New 2024 Cupra Born VZ | Honest Drive Review, Specs, Price

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It’s fair to say the Cupra Born hasn’t quite moved the needle when it comes to the notion of an electric hot hatchback. And despite some admirable efforts in the shape of the Abarth 500e and MG4 X Power, no one has really cracked the recipe short of Hyundai with the exceptional new Ioniq 5 N (and that’s more of an SUV, technically speaking).
So when it came to the Cupra Born VZ, it’s fair to say we had some doubts. To start with there’s almost nothing to tell the new derivative apart from the standard car visually, a new set of wheels and a missable badge on the bootlid are about the crux of it. But peer inside the upright fishbowl cabin and you’ll see a pair of very serious bucket seats from Sabelt. They might even prompt you to wonder: ‘Is Cupra aiming a little high here?’
Under the skin there’s not a huge amount more to talk about. It has an only marginally bigger battery pack at 79kWh, 2kWh up on the standard car’s, and it still packs just the one motor on the rear axle like a standard Born. Range is improved over lesser models as a bonus, with an estimated distance on a full charge of up to 372 miles. DC fast charging has been upgraded from a peak speed of 135kW to 185kW, giving a 10-80 per cent charge in around 30 mins.
The suspension’s upgrades aren’t much to speak of either. Slightly lower by 10mm on the front and 15mm on the rear, the Born VZ does have the latest generation adaptive dampers with their clever slider system of almost infinite variability. There’s also some stiffer anti-roll bars and upgraded steering hardware, with new software right across the board.
Open the tinny door and you’ll spot a couple more little details in the cabin, things like a new column-mounted gear selector, a fresh steering wheel and a new shroud for the touchscreen. The interface itself is Cupra’s latest and slightly easier to navigate than last time around. Turning off the lane assist and speed sign notification systems is now super easy via a cheeky shortcut menu accessed with a swipe down from the top of the screen.
Sit inside the VZ and you have the same view forward through the MPV-like windscreen and the split A-pillars. But something’s different. You sit lower, and those superb Sabelt seats grip you in the right places. And from the moment you pull away you start to realise that despite the seemingly minute changes, this Cupra Born VZ is a completely different animal.
To begin with, that electric motor’s power figure has been upgraded massively, producing 321bhp and an impressive 545Nm of torque, the former being a 40 per cent increase. This totally changes the character of the car, and being impatient for a moment, mashing the steering wheel-mounted ‘Cupra’ button unleashes performance that no Born or indeed MEB VW product have yet offered.
There’s not just a huge amount of shove, but crystal clear, whip-crack throttle response. Paired with more powerful regenerative braking, the powertrain mapping is now so aggressive that you need to retune your inputs completely, which is a good thing. There’s now so much urgency, so much initial performance on offer that it almost feels like Cupra’s said to its customers: ‘You want power, have all of it!’. It’s so refreshing.
The on-paper 0-62mph time of 5.6 seconds feels very conservative, but is largely derived from the fact that the acceleration does tail off quite substantially above 45mph or so. From a standstill, the Born VZ definitely has the legs on any current petrol-powered Cupra model. Even better, it all comes from just the rear axle.
The new adaptive dampers, known as DCC Pro, are another revelation as they don’t only offer a comprehensive range of adjustment, but seem to make the most out of the relatively limited suspension travel on offer. The new system feels so much more sophisticated, capable of dealing with challenging bumps and undulations that would have had the previous Born all crossed up.
Where the dampers in previous Borns would only just about hold onto the springs on rebound after a bump, the new VZ just ploughs on without worry. It handles uneven tarmac without issue, and even retains some of the old car’s suppleness over broken surfaces.
Being critical, we think there’s still some work to do with the brakes, although they are better than before. Cupra, like most manufacturers, is in a process of discovery when it comes to brake feel on EVs and hybrids, as engineers play with the friction braking and regenerative systems to find a balance that works on the road. Few manufacturers have cracked that code, and Cupra’s still not one of them. It would also be nice to have just a little more power to the brakes, too.