Happy 18th Birthday (today !) to Ben my co-pilot in this video. Let’s see how many Happy Birthdays we can get for him. Answer below 👍

Impressive. Happy birthday Ben, a very good wingman!

Pete and Ben, that was a REALLY good video of the Cupra capabilities to watch - honest and enjoyable - 5***** 👍

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I have an opportunity to choose my next car, and your series of videos really helped me to go for Cupra Born!

I really enjoy these EV long range tests. I am still unsure about owning one but your videos educate us all on the technology, the driving modes and styles to maintain a decent range.

I've had mine (58KW) for roughly 5000 miles. Honest appraisal so far. Lovely/smooth/handles superbly & quiet to drive. Full charge averages about 230 miles (mostly motorway), very comfortable, loads of safety features that really impresses me. Negatives, haptic buttons are a little fiddly, sound system not great and not as loud/as many features as i would want. Clima (air) control, this is the thing that pisses me off the most, i have not found a wau just to use a fan without the clima being on. As soon as it's turned on it eats into my range, although not massive it simply shouldn't be an issue at all. If anyone has sussed out how to do it please let me know. Overall; this is my first EV and there is sooooo much to like about it, just hope some of the little gripes can be ironed out in future versions

Great video Ben and Pedro. Really like this vehicle, looks way better than the id3. Happy 18th Birthday Ben. (ask Uncle Ped to buy you a car 😉)

I was genuinely shocked about the cost of lunch! I drive an old LPG volvo and can't afford to pay that kind of money for lunch even though my fuel bill would be £35. That is why I buy meal deals for lunch if I am out and about or take it with me!!😯

Great video. Having recently taken delivery of an i4 and now experiencing the learning curve of living with an EV, it’s good to see other peoples experiences. The Gridserve hub looked great and if they can start to replicate that type of arrangement across the country, we’re moving in the right direction.

Great review. My Sister in law just pickup her Born after a wait of over 12 months after order placed (we live in Melbourne Australia). I think she has the model below your car - smaller battery and range as it cost $65k plus on road costs. Thanks Pete.

happy birthday ben and nice to get young people into electric cars and learn to understand them. cupra born love it

Looking forward to this video with what is a very interesting EV.

Great example of a ‘typical real’ journey. More charging stations like Gridserve needed asap across the country. I would go for the 58kw Born myself, but interesting to see the 77kw version.

Comparing efficiency from point A to B vs B to A is a non starter. For example: In my Nissan LEAF my 50 mile drive to work I will use 20% battery on the way home I will use 35% battery. This is because I live on top of a mountain and my workplace is right at sea level. Better to compare efficiency on the same route rather than comparing A to B vs B to A. Also it's suprising how much standing water on the road affects yours efficiency as them storms to Norwich would have made a dent in your range. Great video and I love your content, especially your enthusiasm for EV's. 👍

Great Video, Rain does make a big difference to range, I also have the V3 77kw in white and have also used Norwich when i was on holiday in Norfolk which is amazing - I tend to use "performance mode" which is between Comfort and Cupra and just gives you a sharper ride and better throttle, luckily mine is a company car so the price tag isn't a concern but love it and everyone who has been in it loves it

I've got a V2 Born 58KW and I'm averaging 4.2m per KW. I don't use Cupra mode as the standard mode is quick enough for me. I'm new to EVs but so far I'm loving the car (apart from the haptic buttons on the steering wheel but I can live with them). I wish there was a Gridserve in the Midlands!

I own the V2 62kwh (58kwh useable) battery version and have got 4.7m/kwh to 4.2m/kwh easily. The bigger battery adds a lot of weight but handy if you do lots of motorway driving. The 58kwh battery will charge in less time as its smaller so it all depends on your range needs. I do have been told an Audi Etron driver was so concerned about range and the charging time they sold the Audi and drive an electric mini as its cheaper and charges quicker. The 77kwh version wasn't available in June this year but a pre built 62/58kwh was so I bought it trading in my Audi S3 as it had a possible water pump issue around the corner and Audi's after 5 years old depreciate like a brick off a cliff. I did a 60 mile range test using A roads on two different days covering the same route and motorway at 70 and at then 60 mph. Reducing the speed by 10 mph increased the m/kwh by quite a bit. RAPID CHARGING will shorten the cars battery capacity / life faster over 3 years (or longer.) AC charging at 22kw or 7kw is recommended and like you said only to 80%. Used prices in 3 years might depend on the battery condition and the garages will do a battery test when you trade your car in. If you are linked to Cupra by the app they most probably know how you are charging the car. Will lease companies add costs if you rapid charge a lot as the value of the car will be less or do they factor it in to the lease costs?

Happy birthday Ben! Good to see my neck of the woods making an appearance.

great piece tonight , insight to the “let’s jump in the car and go days “ nice one Peter 👍

You absolutely needed Ben with you in every review, he makes the whole journey really interesting......I'm not saying that you are boring! 😂😂🤣

Great video again, when you sat down in the cafe, I thought the building was moving with the screen behind you. 🤣

That was a proper test , real time driving , the drive out was very impressive being in cupra mode plus the weather conditions you were driving in ,

Great that we are meeting some friends of yours that aren’t you tubers - adds a nice dimension to do it ccasinall!

Brilliant video ped! We love our born. Had it just over a week and exceeded our expectations. Such an awesome car. 👌

My V3 (58Kw) arrives 5th September....excited doesn't even come close. I never even test drove one....chose it based on You Tube vids...including yours my friend!!

Happy birthday Ben - what a time to be 18 very exciting. I'm 55 and a bit old fashioned but I really appreciate technology so long as said technology simplifies or improves our lives. EV's have come a long way particularly in the amount of range now on offer. However, there is still a big stumbling block - cost. Ben would appreciate Ev's more than most people of my era but he is priced out of them. The other big issue is the charging network for the next 30 years we will have petrol stations and charging stations as we slowly whittle through ICE vehicles. This is where hydrogen would be an easier winner as hydrogen could be more easily integrated into fuel stations, not to mention the issues with rare earth minerals required for current battery technology. I'm definitely not anti-electric but these are genuine issues that need to be dealt with before a big shift in people's purchasing habits change, although the manufacturers are pushing the technology because of global government pressure. Most manufacturers are marketing small petrol engines coupled to small electric motors and small battery packs. It is really inefficient engineering as you carry the weight without the benefit of range or power.

I look at all that range with envy! My e-208 will manage around 130 miles at motorway speeds. That said, it was £28k so quite a lot cheaper, and I personally rarely need more range and am comfortable enough with planning longer trips via chargers as and when.

Hey pal, love to Pooch and Pup. High 5 to you and T. 👍🇬🇧

Happy Birthday Ben. Good review Ped I guess the issue is still going to be planning the long distance trips to make sure you can get a charger. It is little hassle to wait 5 mins for your turn at a fuel pump but would be a massive pain if you had to wait an hour for your turn to then charge an hour. The charge network will need to up the info on what charge ports are available and likely wait times can be expected or charge rage will become an issue.

We have an i-Pace which we regularly use on longer journeys. We now plan our trips to stop at a variety of chargers that we know from experience are likely to be free. Unfortunately this does not include any on the motorway network where it is common to have to wait up to an hour before you can start a charge because the facilities are massively short of where they need to be. You just need to look at a petrol station on the motorway to see that they refuel well over 100 cars an hour whereas there might only be 4 electric chargers which, at best, might manage 6 cars an hour. Last week we did a journey of 220 miles each way which required one recharging stop each way but what is now concerning is the cost of recharging: it cost us 59p/Kwh at a supermarket about 5 miles off the motorway but at motorway speed that equates to around 25mpg. There are other chargers on the motorway where we have been charged 69.9p/Kwh but given that was a few months ago, it could be a good bit higher now. Charging at home is giving the equivalent of about 40mpg just now but with the large increases in the electricity price cap coming, this will fall significantly. We have a V8 on the driveway which would do the journey at less cost so something needs to be done quickly before the cost becomes public knowledge and the electric revolution hits a wall. We love the i-Pace which is a very comfortable way to travel, has plenty of power and a handling/grip balance and poise that is truly excellent. EV's should not be feared by petrolheads but the current infrastructure and cost needs huge improvement.

Great video interesting between eco and cupra modes thought it would be bigger difference...happy birthday Ben🍰

Thanks for this. Appreciated the comments on the infotainment system 👍

Ben is a great driving buddy, happy birthday too. Great test and what a car!!!

My 1st car was a Renault 16TS which I bought when it was a little over 2yrs old, a LONG time ago (1973), was in decent condition but had quite a high mileage for its age as it had made regular lengthy trips with the owner from new, a colleague - can’t remember how much I paid as it was a long time ago, but probably around £400 equivalent I think, a few months before my 21st birthday. My next car was a new Fiat 127, bought 1974 for about £800 equivalent. This was when I lived in Morocco for information & both cars were locally assembled from parts shipped in by Renault & Fiat. Apart from my first few cars until about the mid-1980s, when I bought using employer-provided loans at favourable interest rates (I worked for a bank), I have since then always bought new cars outright from my own resources, but I have never owned or wanted to own what most would call a “fancy, prestige” car, although some were undoubtedly high-powered & I almost never kept them more than 2 or max 3 years, in UK or elsewhere. I would have bought an electric vehicle (a Niro or a Soul) late last year, but as I live in an apartment, home charging would currently be impossible & the local public charging network (north of Scotland) is decidedly sketchy/ so I couldn’t risk it. Since since June 2022 I therefore now have a top of range Stonic mild-hybrid for which I paid a little less than £24k. I’m pretty happy with it, it won’t break any records, but it is a well put-together car (like a Kia’s in recent times), reliable and with a good warranty - it will certainly be fine for my usual 3 years max & as I’m now older (21 in ‘73, see above, you do the maths 😉), who knows how many more years I will be driving, maybe another 10-15 if I’m lucky 🙏. But I enjoy watching EV reviews as I’m hopeful in a few years it may be a practical proposition from a charging perspective for me to own one.

Would love to see Gridserve open on Australian highways, esp with our longer distances! 3 between Sydney and Melbourne, 3-4 between Sydney and Brisbane, 3 Melbourne to Adelaide etc just for starters! That looks fantastic.

Great range review.Very interesting and good to have a co-pilot to keep you on your toes.

The difference in efficiency was the rain. It used the same amount of energy to do X speed regardless of driving mode. It's just a different throttle map.

Infrastructure Infrastructure Infrastructure! After five years of driving a BEV now on my second bev and with only 8 years to go the oil companies need to step up! Cheers for the video mate

Hi Ped That is what I would term a real life test review.🤗I I can see why you were impressed, and Gridserve excellent. Maybe warming to the idea but still some reservations before I cross the line.

Ben was a legend , I would seriously consider this car even do I’m a complete petrol head , mite wait till born mark 2 as there is rumour of vw going back to functioning buttons

I’m glad you left the navigation to your phone! “Into the Blackwall tunnel we go”… as you enter the Dartford tunnel.

Awesome one ped love the cupra its a nice looking car snd right there with you bout the changing infrastructure but think will come in time love my electric corsa for my first electric car 👍🏼👏

Stats are interesting between cupra mine and range mode, and looking at the day, the journey out would possibly have used more power due to adverse weather. Great review

Great review Petrol ped very interesting video my thoughts from watching are when you are charging and depending on how many cars are there charging at them same time the volts lower so it would take longer the problem i think is how long it takes to charge 1hour so you when planing the journey it has to be add on. That why I would go hybrid but the problem with combustion engines ( normal cars) is what we put in them (petrol) so looking forward to E fuel and hydrogen fantastic video and HAPPY BIRTHDAY 🥳 🎂 Ben Tristan

I love my Born. Commuting from Derbyshire to Bristol and not had an issue with public charging. I'm averaging around 4m/kWh, which I'm happy with. Agree with the comments about haptic buttons & infotainment system though.

Happy Birthday Ben … it was like Clarkson and Caleb without the stupidity. A really good car review that will help people understand EV ownership. I hope to see Ben on more of your content.

Happy Birthday Ben....I would have been bugging Pete to let you drive a bit. And if he really wanted to make this birthday memorable how about letting him drive the Porsche!

As good as the Video is, my concern is still the charging stations/ Infrastructure within the UK. Yes they are beginning to surface (IE Manchester area and the North), but it's still too slow to meet the demand/ requirements. Whilst it's good to be able to charge from home and 1 of the 2 or 3 decent EV's with substantial range. Another area that needs improvement like the Cupra you tested and Taycan etc.

Brilliant test, and the star of the video was Ben, cracking kid 👍

Great video Pete and yes the charging network should be like grid serve but it’s not and it’s a long way off being like that. Ben seems a nice lad as well and hope he’s on your channel more.

Great review. Happy birthday Ben. Pete you have a moke. Haven’t seen that in the channel before.

Have the Cupra Born V1 58Kw in Aurora Blue and absolutely love it, going to place an order for the V3 in the same colour with some extras and the bigger battery. Great review just what I was looking for. Great review and thats how a range test is done!! Love this channel, keep up the good work.

I’ve had my born for 3months it’s a 58kwh but my average over 1800 miles mixed use is 5.1 mi/kWh lol I don’t drive like miss daisy lol but this is my 3rd electric car , absolutely love it also brilliant car

Great vid as always Pete. Certainly thinking about getting an EV at some point in the future. Glad young Ben enjoyed his trip with you.

That is one impressive car. We took our Leaf for the first time south last month from Orkney to Pitlochry. The whole trip cost a little more than £16 in electricity! And the infrastructure in (North)Scotland is really good now. That was with a full car too!

Great video guys, Happy birthday Ben you added a lot to the video 👍 as a person with ADD and living in Ireland with really poor charging infrastructure the thoughts of hanging around a station for an hour fills me with absolute dread…. Also the cost by the time you factor in the food and exchange rate means your now not far of filling partly ,, a Golf diesel!, but you’ll be there and back a lot quicker 😎 but I suppose eventually the range and infrastructure will get better but just not at the moment. So plug in hybrids are the way but Love your videos keep them coming,.

Fantastic way to review. We've ordered the same as your test car but with wider Michelin Pilot EV wheels and heat pump. We won't receive it for many months. Software update means max charging is now 135kw.

well done mate I`m in Germany and enjoyed this now I know what Car I want zhanks Dennis

In my experience of driving a Zoe and a Leaf for the last four years, the eco modes don't save much if you are not heavy footed and most importantly keep the speed down. On my Leaf (first gen, 2016), the efficiency is fine up to 55mph - 4.2miles/kWh. But efficiency drops like a stone at 70-75mph, only about 2.5 (or worse). That's the case in Eco or normal mode. The only genuine saving in Eco is the heating gets switched off (I think).

Happy birthday Ben It'll be another 3 years before we replace our current car, assuming that it'll be a hybrid, so in 6 or 7 years things with leccy cars will be better. And of course there is hydrojen Gridserve looks good

Wind direction can effect range a lot especially when it's accompanied with wet roads

Wow Pete your enthusiasm for this car makes me want one also. Not sure when or who will sell cupra down under. Happy 18th to Ben. Right car for him, but a little expensive. Cheers from me.

Hadn't heard of this car. Thx for showing it. Turns out it's a great ad for Tesla. Drive one and you'll know what I mean. For those who say, " They're too expensive. I'm meeting more people who have bought a used Tesla and love it...as it performs as well as it did when new. Great video. Thx again.

The knack is adding enough charge to continue. Anyone watching will shrug that 40 minutes to charge although they probably haven’t timed going to the toilet, a bit to eat and refill at a services. I worked out going 400 miles in a Tesla from glasgow to Duxford starting with a full charge from home or free from a local wind farm 😉 i’d have to charge 28 minutes and split 20 and 8 over two stops. 400 miles your going to need a few toilet breaks, lunch or even just stretch your legs. Ironically the Hotel I was staying at had free charging although I would have arrived with 30% at the hotel. That’s the real test. Great clip on what looks a great EV. I still think EV’s are 10k overpriced what they need to be.

Definitely a great test. To bad cupra aren’t in the USA. If they can make EVs more affordable with that kind on range I’m all in

Have you had a perm Peter what with all the curls? Car good, car style good, car colour (it’s red), cars range good too, all told GOOD 👍👍👍🚘🚘🚘🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

Hi Pete, great content with young Ben riding shotgun. It was interesting to hear his input on EV’s, after all they are the generation that will have to fully embrace them. I must admit that Cupra are getting a lot of things right. I find it strange how the VW Group seems to compete with itself across its brand structure! Good commentary on the car’s performance throughout the journey and a real life taster of what the EV experience should be if everything goes to plan, which unfortunately isn’t always the case yet. 👍😎

Can you imagine if we'd been driving electric cars for years and years and someone came along and said, there's this new thing called petrol, you can fill your car from empty (not 20%) to full (not 80%) in 3 minutes, I reckon it would be a game changer.

good vid as always. the 2 biggest problems for me with electric cars is the charge time and range. if the charge time could be reduced to 10 - 15 mins, i think the range issue would disappear. After all, if you are on a long drive you are going to have to stop for a loo break at some point!

Eager to watch this as I’ve ordered one of these as a company car coming (hopefully) in December.

Happy Birthday Ben , WOW 18 , I wanna be 18 again 😁😁 🎁🎁🎂🎂🍰🍰 Amazing car, Expressing my own opinion can be personally difficult at times but what a car .. This Pedler loves it I would not even entertain the VW equivalent Pete if it was my own money ! Go and Buy the Cupra Born People 👍👍👍👍

Great vid.. tell MacMater..😂😂

Great review. In the market for a daily EV and this would have been our 1st choice however the EV market is beginning to get really interesting. MG about to launch the MG 4 at a very competitive price point, several thousand less than the CUPRA. So we’re now going to wait and have a look at it, unless you can get your hands on one and do a review and either poo-poo it or give it a thumbs up.

Sweet car yes indeed...still trying to wwrap m y head around ev biy looks good

Brill video - Ben is brill too - Happy Birthday Ben

Excellent review, I ran an Outlander Phev years ago as a novelty but settled with a BMW 730d due to range, quality and comfort issues. You've gone along way in convincing me that EV's are now pretty practical, realistic alternatives to Ice cars and not just fashion statements. Well done.

Looks like a good experience at Gridserve. The utopian dream for EV is being able to pull into a forecourt and be back on the road in minutes. 30 mins is even to long for me. Ordered a Cupra, alas a petrol Formentor, I'm not quite ready for an appliance just yet.

Great review, great car. I know electric is great but range anxiety is always there in the forefront 😅 My diesel will do 211 miles for £29.54.

Another great video Peter. I like these real tests. Thanks mate.

Great video Ped and shout out to Ben. Reminded me of old school Top Gear when the presenter that broke down got stuck with the bogey car. Was there a flatbed truck with an Audi E -tron following out of shot with access only to app-based 3rd party chargers? 😂😂😂

I often charge my car at Gridserve, Braintree even though there are public charging points closer to where I live. It is worth the few extra miles for the overall experience.

Love it. I really like the look of the Born

An good looking EV which does at least have a usable range… Interesting re your costs to recharge, my RAV4 hybrid would cost me currently £31.78 to refuel after 211mls as I average around 53mpg on a similar run averaging mid 50’s mph and I wouldn’t have to spend the same amount again on food while I waited for my car to refuel! Just a thought 🤔

Finally an EV worth some consideration and a reasonable price. Alas, it is not for sale in the USA.

415 miles in the day, that's a fair chunk of Sydney to Melbourne (870km / 540 miles). Which, 2 charges en route would be 20-80% with a full charge at each end, that's basically how you'd do stops and breaks anyway (I do it regularly). Just means I'd eat in instead of takeaway, but I wouldn't need to stand outside whilst pumping fuel. Very do-able!

Nice to see you came to Norfolk, I live about 20 miles from Gridserve Norwich.

This is the first EV that has ever taken my interest and I would happily part with the asking price but therein lies the problem. As a retired person paying out £41k is something I could never endorse, but I am sure they will sell well to working people of all ages!

First and foremost: Happy Birthday, Ben! All the best for you. As the Born is concerned: Great car, but the software still has quite some room for improvement (let alone the app…). But we‘ll keep ours anyway… ;-)

Really good review Pete, though Norwich seems a slightly odd location for such a large hub. My own experience of Gridserve thus far has been very poor with out of action chargers and then ones that won’t talk to your car! For me on the longer trips I’ve done so far, the InstaVolt chargers win hands down as they’re in good locations on or adjacent to major arterial routes and usually work really well - though top-tip, give the initial handshake a bit of time, as it sometimes takes up to 2 mins to establish connection!

Car looks great Pete & the up and coming models they have, which you have hinted at look epic too. Be interesting to see what the journey cost equated to in pence per mile compared to petrol or diesel averages....! I did read somewhere that research into this has been carried out when charging at these new super charging service stations & that comparing an average mpg petrol & diesel on average fuel costs to an EV using these sort of charging sites proved to show the EV was the more expensive to run..... can't remember who compiled the report sadly. Anyway, top video, interesting content too..... 👌

Belated Happy Birthday to Ben your very good co pilot 🎂🥳🎉

Trouble is the EV platform is VW and despite the stated charging speed figures, it doesn’t deliver those! When you complain they say it’s only a range (albeit it never gets in to the range!). My experience was DC charging 20-80% is more like 50-55 minutes not 35. AC charging about 80% of the time was only half charging due to some battery safe mode that apparently randomly cuts the charge so on a cheap overnight 6hr charge I was getting 20kw not 40! Big difference. I had mine for 4 months, it then spent 6 weeks in garage and I got a BM i4 instead which is brilliant and does exactly what it says it will

Happy Birthday Ben.

Brilliant car this is the future, hopefully I will have one as my next car 🚗 😀

Evening all! Hope everyone has a lovely week and are doing well.

Great review and a great car - not just a great EV - sense this could be the one for you. I got to GridServe Norwich the first weekend it opened - you do have to kind circle into the site! Anyway, a great and relaxing place to visit, but I guess back on the 1960’s motorway services were relatively the same before they filled up with every Tom, Dick and Harry going … so give it a couple of years and it will have lost some of its shine I suspect 🤔

Great video, thank you for this Pete. I am seriously considering this exact version when it gets to Australia in the coming months. Looks great, nice interior and perhaps my perfect Monday to Friday car. Really appreciate the practical aspect of this video. No BS, just great.

Driving mode has minimal impact of potential efficiency in any EV - or most cars full stop for that matter. It would be fairly easy to be less efficient in eco mode than in sport mode. The main impact of mode is the influence it has on driving style. Adjust style to drive efficiently in sport mode and it can be just as efficient as eco mode, just with the bonus that you have sharper responses immediately on tap when wanted.

As you say ideally use the battery between 20% & 80% but do go not below 50% frequently and never fully charge or leave it in high charge condition if you want to manage the life of your battery ,.This is the advice from Warrick Uni the WMG group battery science

generally charging to 80% is fine for daily commutes etc. No problem upping it to 100% if you’re off on a long trip. But I would normally refill only to 80% as it’ll slow down - faster to charge a couple of times to 80% than wiating to 100%. If you stop every couple of hours for a leg stretch/wee and plug in, 15-20 mins should be enough to keep you going. Just needs a few more chargers for that but its getting better. Moto services rolling out 6-12 chargers at all their MSAs this year.