit, SatNav, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, front bucket seats, rear view camera & sports suspension.

V2 adds, an augmented reality Head Up Display, heated front seats & dark tinted rear windows. V3 includes 20″ alloys, interior ambient lighting, 12 way electrically adjustable front seats, adjustable lumbar support & a massage function.

VZ comes with even more; 20″ alloys, steering wheel paddles, a Tech pack, keyless entry & go, wireless phone charger, Car2X intelligent vehicle networking, CUPRA and VZ logo lettering in dark chrome,Sennheiser Premium Audio & Enceladus Grey Cup Bucket Seats Battery choice

Battery

Choose a V1 or V2 Born with a 59kWh battery, or the V3 & VZ with the 77kWh E Boost battery.

Safety

Standard from V1 are, adaptive cruise control with speed limiter. Forward collision warning with automatic braking. Driver Alert System: Tiredness recognition, Lane assist & Dynamic road sign display.

It still looks like an ID.3 on steroids which is no bad thing. You get some subtle styling tweaks over  the standard Born, such as dark chrome CUPRA lettering & VZ logo on the boot, plus new colours including our test car in Dark Forest. It sits squat to the ground too & really looks the part.

Inside

First up the gear lever is now mounted on the steering wheel & there’s a new shroud around the 12.9″ touchscreen. They’ve also updated the Head Up Display & bucket seats feature too, which make you sit lower giving the driver a sporty vibe. It still feels classy then the VW ID.3 & the finish is decidedly flash in a nice way with copper finishes dotted around the cabin. The steering wheel features two circular buttons to change the driving modes & even better you can turn off lane assist & speed notification with just a couple of touches.

Range, battery & charging

More good news as Cupra has added an extra 2kWh of capacity so 79kWh for the battery. A claimed range of up to 372 miles means less charge station fretting too.When you do stop as I did at Warwick Services, the charging speeds increased as well from 130kW to 185kW, so a 15 minute top up added 70 miles to my test car. Recharge at home on an  a home wall box & it’s at 11kW, so a 0-100% charge takes 8.5 hours.

Cabin practicality

The VZ features a small gloves, medium sized door pockets, a large under armrest cubby, a wireless charging pad with USB C between the front seats, twin cup holders, a sunroof,  twin USB C’s in the rear & a fold down rear armrest with twin cups holders.

Boot practicality & cabin space

The hatch opens wide & offers up 385 litres increasing to 1267 litres with the rear seats folded. Charging cables can be stored in a cable bag, but there’s no space for this under the boot floor.Up front the bucket seats cocoon you in the low slung cabin. Head & legroom are good. In the rear it’s a five-seater but really only comfortable for four. Head rooms excellent but leg room will be tight if there’s a tall person sat up front.

Performance

The Born delivers with a 0-62mph time of  5.6 seconds. It’s amazingly quick from 0-50 mph & then the acceleration tends to tail off up to a top sped of 124mph. The addition of the driving modes Cupra & Performance selected via the steering wheel buttons add to the occasion. Range, Normal & Individual modes can also be selected.

Driving

The good news is the VZ is as happy in town at slow speeds as it is when you really want to chuck it around. Local driving from home to my gym every morning was quiet & comfortable driving in Range or Normal mode. There’s no annoying fake engine volume so it’s very much a silent  hot hatch.  On the local B roads around Tatton Park, Dunham Massey & out towards Jodrell Bank, it’s an awful lot of fun. The steering is incredibly well balanced with plenty of feel in & out of bends. Despite being RWD the combination of the cars suspension, battery weight & tyres gives it plenty of grip too, with a touch of oversteer if you get carried away.

The highlight though is how the VZ deals with road imperfections. Plainly the DCC Pro adaptive dampers are doing a very good job under the car & the suspension doesn’t feel to hard nor too soft a difficult trick to pull of in an EV. Brake regeneration is offered & you select B from the gear lever you will notice the subtle work going on to add a bit of extra range to the VZ.  Combined with driving in Range mode utilising B regeneration definitely added a few miles to our test car over the week.

A 200 mile motorway round trip to the British Motor Museum saw us utilise adaptive cruise control & Apple CarPlay for Waze & podcasts. It all sets up quickly wire free & we’ve praise for the touchscreen’s clarity, simple left to right menu selections & general ease of use. We also used Spotify & the speaker systems a winner. Hands-free calls though were simple & at motorway speed there was no volume issues.

Real world economy

Fully charged for our journey south on the motorways, the VZ indicated  a battery range of 279 miles. Starting as low as 2.6miles/kWh as we progressed at an average speed 56 mph for the entire journey, this climbed as high as 3.6miles/kWh which was far more encouraging. We drove in Comfort & Range mode at 70mph without air-con & reckon that the VZ in late October will give you a motorway range of 250 miles. Add in some urban drives utilising Range mode & the B regeneration & 300 mile seems infinitely achievable.

Pros

Looks & feels like a hot hatch. Handles like one too. Both the Cupra interior & exterior add to the fun. 2% BIK rising to 3% next April make it company car friendly. A kitten in town & cheetah elsewhere.

Cons

The brakes do a great job of brake regeneration but lack the feel of those fitted to a petrol Cupra. Range is good but not class leading. MG’s X-Power is cheaper.

Verdict

Finally a car built on VW’s MEB platform that actually delivers. Our faith in Cupra’s performance engineering on an EV is restored & it makes the standard Born & by default the Volkswagen ID.3 look tame. The is a car that will do the dirty work – school run, supermarket & long motorway trip – whilst offering the driver some hot-hatch fun. Perhaps only 2 or 3 other electric cars can make that claim & one of those the MG X Power is nowhere near as composed nor as well built despite being cheaper. Drive it & range will disappoint, but otherwise it’s almost but not quite perfect.

An El Escorial 4.5/5

Model Tested