Cupra Born review

Here’s perhaps the biggest difference between the Cupra and its Volkswagen twin. The two cabins look remarkably similar, and while the Cupra does get the same minimalist layout (argh!) it does diverge in a few small ways and it's clothed in materials that feel much more upmarket. There are more soft-touch surfaces than scratchy plastics and the funky little 3D patterns are everywhere you look. And copper. Lots of copper.

Meanwhile the facelift has addressed our biggest concern: the touch sensitive ‘buttons’ on the steering wheel are no more, replaced by the real thing. Surprise, surprise, they’re much easier to use. Common sense one, rank stupidity nil.

Bucket seats are standard now, and Cupra has upped its recycled materials game. Heated, massaging units are clad in a mixture of Dinamica (old T-shirts and plastic bottles) and upcycled marine plastics (old T-shirts and plastic bottles previously belonging to fish, we presume). The VZ version gets even sportier 'CUPBucket' seats. Snug numbers, those.

Tell me about screens.

The central screen measures 12.9 inches across no matter what spec you go for, and it runs an Android OS that’s a vast improvement on the system that was first applied to the Born at launch. The touchscreen is responsive and the graphics – Cupra’s own, not just VW’s Tesco Basics version – are pin sharp.

The only shame is that the Born lacks the bank of climate switchgear that's soon coming to the ID.3 – hopefully they make it into a future update.

Behind the steering wheel there's now a 10.25in digital display (up on the old 5.3in one) that'll show you speed, range and trip info. You can toggle through setups until you land on one you like the look of.

On the steering wheel you'll find a button to cycle through all of the drive modes: Range, Comfort, Performance, Individual and Cupra (depending on spec).

How’s the practicality?

It’s tall inside so there's plenty of headroom, but that also means it feels more like an MPV than a hunkered down hot hatch. At least the abundance of glass gives the Born an airy feel. Rear seat passengers sit higher but there’s enough legroom back there, and the boot can swallow 385 litres of stuff. There’s also now a split floor, so you can have it flat for easy loading or deeper for max capacity.