Cupra Born Long Term review

February 27th: Looking at the comments section of YouTube videos always needs to come with a health warning. But we couldn't help but plunge in and see what people were asking or saying about our Long Term update on the Born. Among the useful, helpful and informative was the inevitable Tesla fan asking why he should buy a Born (or as he referred to it, a 'piece of sh*t') rather than a Model 3.

Which got us thinking. The price of our Born is indeed close to the Tesla - £40,995 versus £42,990 respectively following the recent rise in the cost of the Cupra and fall in the Tesla. Our initial reaction is that the Model 3 is a superior car and that this is looking sticky for the Born. But then we thought about it and realised it's not the rout we might have expected.

On range (of the 58kWh version) and charging convenience the Tesla is way ahead. But we much prefer the Born's space and practicality. It's more comfortable, and while the tech is occasionally awful, it has the ability to use CarPlay - which is essential for us, and many others. Oh, and it's a hatchback of course, and we like the way it looks. You can even have interesting colours.

The Teslerati will be scoffing and saying we are clutching at straws about now, but these things are important to people. But there is a more compelling reason to choose the Cupra - or rather there are 236 reasons, every month.

Using the companies' own finance calculators, we tapped in the figures for a buyer with a £5,000 deposit wanting a 36 month agreement with 10,000 miles per year. For our Born, it comes out at £511 per month. Upgrade to the 77kWh version and it's £538. The Tesla is a whopping £747. 

This amazed us, so we checked the reasons. First the Tesla finance interest rate is more, at 7.9% versus 5.87%. But the real killer for the Model 3 is the residual value. Tesla's own predicted future value at the end of the agreement is £17,626. Cupra predict the Born will be £22,914. So it costs less to buy, is worth more when you come to sell and is cheaper to finance. Surprised? So were we. 

March 14th: There's a lot of moaning about the public charging infrastructure on social media, and it's quite right that people point out its failings or else we'd never see improvement. But sometimes it works perfectly, which comes as a bit of a surprise to many others who expect a tale of woe. 

I've been doing a few trips to cities across the country as son #1 is looking at universities. After being stranded in Newcastle as the result of a train strike, we decided driving was far better, so trips to Leeds, Manchester, Bristol and Cardiff were planned.

The planning involved an overnight stay plus a look at the parking options. There were chargers nearby at them all, plus a couple of rapids just in case they were full or broken. But they weren't. So we drove there, arrived with miles to spare, plugged in and woke up the next day with a full battery.

None of the charges were cheap, but since we could 'fill' at home before we left and when we got back at cheap night rates, the the 400 mile round trip to Cardiff cost around £35 all in. That's about half the cost of a petrol car doing 40mpg.