This EV’s got soul

Platform sharing really isn’t such a big deal.

Cupra’s vibrant EV shares a significant number of parts with a few other EVs, and I used to think that diminished its cool, disruptive image. How can you be engaging, sustainable and youthful when you’re borrowing parts from the Wolfsburg mothership? This month, however, I gained a new appreciation of the MEB platform used by those and many other VW Group EVs – and all it took was a drive of the forthcoming VW ID. 7.

The ID. 7 will sit atop VW’s EV range – and it sits on the opposite end of the spectrum to my Born, too. But where the Born wants to get the back end out, the ID. 7’s unflappable dynamic chassis control keeps things in check. Where the Cupra’s quick rack invites razor sharp cornering, the ID. 7’s neutral steering focuses on ease of use. And where the Cupra feels like a busy gokart, the ID. 7 wafts over the tarmac. Driving the near-production saloon, it hit me: is platform sharing really the soulless practice it’s often made out to be? I’m not sure.

The difference between the Born and the ID. 7 is night and day, and both demonstrate the versatility of Wolfsburg’s EV platform. Next time I describe the Born, I’ll mention its link to the ID. 3 – but I won’t care.

Cupra Born 77kWh 230PS V3 Month 7

The story so far

Cupra’s first pure EV, here in its most powerful form ★ Classy and roomy; rapid; distinct from VW |D EVs - |t’s not quite the hot hatch |’d like it to be

Logbook

Price £41,975 (£42,460 as tested) Performance 77kWh battery, e-motor, 228bhp, 7.0sec 0-62mph, 99mph E ciency 3.5-3.9 miles per kWh (ocial), 3.2 (tested), 0g/ km CO2 Range 340 miles (ocial), 229 (tested) Energy

cost 7.7p per mile Miles this month 496 Total 6542

Cabin is just one area where Cupra has made MEB its own