Cupra Born

Called into McCoys, Lucan again today, after seeing they have a Born parked outside. So got to sit in it and have a poke around - it's a nice looking car, but I've decided it's not for me. It just doesn't feel special enough to get rid of my i3 and drop an addition €30k plus on getting - inside is just too dark, compared to the height and light I get in the i3. Still a nice looking car.

Also had a chat with the Salesperson - they're actaully alloted 12 cars for the year, with 9 booked but as others suggest, it'll be a case of you get to pick what they have, as opposed to order what you want. All the cars they are getting are the 58 non-eboost option, but thet are being pushed to try get orders in for end of year or into 2023, as demand will dictate production and supply in the future.

Still no word back from my dealer about changing spec. I just hope it isn't a repeat of VW who didn't even call me when the car arrived!

I also asked to remove the Cupra Care Pack from the delivery charge as I'm fussy about tyres and I see the ID.3 has the option to remove it. I also have to question the value for money when the Continental EcoContact 6 barely last people 15k as they don't have full tread depth.

Thought the Continentals and Goodyear were longer lasting, I know some people had problems with the Bridgestone tyres..

Heard from dealer that a couple of early orders just before me have had a build week allocated. Not sure how reliable that is but hopefully mine will get a build week soon too.

Interesting. Nice if it's true abut I was talking to my dealer over the weekend and he said nothing and I was an early order. Build of mid May would probably mean delivery in mid June. At that stage I'd be holding him off till July 1st for a 222

Does the Born have high beam assist? Can't see it mentioned in the brochure, I just see 'light assist' and considering how bad the brochure is written that could just be a duplicate of auto lights.

Also slightly confused about what safety systems it has. The brochure makes a general mention of exit assist, turning/evasive steering assist, rear traffic alert on one page but no mention of if they're standard or not and the Pilot L pack isn't available at the moment so wouldn't make sense to have optional spec on the March brochure?

Standard spec shows pedestrian and cyclist protection, this could be the standard 30kph pedestrian collision detection that is part of Front Assist or exit assist where it beeps when opening the door?

Pilot L pack which isn't available has Travel Assist, Side Assist, Rear Traffic Alert and Emergency Assist. The January brochure has some errors which doesn't help, but standard spec also shows Emergency steering support with turn assist so not sure what has what.

I'm basically going to assume I just have the standard Front Assist collision detection stuff that I'm used to on my Golf and Lane Assist. I didn't notice blind spot monitoring on the car either?

I'd ask my dealer but I didn't get a follow up on my last call so someone here might have the answer. Just hope I don't lose high beam assist, it's great. The Born doesn't get Matrix LEDs so I hope high beam isn't a "you're not a VW so you don't get it" thing.

Ah they revised the March brochure. Rear traffic alert and exit assist are in the Pilot M+ pack only available for the eboost model which also no longer has the top view camera (formerly Pilot L). Lane assist is also mentioned in Pilot M+ but is standard equipment on page 17...

According to the user manual, rear traffic alert/exit assist uses two radars on the rear corners of the car and it seems blind spot monitoring is tied to this so safe to say standard cars won't have it? Unusual to not have blind spot on any half decent car these days.

Top of the range spec Nobby?

That's the one I was considering but ended up deciding to stick with the ID3. Seats look excellent though.

Does the timed charging work?

Look forward to the review as always.

Just don't do what every other review has done and hint that the ID.3 is better without any real reason like some of the EV channels!

It'll be interesting to see if they are running the equivalent of 2.3 or 3.0 from VW.

Born has the same regen. The ID.3/Born don't regen when you lift off the accelerator as it's more energy efficient to coast. It has smart regen which I believe is based on map location or front radar as it will regen near turns/roundabouts. It also has the normal brake pedal regen up to 0.25g and also regen during ACC.

I think smart regen needs to be activated in the menu, just not sure if it's based on map location or traffic in front. I don't believe ACC needs to be activate for it to regen in traffic.

That would be worth mentioning though. So many reviews just compare it to the ID.3 and are misinformed/don't know much about the Born. The Born is €38,160 delivered, a Golf Style 130hp is €37,225 and the Peugeot 308 GT Line 130hp is €37,800 so I think it's worth talking about as a day to day car. At least at higher trim levels it's a fairly even playing field in terms of price and you get nice spec and power for that money.

Dont understand this setup. I always adjust regen level using acceleratorsuit the road ahead. It shouldnt be an on/off option decided by the cars software. It seems to me that manufactuers want to take all decision making away from the driver. I've no problem with driver aids so long as they can be turned off when I actually want to decide how the car should be driven.

If you have the ID3 in B mode then it will regen when you take your foot off the accelerator.