While Volkswagen doesn't have an electric vehicle on sale in Australia at the moment, sister brand Cupra does. Paul Maric gets behind the wheel of the fully electric 2023 Cupra Born to see if it's any good.
Hardness tester, noise and lane keeping results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
More Cupra content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/cupra
More Cupra Born content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/cupra/born
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 00:40
Interior 03:06
Infotainment 04:59
Safety Tech 08:08
Practicality 09:01
Charging 13:43
On the Road 14:22
Performance 21:34
Verdict 23:13
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
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#cupra #born #review
Hardness tester, noise and lane keeping results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
More Cupra content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/cupra
More Cupra Born content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/cupra/born
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 00:40
Interior 03:06
Infotainment 04:59
Safety Tech 08:08
Practicality 09:01
Charging 13:43
On the Road 14:22
Performance 21:34
Verdict 23:13
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!
Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!
CarExpert:
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Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au
Paul Maric:
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Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric
#cupra #born #review
Category
🚗
MotorTranscript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. So EV sales in Australia are starting to take off now, and this is one of the latest entrants.
00:06 It's called the Cupra Born. This competes with things like the Tesla Model 3, the Polestar 2, the new MG4,
00:13 and this sits in that sort of 500km range price bracket. It's priced at around $60,000 mark,
00:19 and there really aren't too many competitors in the segment that'll do that kind of range and not cost the world.
00:24 Today we're going to do a detailed review of the Cupra Born.
00:27 If you do want to skip ahead to other parts of this review, you can use the time codes on the screen,
00:31 or if you're on YouTube, you can scroll down and use the chapters below.
00:34 And don't forget to subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon so you can find out every single time I get wet.
00:39 Let's talk exterior design. You've got six external colours to pick from.
00:44 All but blue are going to set you back $0, which is great.
00:49 The blue costs around $500, which really isn't that expensive for an optional colour on a new car today.
00:54 Sorry about the weather, it is a bit sort of dreary, but we will make do.
00:58 Now, in terms of design, I think this looks really cool.
01:00 So this shares a platform with Volkswagen's electric vehicle,
01:04 and to be honest, this looks about a thousand times better.
01:07 And I said this in our last Cupra review as well,
01:10 I think they have the design nailed, and they're kind of like a more interesting version of Volkswagen.
01:14 They really have gone to town on just making these things look great.
01:17 So I love these sort of gold highlights, the bronze highlights down the bottom there, and on the Cupra badge as well.
01:23 A little Cupra lettering there too. It really sort of stands out nicely and looks fantastic.
01:28 So you have the full set of LED headlights.
01:31 Unfortunately here in Australia, this car actually misses out on a number of features.
01:35 I'll explain later, they're kind of connected to the connected services for the car,
01:39 but there is some stuff that you won't be able to get a standard.
01:42 But this is one of those things that does come standard, full LED headlights.
01:46 Whip around to the side, got a set of 19-inch alloy wheels, decent profile on that tyre as well.
01:52 So I'll be keen to see how that performs. Love this wheel design too.
01:55 So more of that sort of gold highlight, that bronze finish up the top there, with black in the centre there.
02:00 It's like a matte black finish. Can actually get this with a sportier tyre and a bigger wheel.
02:05 So if you do go down the path of the Performance Pack, it basically increases the wheel size,
02:09 gives you a sportier tyre with adaptive damping, but it reduces your range.
02:13 So you go from having about 500 plus kilometres of range to under 500.
02:17 So do keep that in mind. Up the top here, you have an indicator built into the wing mirror,
02:21 camera there for the 360 camera. I like this little window here attached to that A-pillar.
02:25 I think that's cool, gives you a bit of vision out the side of the car there.
02:28 Privacy glass, drum brakes. It's like we're stepping back in time here, which is a little bit disappointing.
02:34 I do like this black section here. It kind of reminds me of the Kia Carnival with that sort of finish they have on the rear of it.
02:40 So that's pretty cool. Come around to the back with me.
02:42 So full LED taillights along the back here. More of that gold highlight there with Cupra.
02:48 And then have a look at this diffuser. It's quite aggressive down the bottom there.
02:51 I think they build this as a bit of a sporty car, and you can see there with that spoiler,
02:54 it kind of looks quite aggressive. Shark fin aerial up the top there as well.
02:58 So let me know what you reckon about the design of the Cupra Born in the comments section below.
03:02 Do you think it looks good? Do you think it's going to be fun to drive? Let me know what you reckon.
03:06 Okay, so we are inside the Born. So we'll start off with the key. This is what it looks like.
03:10 You've got lock, boot, unlock, a rubber finish to that, and then a Cupra logo on the back.
03:17 It's a proximity sensing key, so you can leave that in your pocket, grab the door handle.
03:21 It's kind of similar to Tesla in terms of the way that it works.
03:23 The car starts when you put your foot on the brake, so it's ready to drive straight away.
03:27 You do have a stop/start button here, just attach to the steering wheel as well if you need to,
03:31 but it's actually just a clever thing, and it's just always amused me why car companies,
03:37 especially with EVs, don't just do that. I don't know why you need a stop/start button.
03:41 The Tesla method simply works well, and it's good to see that these guys have adopted that as well.
03:45 So just in terms of the design here, look, I think this looks fantastic inside the cabin.
03:50 They've really just given it just a bit of character.
03:53 You know, if you look at the Tesla Model 3 as an example, it is just plain and boring inside.
03:58 I do like the look of the MG4 in terms of the interior, the Polestar 2 as well. It looks great.
04:02 So I think this really just steps it up a notch and makes it feel like you're getting some value here out of a $60,000 car.
04:08 So you've got these highlights that run along the top of the dashboard there,
04:11 and then it all sort of feels nice and soft to the touch around here.
04:14 That sort of rose gold/bronze theme follows throughout the car.
04:18 This has the interior package, which means you get these very fancy-looking seats, Alcantara finish on those.
04:24 The interior package then also comes with heated seats and also massage seats as well, which is kind of fun.
04:30 So in terms of your touch points, that is soft to the touch, soft on the door there as well.
04:36 How soft is it? Well, we've got our durometer, we've tested the main surfaces in this cabin.
04:41 If you want to see how this car compares to others that we've tested before, look at the link in the description below.
04:45 Now, build quality.
04:47 It's sort of loose through the centre there.
04:50 All this stuff is designed to flex in the event of an accident, but let's have a listen to the door.
04:56 [Door opens and closes]
04:57 That sounds pretty solid.
04:58 Okay, so let's talk infotainment.
05:01 You do have two screens here, so you have a 12-inch display for infotainment,
05:04 then you have a smaller 5-inch display ahead of the driver.
05:07 It's also where they integrate the gear selector as well, so you use that to switch between the gears.
05:12 Just before I go on to infotainment, I really like this.
05:15 I just think that, I'm going to keep referring to Tesla here just because I know that it's a main competitor to this car,
05:21 and I've obviously owned a few of them.
05:24 I do like this, where you can actually see what's going on ahead of the driver.
05:27 They have the same thing in the Polestar 2, and it just gives you an ability to keep your eyes on the road
05:32 and just glance down when you need to on all of your critical information.
05:35 So it doesn't need to be a huge enormous screen, but just your critical information just ahead of the driver, which is great.
05:40 So, 12-inch display over here.
05:43 This also has a feature that I've seen in other Volkswagen products before,
05:46 where when you approach with your finger, it brings up additional context menus, which is good.
05:51 Some of this is a little bit disappointing, though.
05:53 So, there are no sort of physical controls here, so you do have to swipe with everything.
05:58 So, putting your temperature up and down, you've got to swipe with this, volume up and down, same story with swiping.
06:03 There is no physical knobs to control any of this.
06:06 Outside of that, though, it is sort of fairly quick in terms of the way it transitions between these menus.
06:12 It does take a little bit of time to start up if you catch the car napping.
06:16 So, if you approach the car, hop in straight away.
06:18 It takes a while for this screen to fire up and have everything ready.
06:21 Now, there is something bizarre here.
06:23 So, there is no in-built satellite navigation, which I think is pretty disappointing for a $60,000 car.
06:28 There is also no app connectivity with the phone, which means you can't communicate with the car, lock and unlock it remotely,
06:35 you can't check charge status or anything like that.
06:37 And if you ever think about a company like BYD that has been in Australia for about the same amount of time as Cupra,
06:43 they have all of that connectivity ready to go.
06:45 Volkswagen, being the massive company that it is, still can't figure out how to get this technology working,
06:51 even on things like Amarok as well.
06:53 Now, as a result of no connectivity, for some reason that then means that when this is made in the factory,
06:59 it can't come with satellite navigation built in, it can't come with connectivity, obviously,
07:03 but it also then can't come with wireless smartphone mirroring.
07:07 So, yeah, I just think a lot of that stuff adds up to it being a bit disappointing in terms of a technology package
07:13 when you do compare it to other electric vehicles in this segment.
07:16 Outside of that, though, it is all pretty straightforward to use.
07:19 It's booted, it's nice and quick. You do have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
07:23 Apple CarPlay is wired fairly quick there, so it switches between those screens nicely,
07:30 sort of no dramas there at all.
07:32 And then this is what Android Auto looks like.
07:34 So again, wired, full screen integration, all looks sort of pretty straightforward, nice and quick there as well.
07:42 In terms of your audio, so it comes standard with a five-speaker sound system, AM/FM/DAB digital radio.
07:48 You can then get the optional sound system, which is a nine-speaker Beats-branded sound system,
07:53 and it's a pretty decent sound system, which is good.
07:56 Outside of that, the rest of your configuration here on the screen comes down to things like your fuel economy.
08:01 You can also change your drive modes and customise the rest of the settings around how the vehicle performs as well.
08:07 Now, safety technology, you have autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection.
08:12 You have radar cruise control, blind spot monitoring built into the wing mirror.
08:17 You also have rear cross traffic alert.
08:20 Now, you do have like a lane-keeping assistant, but there is no travel assist, which is the tech that centres the vehicle within the lane.
08:28 Again, that's something that is missing because this doesn't have connectivity.
08:32 You have front and rear parking sensors and a 360 camera.
08:35 I'll show you what that looks like.
08:37 There it is there. Quality's OK.
08:38 Sort of a little bit grainy on the outside there, but you can clearly see what's on the suitcase.
08:42 That's your top-down view.
08:44 You have a self-parking assistant, but then also you have a number of different views here.
08:48 So, if you are towing, you've got like a little tow hitch mode there.
08:52 You have a super wide angle, and then you can also adjust some of the colour settings as well.
08:57 This is what the horn sounds like.
08:58 [HORN]
09:00 Now, let's talk practicality, and we'll start off with your connectivity.
09:03 You've got two USB-C ports down here.
09:06 You also have a wireless phone charger that your phone can slot on.
09:10 In terms of storing your phone, you can pop it there on the charger.
09:12 You've got plenty of storage space around here.
09:15 What about your drinks?
09:17 So, I had a coffee this morning with my little coffee cup.
09:20 It fits into there fine with no de-lidding, which is great,
09:23 and then you've got teeth in there as well to hold it into position.
09:26 Same story with your water bottle.
09:28 It fits in without any problems there.
09:30 Let's try and have a big bottle inside the door, see if that goes.
09:34 Yes, that fits in there too, which is good news.
09:36 In terms of your other storage,
09:39 look, you've got an okay amount of storage.
09:41 So, you've got this section here, which is quite deep.
09:43 You then have this section here for the cup holders,
09:45 and then another section down the front with a covey that closes over.
09:48 So, they have utilized this space pretty well, in my opinion.
09:52 You've also got a glove box down here.
09:53 The problem with the glove box is that there is a fuse box over there,
09:57 which is kind of a carryover from the left-hand drive version of this vehicle,
10:01 so it really is quite small there compared to what it could be.
10:04 If the fuse box was over on this side,
10:06 which is kind of the opposite of what you would have if this was actually a left-hand drive vehicle.
10:10 Comfort, let's talk about that.
10:12 So, you have dual-zone automatic climate control,
10:16 and then, like I mentioned before, there's no knobs,
10:19 so you're sort of doing all these adjustments here or on the screen.
10:22 It also has like an eco mode as well,
10:25 so it can only sort of heat parts of the car that has occupants in it.
10:29 So, you can see here at the moment, I'm the only one sitting in the car,
10:31 so it is only heating this section of the car while that side gets nothing.
10:35 Saves you a little bit of energy in the long run, which is good news.
10:39 In addition to that, you have heated seats as part of this optional package.
10:42 A heated steering wheel.
10:44 Seat adjustment. So, electric, you can go forwards and backwards.
10:47 Backrest can go forwards and backwards.
10:49 You can lift the front, you can lift the back.
10:51 You can also adjust your lumbar support.
10:53 You have a massage function as well.
10:55 No memory, though.
10:56 In terms of steering adjustment, it is both tilts and reach,
11:01 and on our reach test, all of this stuff is easy to reach while you're driving.
11:05 Seat comfort. It is a really comfy seat.
11:07 They've done a great job with support on that.
11:09 Oh, before I hop into the back, I should actually call this out.
11:12 So, instead of having individual controls for the second row,
11:16 you just press this button here and it activates the one set of controls for the second row,
11:21 and then you have this little turny thing as well that adjusts
11:24 what you are actually selecting on the mirror controls too.
11:26 So, pretty innovative solution there.
11:28 Okay, second row of the Bourne.
11:31 So, what's it like here?
11:32 Knee room is really good. Toe room, not very good at all.
11:35 It's quite cramped under there.
11:36 Headroom is okay as well.
11:38 It sort of just misses out on the roof here.
11:40 Now, this is an interesting space because you'll notice there is no middle seat here.
11:44 There's just this little hole.
11:45 If you get the interior package or the performance pack,
11:48 for some reason, they delete the middle seat.
11:50 So, you only have a four-seat configuration, which I find quite strange,
11:53 but it is what it is.
11:55 You do have bottle storage here in the centre armrest.
12:00 You can pop a couple of bottles in there,
12:02 and then this also acts as a little port through to the boot.
12:05 You have bottle storage inside the door.
12:08 You have two USB-C ports down here.
12:11 You have map pockets as well.
12:12 Disappointingly, no air vents back here,
12:14 so you're going to have to rely on the vents down the front there
12:17 to push cool air to the back of the vehicle.
12:19 Now, in terms of kids, you have two ISOFIX points
12:23 and two top tether points for the second row.
12:25 And what about our window test?
12:27 Here it goes, auto up and down.
12:29 So close.
12:31 Now, let's talk cargo space.
12:35 Crack this open. Have a look at that.
12:37 You fold the little Cupra logo back.
12:39 So, cargo space, under 400 litres,
12:42 so really not a fantastic space in terms of storage
12:46 when you compare it to some of its peers.
12:48 Under here, you don't have a spare tyre,
12:50 so similar to the Tesla setup,
12:52 it has no space saver or tyre repair kit,
12:54 but you do have a couple of little bits and pieces there
12:56 if you do need some assistance.
12:58 Hooks off to the side.
12:59 You also have a 12-volt outlet up the top there.
13:02 Show you what it looks like with our bags in there.
13:04 So, that's the laptop bag,
13:06 and that is the suitcase.
13:08 It only fits in that way,
13:10 but it gives you an idea of how much space you have in there.
13:14 You can expand the space if you want
13:16 by getting rid of this cargo blind.
13:19 I'll pull that out of the way.
13:22 Once that is out of the way,
13:25 you can then drop the second row down,
13:28 and that gives you a slightly more usable space,
13:30 but still not amazing because it sort of rises as you go in there.
13:33 Unfortunately, there is no storage under the bonnet either,
13:36 so I think they could have done much better here
13:39 in terms of taking advantage of this being an EV platform.
13:42 Now, before we go for a drive,
13:44 I just want to run you through some of the charging
13:46 and the battery side of things.
13:47 So, you have 77 kilowatt hours of usable battery capacity.
13:52 In addition to that, you have AC charging at up to 11 kilowatts
13:56 and DC charging at up to 170 kilowatts.
13:59 So, there are actually pretty decent rates there
14:01 in terms of how quickly this will charge.
14:03 This doesn't use a battery like the Model 3 does, the LFP battery,
14:06 so this is the type of battery that you don't want to be charging
14:09 to 100% constantly, as that is something worth keeping in mind.
14:12 Driving range of just over 500 kilometres,
14:14 but like I said before, if you do go for the optional wheel and tyre package,
14:18 it does reduce your driving range to just under 500km.
14:21 OK, so we've just hit the road in the Cupra Born.
14:27 So, this is interesting because the Cupra range is only available
14:31 with one, I guess, motor configuration, and that is rear-wheel drive.
14:35 They don't do all-wheel drive, they don't do front-wheel drive,
14:38 just rear-wheel drive, and that's interesting
14:40 because a lot of the other vehicles in this segment,
14:42 like the Polestar 2, the Model 3, they both offer a balance
14:46 basically between two-wheel drive and all-wheel drive.
14:48 So, you are limited to the one configuration,
14:50 and in this case, it is a single electric motor on the rear axle,
14:54 170 kilowatts of power, 310 newton metres of torque,
14:59 and that's all mated to a single-speed gear, effectively.
15:03 There's no transmission here in an electric car.
15:06 How does all that feel behind the wheel?
15:08 Well, it does all the standard sort of electric car things,
15:11 so if you sort of get on the throttle,
15:13 it pins you nicely back in the seat, it's very progressive
15:16 and just, yeah, quite sort of accommodating in terms of that torque delivery.
15:21 Then, in addition to that, you also have a button
15:24 just at the end of the throttle travel that gives you
15:26 just that little bit of extra boost as well as you go,
15:29 so it is quite sort of nice behind the wheel.
15:31 One thing I'm noticing, and literally as I talk to you here,
15:34 these buttons are so annoying.
15:36 They're right on the edge of the steering wheel,
15:37 and if you hold your steering wheel like you're meant to,
15:39 which is a quarter to three, I just keep nudging the volume,
15:42 so it just keeps going up and down,
15:44 so that is a really frustrating position,
15:46 and those capacitive touch buttons there are just a little bit clumsy and annoying.
15:49 One thing I'll call out is I don't love the fact that there's no sort of regen braking.
15:55 There is regen braking if you slide it over into B mode,
15:58 which you do by sort of flicking this little drive selector here,
16:01 but even then, if I roll out of that now, it gradually slows down,
16:04 but it doesn't come to a full stop,
16:06 so it's not like a single pedal driving setup.
16:09 It sort of rolls down to about sort of 8, 7, 6 k's an hour
16:13 and just sort of rolls on from there,
16:15 so it would be nice to have some kind of single pedal driving,
16:18 but I do love this screen ahead of me here,
16:20 and I really just wish Tesla would fit something like this,
16:23 because it's just genius.
16:24 You've got your battery percentage range,
16:26 you've got a little meter there for throttle and regen,
16:29 and just all your basic information, that's all you need.
16:31 Now, CUPRA claims an economy of 17 kilowatt hours per 100 k's.
16:35 We are currently sitting on, if I scroll through our little menu here,
16:39 we're currently sitting on 24.1 for our short cycle,
16:46 and long term is 19.4.
16:49 So, yeah, look, it's not amazing.
16:51 If I sort of look at what we've achieved in Polestars and Teslas before,
16:56 they're all significantly more efficient than that.
16:58 Even my personal Model Y, after 13,000, 14,000 k's,
17:01 is currently sitting on around 14 kilowatt hours per 100 k's.
17:05 So, yeah, it's not really the most efficient electric motor setup here.
17:09 Okay, sine wave time.
17:14 Let's jack the speed up to 130 k's an hour.
17:17 That is maximum legal speed in Australia,
17:19 and it'll give us just a bit of an idea of how this performs
17:23 if you go for an overtake in the country.
17:26 All right, here we go, 130.
17:30 That is seriously good.
17:31 Very impressive. Great body control there.
17:33 And, yeah, very checked and sorted, so no drums there at all.
17:39 Okay, so it is time to go through the bumpiest road in Australia.
17:44 We do this at 90 kilometres an hour, and it is a shocker of a road.
17:49 Also includes some condensed sine waves here as well.
17:53 So, initial impressions here are that it is really impressive.
17:57 It's not that harsh.
17:59 Okay, here comes our condensed sine wave.
18:02 Wow, that is fantastic.
18:04 So, yeah, you can get this with adaptive damping,
18:07 but I'm really surprised how well it's handling this type of surface.
18:11 This feels much more comfortable than something like a Model 3 or a Polestar 2.
18:16 Let's talk drive modes.
18:17 So, you've got a button here for drive modes,
18:19 and then you've got a button here for Cupra mode.
18:22 So, with the normal drive mode button, you can go individual, range, comfort, performance.
18:28 So, you've got a few sort of options to pick from there,
18:30 and then Cupra mode, I guess, is like a sporty version of all that.
18:34 So, let's slide it into Cupra mode and go for a little spin around our track.
18:38 We'll see what this feels like.
18:40 We'll dial up the speed.
18:43 I'll be interested to see how the brakes fare as well,
18:46 with the brakes having a set of drum brakes on the rear.
18:57 A little bit of slidiness there into our first corner
19:02 as I touch another one of these buttons, which is annoying.
19:05 It's actually holding on surprisingly well here,
19:09 and it is worth pointing out that it's pretty damp today.
19:12 So, it was raining earlier, and it's still quite wet in parts around here.
19:16 The ride is fantastic.
19:17 It's just really nice and settled,
19:20 and then when you do sort of get into these faster sections,
19:23 it's just holding on really nicely.
19:25 These mid-corner bumps aren't unsettling the car either,
19:28 and we're not even on the sporty tyre here.
19:30 We're just on the standard Continental, which I reckon is pretty good.
19:33 Brake pedal feel is good.
19:35 It doesn't have that issue that we've found in Teslas before
19:39 when you hit a bump while regen braking.
19:42 It sort of is quite progressive in brake pedal feel, which is great.
19:46 Here comes our back straight.
19:51 We'll just roll onto that.
19:54 Okie dokie.
19:55 It doesn't have a great deal of punch once you're above 100 k's an hour,
19:59 but we're sort of moving along nicely.
20:02 And just on brake pedal feel,
20:04 actually feels really good.
20:07 I'm surprised by that.
20:08 I was expecting the brakes, especially with drum brakes on the rear,
20:11 to just be terrible,
20:12 but given how little actual mechanical braking you do in an electric vehicle,
20:17 it kind of makes sense that you would go down the path of drum brakes to save money.
20:21 It doesn't look great, but it's no less effective thanks to that braking package.
20:26 I do find with Teslas, if you do get up them, they run out of brakes pretty quickly,
20:29 whereas this still feels quite confidence-inspiring behind the wheel,
20:32 even after a few laps of our ride and handling track.
20:35 Now let's talk visibility.
20:38 So I can see clearly down the front of the car there.
20:40 It's not actually a huge car, which means it sort of shrinks around you, which is good.
20:44 The wing mirrors are really small, though,
20:46 so sometimes you can sort of lose cars in there.
20:49 But you do have that blind spot monitor built in, so visibility out the back is okay.
20:52 It's quite a sort of narrow envelope.
20:54 And then in terms of parking, you've got linear cameras and sensors here as well.
20:58 Now just on road noise, I did notice driving here to the Proving Ground,
21:02 there is a fair bit of road noise that comes into the cabin.
21:04 I'll be interested to see how it reflects on our calibrated sound meter,
21:08 but it sort of picks up, especially on course chip roads.
21:11 I suspect it would get worse if you went for the larger wheel and sportier tyre option as well.
21:18 One other thing I want to point out as well is I did notice some rack rattle
21:21 as we were going around the circuit there.
21:23 Can't really sort of replicate it, but if you do hit a bump mid-corner,
21:26 it is kind of rattling through the rack there.
21:28 So I don't know if it's just a thing with this car or whether it's common to the Born,
21:31 but something worth keeping an eye on.
21:33 Okay, time to do a little bit of performance testing.
21:36 Tiny bit damp here at the moment, but I don't think this has enough power
21:40 for it to be too much of a concern.
21:42 We're going to go all the way through to 120.
21:44 So we'll have a look at our 0 to 100, 80 to 120,
21:46 and then we'll come back for a break as well.
21:48 Here we go.
21:49 All right, that's in performance mode as well.
21:52 Nice, strong take-off.
21:54 90, 100.
21:57 And then there's 120.
22:00 All righty, let's have a little look at our numbers there.
22:04 That all felt really nice behind the wheel there,
22:06 so it was quite aggressive in its take-off.
22:08 So 0 to 100.
22:09 Look at that, seven seconds flat, 7.00.
22:13 So right on the claim, which is great news.
22:15 80 to 120, 4.84 seconds, which is actually pretty good as well.
22:19 So some good numbers there.
22:20 Let's go for a break.
22:22 Okay, let's get up to 100.
22:24 And then we'll slam the anchors down.
22:26 Curious to see how this goes with the drum brakes on the rear.
22:30 Here we go.
22:31 Oh, seatbelt's squeezing me in there.
22:39 100 to 0 was 2.77 seconds, 37.82 metres.
22:44 So not a bad stopping time,
22:46 regardless of it having drum brakes,
22:48 which I think is pretty good.
22:50 Okay, so time to see how quickly this reverses.
22:53 What was it the other day?
22:54 It was the Ford e-Transit, but for some reason,
22:57 it only went like four kilometres an hour in reverse.
22:59 So let's see if this is any better.
23:01 Nice and strong acceleration.
23:03 32 kilometres an hour.
23:06 Okay, so the Cupra Born, what do we reckon?
23:09 Look, it is surprisingly engaging to drive,
23:12 and of all the EVs in that price bracket,
23:14 I think this is the most fun to drive.
23:16 It really has nailed the brief of being nimble, fun,
23:19 and just engaging if you find yourself on a set of corners.
23:22 So I think all that side of things is good,
23:24 but it is let down by the lack of technology.
23:27 In 2023, you can't start a car with a manual gearbox.
23:31 So you've got to get a manual gearbox,
23:33 but the lack of technology, in 2023,
23:36 you can't sell a car without remote connectivity.
23:39 I mean, especially in EV, if you do want to be checking in on it,
23:41 seeing how it's charging, starting, stopping, climate,
23:43 that sort of thing, it is just something that has to be there.
23:46 In addition to that, I just think it's probably a bit expensive for its size.
23:49 If you look at the storage compared to, you know,
23:52 Polestar 2 to a degree, but also the Tesla Model 3,
23:55 they both offer significantly better packaging around an EV platform.
23:58 So I think it is probably a good first attempt,
24:01 but I think they're going to need to build on this for the next generation of this car,
24:03 or perhaps future updates as well.
24:05 I just don't think it is really at that price point
24:08 where it needs to be for the package that's being offered.
24:10 So let me know in the comments section below,
24:12 what do you think? Have you bought one? Are you happy with it?
24:15 How's it all going? Do all of those things that I've mentioned not really matter to you?
24:18 I'm keen for your feedback.
24:19 If you did enjoy this video, please make sure you like it,
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24:26 But until next time, take it easy.