Cupra Born vs DS N°4

The DS N°4 costs £1,000 more than the Cupra Born. On the headline specs that premium buys little measurable advantage - the two are closely matched on range, charging and space. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Cupra Born comes out ahead overall.

The Cupra Born is £1,000 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 £1,120 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 232 miles for the DS N°4 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Cupra Born goes roughly 18 miles further between charging stops.

The two are within 21 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 591 mm of total clearance for the Cupra Born and about 570 mm of total clearance for the DS N°4. The Cupra Born also turns in a 0.6 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 DS N°4. 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.