In the Cupra Born we mainly see the Volkswagen ID.3

Blik thinks it knows why some motorists love motorcycles so much. From petrol engines and diesels, not from electric motors. Their love can be explained by the fact that a petrol engine has character, perhaps a will of its own. You have to get to know him, pamper him, understand him. This requires investments in time, money and motor oil that is more expensive than good whiskey.

Of course, their love is not the modern four-in-line petrol engine that has been tamed by the semiconductors of engine management. Enthusiasts dream of an engine with twin SU carburetors. The character of which changes when it has stood still for a week. Leave such an engine to its own devices for a while and it will run sullenly. Then the enthusiast has to bring it back into line with a quarter turn counterclockwise on the adjusting screw at the bottom of the carburetor. It is infinitely satisfying when he succeeds, when he walks around nicely and shows that he is your friend again.

This love is becoming more and more unattainable. There is nothing to tinker with modern engines. To keep the affection alive, college-educated engineers have given today’s “sports bike” a rattle when you let off the throttle, producing a sporty murmur from the exhaust, just like the old days. Everyone knows it’s fake, but we cling to the illusion that it’s a machine we can tame. Even if it is the computer that tames us.

For these reasons, the ‘real’ enthusiast should know nothing about electric. A car with an electric motor is superior in many ways, but also silent and sterile as NXP’s cleanroom. In order not to have to give up their dream, some think petrol heads therefore excuses about the alleged climate unfriendliness of the e-car. All nostalgia, the persistent enemy of inevitable change.

Secretly, Blik understands that aversion to electricity. The soft, shuddering pleasure of starting the engine is so much more enticing than the chilly green ‘ready’ of the e-car.

The Cupra Born is representative of the old and the new. Cupra (pronounced Koepra) was the sporting brand of the Spanish car manufacturer Seat, renowned for its speed, feared for its tailgating. Many car brands have such a sporty branch: Mercedes-Benz has AMG and Fiat has Abarth. Seat has elevated Cupra to a separate brand. This is also a trend in car land. As Volvo calls its electric branch Polestar, Alpine has been set apart from Renault and DS is the luxury sister of Citroën.

To find out what this Born (the first fully electric Cupra) wants to be, we take the brochure. ‘The urban design embodies power and performance. Style and sportsmanship. Dynamic lines. Bold design.’

Sounds like old school Cupra. Now this Born is definitely dynamically drawn: aggressive snout, side skirts, spoilers all around and ‘daring accents’ in copper color. But under the thin layer of copper the aspirations crumble. ‘An interior focused on experience and emotion’, says the folder. Blik mainly sees the Volkswagen ID.3. On the dashboard and behind the wheel are exactly the same screens as in the VW, including the sometimes enigmatic (‘hypermodern’, ‘intuitive’) operation.

The rest of the car is also ID.3: the power, type of drive, even in the driving behaviour, we discovered little difference. Trunk, legroom, dashboard: all the same. No shame, because the ID.3 offers the entire comfort surplus of electric propulsion. The range is in order, as is the fast charging, which is done with a maximum of 120 kilowatts. So the Cupra Born is just as good as the ID.3. So fine.

Still, it’s problematic that the Born remains genetically so close to the ID.3. Cupra falls into the same trap as Seat once, when the models of the Spanish brand differed from Volkswagens only in price. It was only when former CEO Luca de Meo took the helm and the designs became more idiosyncratic that Seat achieved success. But De Meo has left for Renault and with that the urge to distinguish itself seems to have disappeared.

Blik wonders who this brand is actually for. Not for the young guys who bounce over the thresholds of the residential area in fourth-hand Cupras. For them, the Born is far too expensive and makes too little noise. While older drivers who can afford it, feel little ‘experience’ with the tribal ass antlers on the hood. Perhaps the young executive A Born wants, although the addition, which has been only a fraction lower since this year, will probably not lure away with, for example, a considerably cheaper BMW 1-series on petrol. Fortunately, Cupra can draw hope from the fact that more and more employers are demanding that their citizens drive fully electric, and therefore for God’s sake opt for this ID.3 in glittery pants.

Thus we must see the Born; an excellent civilian car that has been decorated with a copper brush.