ALAN DOUGLAS: ROAD TEST: Cupra Born 58kWh V3 – New Born may be just too sensitive to handle
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
You may not know this, but our cars have become very sensitive. They won’t burst into tears if you shout at them, but they do need to be treated especially delicately.
I discovered this behind the wheel of the first fully-electric vehicle from Cupra, the sportier offshoot of the Spanish brand Seat, which is part of the giant Volkswagen Group.
The Born takes its name from the El Born district of Barcelona and is the first of the brand’s EV future which soon will include an electric SUV and a small city car designed specifically for urban environments.
It may claim to be Spanish but is built in Germany, which isn’t surprising as under the surface, it’s pretty much a Volkswagen ID3, which is widely praised in the electric car field. Like its VW sibling, it’s a five-door, five-seater hatch and comes with the choice of three different battery sizes with driving ranges to match.
It’s the same size as the VW with an altered front end and an upgraded interior to reflect its more sporty image which is backed up by a lower ride height and other performance enhancements.
It drives well and like every EV, the instant surge of electric boost under the right foot is impressive, especially with the e-Boost option which comes with the larger battery packs.
But as I found out in my time over a few hundred miles, the central 12-inch screen which controls virtually everything has to be handled with a high degree of delicacy.
As soon as you take the driver’s seat, everything fires up without even having to hit the stop/start button. That includes the radio, which in my case blasted out and no matter how much I tried to turn down the volume using the steering wheel controls or the level control on the touchscreen, it refused to respond, bringing the joys of Radio 2 to all the neighbours.
In desperation, I left the seat and got out, which shut down the system, the radio died and with a final electronic “cheerio” note, the car went silent once again.
This continued for days when the volume control took it upon itself to decide its level. It was only later I was told by a Cupra expert that the secret is to “stroke” the control rather than simply touch it. “It’s very sensitive” he explained.
That wasn’t the end of my issues with the touchscreen. There are few additional buttons and switches which means it’s a very clean and clutter-free dash but to access almost any function requires delicate navigation of the screen, which while on the move isn’t easy and fraught with potential mis-hits.
Trying to adjust the climate settings can lead to an inadvertent radio channel change and cancelling the irritating lane departure every time you set off, requires a steady hand to avoid changing a completely different setting.
Having said that, if you disregard the over-sensitive and annoying touchscreen – a fellow roadtester described it as “an abomination” – the Born is a clever and stylish machine which makes the most of its electric underpinnings.
Performance is good and the range on a full charge of around 250 miles – depending on the conditions – is acceptable, especially as the battery can be replenished fairly quickly on a rapid charger.
It looks good inside and out, with distinctive copper-coloured Cupra accents and the V3 version test car’s enormous 20-inch Hurricane aerodynamically-styled alloys made it stand out from the crowd.
The compact 5.3-inch cockpit display sits atop the steering column and is delightfully clear and concise with all the information you need. The car comes crammed with comfort and safety features and all the infotainment and connectivity you could possibly want.
It’s just a pity that it’s all contained within that over-sensitive, touchy-feely central screen. It would drive you to tears.
