Cupra Born long-term review

The Chasing Cars long-term fleet has taken on a Spanish flavour with the addition of the Cupra Born, the electric hatchback that still precedes the ID.3 twin from parent company Volkswagen.

It’s true the Born isn’t that new considering it debuted in 2023, though the fully electric five-door popped back onto our radar by picking up one of our ‘Gold Star’ awards in our recent EV megatest.

A quick recap for those unfamiliar with either the Cupra brand (which is still in a building-awareness phase in Australia) or the Born model.

Cupra is the design-driven brand that was spun off from the VW Group’s Seat brand in 2018 and launched locally in 2022 with the Leon small car and Formentor compact crossover.

The Born joined the line-up in early 2023 as Cupra’s first dedicated electric car, sitting on the VW Group’s MEB battery platform that underpins not only a whole range of VW Group models but also various Fords as part of an EV alliance.

Introducing our Cupra Born long-termer: specifications and options

For now, there is only one primary spec for the Born – and one that comes with a big, 77kWh battery (82kWh gross) that gives this Cupra an impressive WLTP range of 511km.

Interestingly, Cupra pitches the Born as a hot-hatch, though its outputs from its single rear motor are relatively modest – 170kW and 310Nm.

That’s down on Volkswagen’s famous petrol hot-hatch, the 180kW/370Nm Golf GTI, however an even sportier Born variant dubbed VZ is coming in the first half of 2025 – still rear drive but with 240kW and 545Nm.

The cost of the VZ is unknown for now, though the regular Born starts from $59,990 – or $64,490 drive-away (Sydney pricing). The GTI is currently offered at $59,990 drive-away with a couple of option packs thrown in as standard as a run-out deal ahead of the updated ‘8.5’ generation arriving later in 2025.

Our Born’s cost is increased by two options: a $475 Aurora Blue metallic exterior paint (of six colour choices), and a $2900 Interior Package that brings bucket seats in blue Dinamica suede (which matches our blue exterior), electric front seats with massage function and heating, and a 395-watt Beats audio system with nine speakers plus sub-woofer.

Total drive-away cost: $67,565.

Also available is a $2600 Performance Package, which adds adaptive suspension, bigger (20-inch) wheels, and sportier rubber (Michelin Pilot Sport 4s that are lower profile and 20mm wider. Those wheels do reduce the battery range to 475km.

Somewhat bizarrely, choosing either the Interior or Performance Packages reduces the Born to a less practical four-seater – the packages adding enough to the gross vehicle mass that it means the rear axle load doesn’t comply with Australian regulations to take three rear passengers.

The four seats wouldn’t be a deal-breaker for our family, and the Interior Package would absolutely be a tick as it makes a big difference to the spec that’s otherwise fine but unremarkable.

What are we missing already, though?

There’s no memory settings for the electric driver’s seat, smartphone mirroring is wired rather than the tidier wireless set-up, there’s no panoramic roof to bring some welcome light to the dark cabin, and a lack of auto operation for the tailgate is annoying.

There’s also no home charging cable, only one for connecting with council-style plug-in chargers, which could make our ‘ownership’ a bit more of a hassle.

Month 1: Is the Born too expensive or actually good value?

Well, that answer needs the perspective of rivals, and there’s no shortage of them…

Hyundai Kona Electric

The Kona impresses in second-generation form (out since 2023), with an Ioniq 5-inspired interior and good road manners. However, the cabin is at its most upmarket – and more of a spec match for the Born with Interior Package (or Born IP, as we’ll abbreviate it henceforth in this review) – in Premium guise, and that’s more expensive about $74,000 drive-away.

We’ve recently run a base model Kona Electric as a long termer, so feel free to read that as a point of comparison.

It does add some extras over the Cupra, such as sunroof, larger digital driver display, head-up display and auto tailgate, though the Kona Premium features a lower-powered (front) electric motor and its smaller battery (64.8kWh) delivers a maximum WLTP range of 444km. (The Kona Electric Extended Range on smaller, 17-inch wheels is much closer, at 505km WLTP.)

Jeep Avenger

The American 4WD brand’s first electric car – which is front-drive only, incidentally – has only recently arrived in Australia. Although it starts from $50,000, the flagship Summit is needed to get closer to the Born IP’s features list.

Although a circa-$68K drive-away price (Sydney) is similar, the Avenger is smaller (about four metres long only versus the Cupra’s 4.3m length), its electric motor serves up just 115kW, and the WLTP battery range is below 400km.

MG4

If you’re a regular reader of Chasing Cars, you’ll know we’re big fans of MG’s electric hatchback. It’s terrific value, starting from just above $40,000 (or lower, as regular offers have been available, including at the time of writing).

Take the circa-$55K-drive-away Long Range 77 variant and you have an MG4 offering slightly quicker acceleration than the Born (0-100km/h in 6.5sec), a little bit of extra battery range (530km). Its equipment list just isn’t quite up to the Born’s, while the Cupra is slicker in both the way it’s presented inside and how it drives.

Renault Megane E-Tech

Just one specification is available for the likeable French compact electric, priced from about $60K drive-away after importer Ateco made the wise decision to lower the E-Tech’s initial price.

It doesn’t match the Born for all features but it’s not a million miles off considering its about $7K cheaper. The Renault’s 160kW/300Nm outputs are only slightly down on the Spanish hatch and its 454km WLTP is also more than 50km shy.

Volvo EX30

Like the Born, Volvo’s compact electric SUV is heavily style-driven … and rear-driven! It also starts from the same $59,990 RRP, for the single-motor Extended Plus that, with a 462km WLTP, is another model that can’t match the Cupra’s 511km.

The EX30 is the faster car, with a 5.3sec 0-100km/h claim (which lowers to a frankly ridiculous 3.6sec with the dual-motor EX30). To truly match the Born IP’s feature line-up, however, the mid-range Extended Ultra is needed, and that’s about $74,000 drive-away.

Zeekr X

Another new brand from China brings the intriguing X – a platform buddy to the EX30 (via shared parent company Geely). Like its Volvo relative (with which it shares its single-motor or dual-motor drivetrains), the Zeekr X is a stylish thing to our eyes and brimming with features for a $56,900 price before on-road costs for the rear-drive model most directly comparable to the Born.

This is another case where you need a higher spec to match the Born IP, though the $64,900 plus on-roads Zeekr X AWD also brings significantly faster performance – and a longer, 540km WLTP range – for not much more.

Keeping comparisons restricted to this group of similarly compact cars/SUVs – and ignoring the ridiculously sharp price of the base Tesla Model 3 midsize sedan (less than $60,000 drive-away) – and the Cupra’s value looks reasonable.

We’ve got our Born for only three months, so it’s not that much of a ‘long-termer’ – but that’s still time to discover more about Cupra’s electric hatch.

We’ll find out if it can match, or even beat, its 511km WLTP range in the real world, we’ll assess whether the Born is a genuine hot-hatch like its petrol VW Group stablemate the Golf GTI, and generally discover if this is an EV we could live with.