In fast VZ form, the CUPRA Born sharpens up its act. Jonathan Crouch takes a look.

Background

If ever a compact electric hatch was right for shopping rocket treatment, it's the CUPRA Born. Generally recognised as the most driver-orientated family five-door EV out there, the Born has been a success story for its German-funded Spanish maker, with European sales up 44% in 2023. This VZ model is now the ultimate version you could choose, its name standing for the 'veloz' or 'speed' - and there's certainly plenty of that on offer here. The market for EV hot hatches is just starting to take shape, with the dinky Abarth 500e at one end and the Hyundai IONIQ 5N at the other. Think of the CUPRA Born VZ as being pitched somewhere in the middle of those two extremes in terms of price, power and presence and you won't be too far out. Mind you, virtually everything you get here you can also have in the almost identically-engineered Volkswagen ID.3 GTX. So why choose this top Born? Let's take a closer look.

Driving Experience

An awful lot's been done here to distance this Born from its urban runabout roots, courtesy of an engineering team led by ex-World Touring Car ace Jordi Gene. Power's up by 75% from 228PS to 326PS over the existing eBoost model, though surprisingly it's still only coming from a single rear-mounted motor. That's why the 5.6s 0-62mph time is way off the 3.8s figure of this car's most obvious rival, the much cheaper MG4 XPOWER (which uses a dual motor AWD set-up). But involving speed is about more than just sheer power and the Born VZ compensates in other ways. To cope with the impressive 545Nm torque figure, the steering and braking have both been substantially overhauled. Plus there are tuning changes at the front, new anti-roll bars, new springs for the rear suspension and standard adaptive DCC dampers. Top speed is up by 25mph to 124mph and the battery size has gone up 2kWh to 79kWh, which keeps range at a reasonable 372 miles. A figure you can preserve through judicious use of a new three-stage paddle shift brake regen system. Surprisingly, the one thing that's missing is something many hot hatch customers will be looking for; a performance style powertrain driving sound to replace the lack of this segment's usual combustion rev note. But there's the usual selection of drive modes, including a full fat 'CUPRA' setting on the steering wheel which dials everything into red mist mode.

Design and Build

This improved Born VZ gets a sharper look, with the three-triangle front lighting signature familiar from the Tavascan and Terramar. There's also a smarter lower intake and extra copper detailing. At the rear, the bumper and boot lid have both been restyled and there's a more prominent lower diffuser and a more modern 3D tail lamp design. Illuminated door handles complete the exterior changes. The visual changes that differentiate this top Born from lesser variants are uber-subtle but effective - and mainly down to the wheels, which are 20-inches in size and wider front and rear. You'll want the extra cost forged rim option. And maybe the special paint shade for the bodywork, 'Dark Forest', offered alongside 'Midnight Black'. As usual with a Born, there's plenty of CUPRA's usual trademark copper-coloured trim. More significant VZ touches lie inside, where you're gripped by fabulously supportive Cup Bucket seats that feel lower-set (but aren't). The upholstery is in a lovely natural flax fibre. The VZ features a large 12.9-inch central touchscreen, sitting above illuminated heater controls. And paddleshifters for brake regeneration sit behind the smart steering wheel with its circular CUPRA drive mode button. At the wheel, the main change with this updated car is the replacement of the previous compact little 5.3-inch instrument display screen for a much larger 10.25-inch monitor. A previous owner would also not that the steering wheel now features physical buttons, the door cards have been restyled and there are now (at last) properly separated rear window switches for the driver. As usual with a Born, the relatively long 2,767mm wheelbase benefits rear passenger legroom. And boot space, which at 385-litres is slightly more than you get in a conventional family hatch like, say, a Golf GTI or a CUPRA Leon.

Market and Model

Pricing here starts from around £45,000; that's about £10,000 more than you'd pay for any other Born. And about £7,000 more than you'd pay for arguably this car's most direct competitor, the more powerful MG4 XPOWER. As well as an uplift in power, the Born VZ also plays host to a sportier interior, with new Enceladus Grey CUP bucket seats as standard, and a Sennheiser Premium Audio sound system. On the exterior, this model flaunts 20-inch Thunderstorm alloy wheels as well as the option of the exclusive Dark Forest paint finish. Aa usual with a Born, lots of safety equipment comes standard, including predictive adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition and high beam assist. Plus there's the Travel Assist system which can take over steering, throttle and braking on the highway. Options include a 360-degree parking camera, a 'Parking Assist' set-up that can steer you into spaces, 'Side Assist' to help with overtaking blind spots and 'Exit Assist' to warn passengers from getting out of the car into the face of oncoming traffic.

Cost of Ownership

First and foremost, you're going to want to know about driving range, rated at up to 372 miles. As for charging, well the large 79kWh battery can be recharged at home using a 11kW AC system or at a DC 185kW fast-charging point, with a fast charge from 10% to 80% taking just 26 minutes. Customers will be offered a CUPRA-branded domestic wall box for home charging, which can be controlled using the company's 'Easy Charging' smart phone app. A full AC charge from a typical 7.4kWh garage wallbox will take 12 hours 15 minutes. Or 8 hours 30 minutes with an 11kW supply. CUPRA reckons that a typical Born user will save about £730 a year in operating expenses over what they'd pay to run a comparable combustion-engined model. It's not only that your energy costs will be lower: you should also make savings in insurance, road tax and the fact that no oil changes are required. The Spanish maker says that its aim is to make sure that the battery pack lasts as long as the car and, sure enough, that battery pack is warrantied to have at least 70% of its usable capacity after eight years or 100,000 miles.

Summary

On paper, you might wonder why you should pay the considerable amount that CUPRA wants for this ultimate Born. After all, you can get much the same thing in the form of the Volkswagen ID.3 GTX. And an MG4 XPOWER is faster and cheaper than both these VW Group models. But both these competitors are fast versions of cars that weren't really engineered for really involving driving enjoyment to start with. The Born was. That makes all the difference to the end result. We still wish this car wasn't quite so expensive. And we think that for this kind of money, it ought to have a dual motor AWD powertrain. But if you can live with those two caveats, it's the go-to EV hot hatch of its size if you like your driving. A small EV with real Spanish fizz.