I had a V258kwh for two years. I thought it was the best family 5 seater on the market. Absolutely loved it. Then I got a VZ. Absolutely brilliant. The infotainment is much improved. The only sound you hear is tyre noise and despite 20" wheels that is still quite muted. Performance was brisk in my V2, in my VZ it is as quick as you will ever need. Range is all you will ever need. I can't go more than 150 miles without a comfort break, fast chargers always available wherever I stop, plug in, do what I have to do, come back and the car is good for another 200+ miles. Comfort is excellent, instrumentation superb. There is nothing I can find fault with.
That's how to use an EV on long trips, people get focused on the it takes 1h to charge etc... argument, but that's not how to do a trip. Last week I planned out a trip route from Calais to nice, staying off the tolls, and only hitting Tesla's super chargers, for the born V3 58kwh eboot. The total journey time is 18h10m, the total charge time was 1h 36m split over 5 stops. Each stop was estimated at under 20mins. I'd be stopping that often anyhow for a pee and coffee. And that takes over 20 mins. Also that wasn't taking into a country I found a country B&B in Dijon, 5 mins off the route, for £36 (£4 extra for breakfast), but it had free 7kw overnight charging. Iirc I needed a total of 220kw of charge, when taking into account the really cheap french Tesla prices, and the free stop over. I reckon charge cost would be around £40. If I was to take the faster toll roads, I'd have to charge for a total of 2h 10m, and the total journey is 14h 30m, and the toll costs are about £150. Given I'd need at least one over night stop, it makes sense to take the non tolls and save the toll fee and the extra fuel cost. 3 years ago I wasn't ready for an EV, but not the Tesla superchargers are all but open to the public, and the £9 membership, I'm now ready to get an EV. I never had an interest in having a Tesla. The Born is the first EV that interested me.
A very good review. You made a very valuable point about the steeply raked screen and resulting A+a pillar creating a blind spot. Almost 30 years ago I caused a side swipe accident when turning right in my 1995 Renault Laguna which had an almost identical blind spot due to the raked screen. I've had my born 27 months now but the double head bob came back to me instinctively. I've recently become an IAM Advanced Driver and my observer picked up on that learnt safety habit, oh, and then added quite a few more!
Thank you. Yeah it's not ideal but is more of a minor annoyance than big issue. I'm guessing the ID3 is the same and a lot of other EVs that are designed to maximise range using aerodynamic efficiency.
Loving the updates. Got mine on order to arrive December🤞🏻so it’s great to see you enjoying yours. I had one for a weekend test drive a couple of months ago and fell in love. Awesome in Cupra mode and also a smooth family car in Comfort - like Jekyll and Hyde 😃. Also love the way that it’s fast without being ostentatious.
As a recent purchaser of a Born V2, a lot of your likes and dislikes apply equally to the regular Borns as they do to your VZ. One thing I picked up on in your video was about the panel that you can swipe down from the top of the touchscreen. You commented about not being able to choose which icons are available (I think you wanted the speed warning toggle), and you can actually choose which ones are displayed. Just press and hold on one of the icons and a further menu bar opens below it where you can pick and choose the icons you want and where you want them displayed. There’s also a favourite setting icon at the far left which you can configure to have e.g. lane & speed warning off, although I haven’t quite figured out how that works exactly. Anyway, hope you find this useful.
Hi Paul. It doesn't remember the speed warning favourite. Everything else it does. I was complaining about not being able to save that specific one as a favourite. If you can set it and it remembers on yours then maybe it's a bug/feature with the newer gen hardware and v5 software.
@@DarrenMansell Ah ok, maybe different hardware/software versions as mine has let me add the speed warning icon to the 6 'favourite' icons. It always reverts to on each time you start the car, but at least its easy to get to if it needs turned off.
Good overview. I was a tad disappointed on my test drive. I thought this EV was the promised land after a regular Cupra V2 test drive a few weeks ago, and with the VZ getting great YT reviews. Did not find it that punchy- and only then in Cupra Mode. (Weighs 2 tonnes somehow- for a compact EV, which is probably the reason) Quiet around town but way too much tyre roar at motorway speeds. 20" wheels to blame I guess. Cheapo half capacity glovebox. No frunk. Limited underfloor boot storage. Tinted pano roof on test drive car but so darkly tinted made no difference to cabin brightness. No steering feel at all (but that is common to all modern cars I guess). The seats looked and felt excellent however but that was the only high point for me. All this balanced against cost. For well over £40k and £50k for optimum spec, it has to be really really impressive. This fell short. And Cupra dealers do not have best rep for dealer back up. Should have good efficiency though and very good real world range. Will look forward to more updates on that aspect.
Thanks. Personally I find 0 to 60 in 5 seconds flat pretty punchy and haven't noticed any excessive tyre noise on the motorway. It could be lighter but 84kWh of batteries is always going to come close to 2 tonnes. I don't really care about the glovebox because I won't use it with the masses of storage space elsewhere. A frunk would have been welcome and like the lack of hideaway for a charging cable in the boot is just lazy design by VAG. I find the steering feel lovely -perfectly weighted and precise. Mine was £40k after the deposit contribution and then a free charger + 0% APR meant it was about the best value EV with this range, comfort and performance I could find. I'm sure it'll do 350 miles in the summer. Not had much to do with the dealers other than the purchase which was fine. It being an EV, I shouldn't need to have much more to do with them either. Cheers for watching.
@@DarrenMansell Thanks for the reply and all very valid points. After the hyped YT videos I had watched, I was really looking forward to this. Wife & I are both petrolheads and now "EV heads" since 2017! We both like the look of the Cupra (vs ID3!) and it ticks the boxes. Will look forward to real world info on charging speeds and curve (maxes at 170kW which is excellent) but how long for etc.? Owners reviews like yours, are far more valid. Keep up the good work as I know it takes time to do stuff like this.
@@markymarkreviews We had a VZ on loan for a long weekend and went to Cornwall from the East Midlands. Used Tesla Superchargers exclusively on the trip and consistently got 175kW charging speed when we plugged it in at 20%. The real world range is fantastic. We managed 4.3 mi/kwh and 264mi of range on 80% battery, with 71 miles of range remaining on the last 20%. That was at motorway (70) speeds, at 18c outside temp. Very very impressive.
Really? You do not find 5.2 seconds to get to 100lmh punchy but you moan about 20 inch wheels. I used to club race, mostly my TVR Chimera 5.0l, try using all that power on anything less. Probably the tyre noise to you is intrusive as there is no other noise to mask it and probably it did not feel "punchy" because power delivery is so smooth and linear.
Have you had any issues with android auto/apple carplay connecting slowly (taking 1-2 minutes)? On reddit a bunch of people complain about that, but mostly on older versions (from 2022/23) and I'm wondering if its fixed int he new or even the VZ version
How are you all getting on with range on a long range born ? I know it won't get near the 330 miles but was wondering as I'm very interested in a long range v3 model
It will do 330 miles fairly easily in the right conditions. A consistent 40 mph with air con off will probably see more like 360-380. Real world in the summer you'd probably be on for 330 but you wouldn't want to charge above 80% regularly and wouldn't let the battery get anywhere near 0% so almost nobody will ever see what their full range is. Outside temperature and air con and headwind etc will all affect range hugely. In decent conditions you'll be around 4 miles per kWh which on a 77kWh battery is 308 miles.
I had a V258kwh for two years. I thought it was the best family 5 seater on the market. Absolutely loved it. Then I got a VZ. Absolutely brilliant. The infotainment is much improved. The only sound you hear is tyre noise and despite 20" wheels that is still quite muted. Performance was brisk in my V2, in my VZ it is as quick as you will ever need. Range is all you will ever need. I can't go more than 150 miles without a comfort break, fast chargers always available wherever I stop, plug in, do what I have to do, come back and the car is good for another 200+ miles. Comfort is excellent, instrumentation superb. There is nothing I can find fault with.
That's how to use an EV on long trips, people get focused on the it takes 1h to charge etc... argument, but that's not how to do a trip.
Last week I planned out a trip route from Calais to nice, staying off the tolls, and only hitting Tesla's super chargers, for the born V3 58kwh eboot.
The total journey time is 18h10m, the total charge time was 1h 36m split over 5 stops. Each stop was estimated at under 20mins. I'd be stopping that often anyhow for a pee and coffee. And that takes over 20 mins.
Also that wasn't taking into a country I found a country B&B in Dijon, 5 mins off the route, for £36 (£4 extra for breakfast), but it had free 7kw overnight charging.
Iirc I needed a total of 220kw of charge, when taking into account the really cheap french Tesla prices, and the free stop over. I reckon charge cost would be around £40.
If I was to take the faster toll roads, I'd have to charge for a total of 2h 10m, and the total journey is 14h 30m, and the toll costs are about £150.
Given I'd need at least one over night stop, it makes sense to take the non tolls and save the toll fee and the extra fuel cost.
3 years ago I wasn't ready for an EV, but not the Tesla superchargers are all but open to the public, and the £9 membership, I'm now ready to get an EV. I never had an interest in having a Tesla. The Born is the first EV that interested me.
A very good review. You made a very valuable point about the steeply raked screen and resulting A+a pillar creating a blind spot. Almost 30 years ago I caused a side swipe accident when turning right in my 1995 Renault Laguna which had an almost identical blind spot due to the raked screen. I've had my born 27 months now but the double head bob came back to me instinctively. I've recently become an IAM Advanced Driver and my observer picked up on that learnt safety habit, oh, and then added quite a few more!
Thank you. Yeah it's not ideal but is more of a minor annoyance than big issue. I'm guessing the ID3 is the same and a lot of other EVs that are designed to maximise range using aerodynamic efficiency.
Loving the updates. Got mine on order to arrive December🤞🏻so it’s great to see you enjoying yours. I had one for a weekend test drive a couple of months ago and fell in love. Awesome in Cupra mode and also a smooth family car in Comfort - like Jekyll and Hyde 😃. Also love the way that it’s fast without being ostentatious.
Great video, I ordered my cupra born today, no idea what’s going on with the lease deals but they’re absolute no brainers at the moment
Exactly that. So comfortable in general; my wife uses it as her daily commute. And brutal when you want it to be.
As a recent purchaser of a Born V2, a lot of your likes and dislikes apply equally to the regular Borns as they do to your VZ.
One thing I picked up on in your video was about the panel that you can swipe down from the top of the touchscreen. You commented about not being able to choose which icons are available (I think you wanted the speed warning toggle), and you can actually choose which ones are displayed. Just press and hold on one of the icons and a further menu bar opens below it where you can pick and choose the icons you want and where you want them displayed.
There’s also a favourite setting icon at the far left which you can configure to have e.g. lane & speed warning off, although I haven’t quite figured out how that works exactly.
Anyway, hope you find this useful.
Hi Paul. It doesn't remember the speed warning favourite. Everything else it does. I was complaining about not being able to save that specific one as a favourite. If you can set it and it remembers on yours then maybe it's a bug/feature with the newer gen hardware and v5 software.
@@DarrenMansell Ah ok, maybe different hardware/software versions as mine has let me add the speed warning icon to the 6 'favourite' icons. It always reverts to on each time you start the car, but at least its easy to get to if it needs turned off.
Good overview. I was a tad disappointed on my test drive. I thought this EV was the promised land after a regular Cupra V2 test drive a few weeks ago, and with the VZ getting great YT reviews. Did not find it that punchy- and only then in Cupra Mode. (Weighs 2 tonnes somehow- for a compact EV, which is probably the reason) Quiet around town but way too much tyre roar at motorway speeds. 20" wheels to blame I guess. Cheapo half capacity glovebox. No frunk. Limited underfloor boot storage. Tinted pano roof on test drive car but so darkly tinted made no difference to cabin brightness. No steering feel at all (but that is common to all modern cars I guess). The seats looked and felt excellent however but that was the only high point for me. All this balanced against cost. For well over £40k and £50k for optimum spec, it has to be really really impressive. This fell short. And Cupra dealers do not have best rep for dealer back up. Should have good efficiency though and very good real world range. Will look forward to more updates on that aspect.
Thanks. Personally I find 0 to 60 in 5 seconds flat pretty punchy and haven't noticed any excessive tyre noise on the motorway. It could be lighter but 84kWh of batteries is always going to come close to 2 tonnes. I don't really care about the glovebox because I won't use it with the masses of storage space elsewhere. A frunk would have been welcome and like the lack of hideaway for a charging cable in the boot is just lazy design by VAG. I find the steering feel lovely -perfectly weighted and precise. Mine was £40k after the deposit contribution and then a free charger + 0% APR meant it was about the best value EV with this range, comfort and performance I could find. I'm sure it'll do 350 miles in the summer. Not had much to do with the dealers other than the purchase which was fine. It being an EV, I shouldn't need to have much more to do with them either. Cheers for watching.
@@DarrenMansell Thanks for the reply and all very valid points. After the hyped YT videos I had watched, I was really looking forward to this. Wife & I are both petrolheads and now "EV heads" since 2017! We both like the look of the Cupra (vs ID3!) and it ticks the boxes. Will look forward to real world info on charging speeds and curve (maxes at 170kW which is excellent) but how long for etc.? Owners reviews like yours, are far more valid. Keep up the good work as I know it takes time to do stuff like this.
@@markymarkreviews I got 138kw on the first charge. Battery conditioning 10 mins before makes a big difference it seems.
@@markymarkreviews We had a VZ on loan for a long weekend and went to Cornwall from the East Midlands. Used Tesla Superchargers exclusively on the trip and consistently got 175kW charging speed when we plugged it in at 20%. The real world range is fantastic. We managed 4.3 mi/kwh and 264mi of range on 80% battery, with 71 miles of range remaining on the last 20%. That was at motorway (70) speeds, at 18c outside temp. Very very impressive.
Really? You do not find 5.2 seconds to get to 100lmh punchy but you moan about 20 inch wheels. I used to club race, mostly my TVR Chimera 5.0l, try using all that power on anything less. Probably the tyre noise to you is intrusive as there is no other noise to mask it and probably it did not feel "punchy" because power delivery is so smooth and linear.
is the vz expensive to lease?
Have you had any issues with android auto/apple carplay connecting slowly (taking 1-2 minutes)? On reddit a bunch of people complain about that, but mostly on older versions (from 2022/23) and I'm wondering if its fixed int he new or even the VZ version
Not really no. Maybe right at the beginning but it's been rock solid since.
How are you all getting on with range on a long range born ? I know it won't get near the 330 miles but was wondering as I'm very interested in a long range v3 model
It will do 330 miles fairly easily in the right conditions. A consistent 40 mph with air con off will probably see more like 360-380. Real world in the summer you'd probably be on for 330 but you wouldn't want to charge above 80% regularly and wouldn't let the battery get anywhere near 0% so almost nobody will ever see what their full range is. Outside temperature and air con and headwind etc will all affect range hugely. In decent conditions you'll be around 4 miles per kWh which on a 77kWh battery is 308 miles.
@@DarrenMansell thank you for your feedback