Cupra Born review - Interior & comfort

Sitting in the front of the Born is a comfortable experience, thanks in part to hugging sports seats. Not everyone will love the integral headrests – not least those with young kids, who might find it tricky to mount their all-important tablet or iPad – as they tilt forward and can restrict forward visibility for passengers in the back.

The front seats are also mounted quite high for a sporty car but that’s the consequence of the battery’s location underneath the floor. There is, however, plenty of adjustment for the driver's seat and the steering wheel – and every version gets soft-touch trim on the dashboard, hiding some of the cheaper materials you’ll find in the mechanically similar Volkswagen ID.3.

Cupra Born dashboard

The ID.3 has been criticised for the quality of its interior and the Cupra Born appears better in the most crucial areas. There are still a few signs that corners and costs have been cut – mainly in the lower reaches of the cabin – but on the whole, the Cupra is a much nicer place to sit than the VW. In keeping with Cupra's design theme, there are distinctive copper accents that help the interior stand out.

The infotainment system remains a point of contention, however. It’s not the most responsive, and some of the load times are too long. No such complaints can be levelled at the graphics, though, which are crisp and vibrant, for both the central screen and the instrument display.

Infuriatingly, the Cupra inherits the Volkswagen’s touch-sensitive climate control sliders underneath the main screen, which aren’t backlit at night. We understand this will be updated in time – likely with the Cupra’s mid-life facelift due sometime in 2024. When we tested the Born VZ in May 2024 it gained a column-mounted gear selector, a new steering wheel and a different binnacle for the touchscreen. It was also easier to turn off some features like lane assist from a shortcut menu accessed by swiping down on the screen. The most notable difference, though, is the set of front sports seats from motorsport firm Sabelt that hold you firmly a bit lower in the car.

In regular versions of the Born, leather-free upholstery called Dinamica and Seaqual Yarn are offered, manufactured from recycled clothing and single-use plastics or marine plastics respectively.

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Equipment

Three trim levels called V1, V2 and V3 were initially offered, with a sporty VZ hot hatch joining the range in mid-2024. V1 has 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, a 12-inch touchscreen with sat nav and wireless smartphone mirroring, plus a heated steering wheel, adaptive cruise control and a reversing camera. V2 adds 19-inch wheels, tinted rear windows, heated seats and an augmented reality head-up display. Top-spec V3 gets even bigger wheels, exclusive grey upholstery and front seats with power adjustment and massage function. We found the ride to be quite jolting on the biggest 20-inch wheels of the V3, though, so our pick would be one of the lesser models.

The sporty VZ trim gets the choice of an exclusive Dark Forest paint colour, and comes with extras like dark chrome VZ badges, steering wheel paddles, a wireless phone charger, bucket front seats and keyless entry with illuminated door handles. It also packs a Sennheiser audio system, with a surround sound setup that can be adjusted – a good thing, as we found it could make some tracks sound a little odd on its strongest setting.

Options

A number of options are available, adding features such as a Beats audio system with nine speakers, a panoramic glass roof, an augmented reality heads-up display and adjustable suspension. There are also several packs, such as the ‘Pilot L Pack’, which adds a top-down camera and intelligent park assist among other key driver aids.