Cupra Born vs Cupra Tavascan

The Cupra Tavascan costs £11,345 more than the Cupra Born. For that premium it adds 52 miles more WLTP range, 30 kW faster peak rapid charging and 155 litres more boot space. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Cupra Born comes out ahead overall.

The Cupra Born is £11,345 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £128 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Cupra Born comes out roughly £11,465 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 250 miles for the Cupra Born and 294 miles for the Cupra Tavascan - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Cupra Tavascan goes roughly 43 miles further between charging stops.

The Cupra Born is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 52 mm narrower than the Cupra Tavascan. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 591 mm of total clearance for the Cupra Born and about 539 mm of total clearance for the Cupra Tavascan. The Cupra Born also turns in a 0.7 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Cupra Born and 84% for the Cupra Tavascan. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. Both use NMC-type cells, so for daily use keep the charge limit near 80% to slow degradation. Both batteries carry a 8-year manufacturer warranty.