A couple of days into Cupra ownership, I thought I would share my initial thoughts. Although, in April we did have a Cupra Born as a hire car in Portugal which was a motivating factor to buying one. On a quick note about Portugal their Miio app is great and they charge less at weekends and the faster you charge so is much cheaper than the UK to charge. We had no issues over the ten days charging it twice.
I will not try to recover other reviews on here just try to add in more information to help with informed decisions to those looking to purchase a Born. The Born has replaced a Mini which we only had for 10 months, my youngest has grown allot in the past 10 months and complaining it was tight along with flakey software that on one occasion lost connectivity for 5 days. This meant that the satnav and several other services were rendered unusable including rear parking camera, this has happened a further two occasions since then. I found the autobox unresponsive and lazy I assume due to emissions and driving position not that comfortable. Although the Mini's saving grace is we only lost £250 as Mini but the price up by 2K when it went agency in April so helped an already good residual value.
On to the Cupra Born, which has really impressed us, I found it so smooth and comfortable to drive in Portugal, my only complaint there was the slightly laggy screen and interface, seemed slower than my Ibiza which I believe is the same system (MIB3). We have the facelifted Born with the newer MIB4 (not 100% sure) with the 12.9 inch screen. The difference overall is night and day as the screen resolution is higher, the larger screen gives a better user interface including permanent climate controls at the bottom and is much slicker in operation overall. The higher resolution screen also means the rear camera is very sharp, the image is clearer than the one in my Ibiza and camera looks identical in both, so I put it down to the higher resolution screen in the Born. Also nice to see that whilst still haptic the button layout on the Born steering wheel is identical to my Ibiza. I use adaptive cruise control allot on both although the Born increments in 1mph and Ibiza in 5mph.
Having viewed several Audis last year before we bought the Mini, that is where I think Cupra is at. Very Audi esq and similar build quality. I remember looking at an Audi A1 and was shocked to find build quality no better than an Ibiza with plastic door cards then very low kit count for an elevated price. Born comes out the same factory as the ID3, 4 and 5 as well Q4 e-tron so there is the usual parts share but Cupra has made the inside unique along with the front and rear.
As for driving the word swift sums up the Born, with snappy response as found in any electric car. The weight of the car does improve the ride as it helps prevent jolts or sudden undulations upsetting the ride, so here weight is a benefit. Even in the corners whilst you cannot chuck it about like my Ibiza it holds the road well when it gets twisty staying firm and planted, just lacking quick changes of direction. Range from 100% charge was 258 miles and at 51% says 132 miles as a range indicator in current warmer weather.
The seats are worthy of a mention as they really are very comfortable and supportive. Yet to charge and we are waiting for our Ohm charger to be installed as only ordered the car two weeks ago from Barlow Motors Wolverhampton. Who deserve a shout out for not only a great price 10.5K off list including government grant, but ease of doing business. The quote from Vertu Cupra was £85 a month more including all their add ons. On the provided quote they even charge you £20 to charge the car prior to delivery, not sure if this is universal now but no similar charge from Barlow and no pressure to buy extras we got the monthly price of the car first then separate cost for any extras. I used ALA for cosmetic insurance with three years, two claims per year at £228 seeming very reasonable and only purchased Cupra eCare at £149. This covers the first service in two years time and is a no brainer, it can be purchases at up to 90 days from delivery of a new Born.
I will not try to recover other reviews on here just try to add in more information to help with informed decisions to those looking to purchase a Born. The Born has replaced a Mini which we only had for 10 months, my youngest has grown allot in the past 10 months and complaining it was tight along with flakey software that on one occasion lost connectivity for 5 days. This meant that the satnav and several other services were rendered unusable including rear parking camera, this has happened a further two occasions since then. I found the autobox unresponsive and lazy I assume due to emissions and driving position not that comfortable. Although the Mini's saving grace is we only lost £250 as Mini but the price up by 2K when it went agency in April so helped an already good residual value.
On to the Cupra Born, which has really impressed us, I found it so smooth and comfortable to drive in Portugal, my only complaint there was the slightly laggy screen and interface, seemed slower than my Ibiza which I believe is the same system (MIB3). We have the facelifted Born with the newer MIB4 (not 100% sure) with the 12.9 inch screen. The difference overall is night and day as the screen resolution is higher, the larger screen gives a better user interface including permanent climate controls at the bottom and is much slicker in operation overall. The higher resolution screen also means the rear camera is very sharp, the image is clearer than the one in my Ibiza and camera looks identical in both, so I put it down to the higher resolution screen in the Born. Also nice to see that whilst still haptic the button layout on the Born steering wheel is identical to my Ibiza. I use adaptive cruise control allot on both although the Born increments in 1mph and Ibiza in 5mph.
Having viewed several Audis last year before we bought the Mini, that is where I think Cupra is at. Very Audi esq and similar build quality. I remember looking at an Audi A1 and was shocked to find build quality no better than an Ibiza with plastic door cards then very low kit count for an elevated price. Born comes out the same factory as the ID3, 4 and 5 as well Q4 e-tron so there is the usual parts share but Cupra has made the inside unique along with the front and rear.
As for driving the word swift sums up the Born, with snappy response as found in any electric car. The weight of the car does improve the ride as it helps prevent jolts or sudden undulations upsetting the ride, so here weight is a benefit. Even in the corners whilst you cannot chuck it about like my Ibiza it holds the road well when it gets twisty staying firm and planted, just lacking quick changes of direction. Range from 100% charge was 258 miles and at 51% says 132 miles as a range indicator in current warmer weather.
The seats are worthy of a mention as they really are very comfortable and supportive. Yet to charge and we are waiting for our Ohm charger to be installed as only ordered the car two weeks ago from Barlow Motors Wolverhampton. Who deserve a shout out for not only a great price 10.5K off list including government grant, but ease of doing business. The quote from Vertu Cupra was £85 a month more including all their add ons. On the provided quote they even charge you £20 to charge the car prior to delivery, not sure if this is universal now but no similar charge from Barlow and no pressure to buy extras we got the monthly price of the car first then separate cost for any extras. I used ALA for cosmetic insurance with three years, two claims per year at £228 seeming very reasonable and only purchased Cupra eCare at £149. This covers the first service in two years time and is a no brainer, it can be purchases at up to 90 days from delivery of a new Born.
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