It's electric! ID3 Pickup.

[monkeyhanger]

Here's some pics...

[Guzzle]

As EV's go, I quite like that.

Did you choose white, or was it a case of going with whatever was available?

[monkeyhanger]

As EV's go, I quite like that.

Did you choose white, or was it a case of going with whatever was available?

Whatever was available. There were 46 ID3s on Autotrader, only 37 were immediately or imminently (within a month) available, and only 3 of those were the e-Boost 230ps models with the standard size batteries. These are all intended for model launch demos, but presumably having next to nothing to sell for the last year, some were willing to sell - these are currently about 11 months lead time for a factory fresh order.

I do think that white and Aurora blue are the best Born colours available. Theres a metallic red, but I prefer my reds as solid colours, metallic red can sometimes come off as pinkish. There's a Silver - looks as good as the white, but are silver cars still a bugger to paint match if they need repairs? My favourite ID3 colour is the "manganese grey" very dark metallic grey, makes the ID3 look sleeker than it is, but it makes the Born look less sporty simehow. Not a fan of the denim blue metallic (or whatever Cupra's name is for it, and not a fan of bluetac/undercoat greys that are fashionable right now as they're the free colour for most marques.

We're getting another next week (same wheels, V2 spec and 230ps) to replace the Wife's ID3 Family, it's coming in the signature Aurora blue, here's a 204ps V1 spec one I saw when picking mine up:-








It looks a lot lighter than it actually is in less than ideal lighting.

[phope]

Really like that

[Exonian]

Looking good MH! 
How is that lower front grille to clean? It looks quite ornate.
Very nice looking car.

Is it correct the e-Boost models have larger front brakes?

I’m surprised to read that the UI is so different to use compared the the ID.3, I’d have imagined it was similar with different font and graphics to Cuprafy it. It’s interesting that Cupra have redesigned it fully to their own spec.
It’ll be cool having two, one of the most rare/unusual cars in the UK and you’ll own two examples in the household!
I can but imagine how much interest the car must’ve generated on your trip home. Aside from EV enthusiasts and a few switched on people almost nobody will know what a Born is, that must be great fun.

[monkeyhanger]

Looking good MH! 
How is that lower front grille to clean? It looks quite ornate.
Very nice looking car.

Is it correct the e-Boost models have larger front brakes?

I’m surprised to read that the UI is so different to use compared the the ID.3, I’d have imagined it was similar with different font and graphics to Cuprafy it. It’s interesting that Cupra have redesigned it fully to their own spec.
It’ll be cool having two, one of the most rare/unusual cars in the UK and you’ll own two examples in the household!
I can but imagine how much interest the car must’ve generated on your trip home. Aside from EV enthusiasts and a few switched on people almost nobody will know what a Born is, that must be great fun.

I don't believe the e-boost has larger front discs. It looked like that might be the case when I saw a V1 204ps in the same showroom as the 230ps at Pulman Sunderland, but the differences looked so marginal, I couldn't tell for sure without getting a tape measure out. The salesperson said no, but we all know that the salespeople know bugger all about their products, so not sure i'd take their word for it. Either way, not changing up the brakes sounds feasable as the increase in power isn't huge.

The interest in the car seemed akin to my experiences of being a very early adopter of the Scirocco and not many people had seen those in the flesh out and about. As the dealership decided to put standard plates on, rather than those EV specific ones with the green area, presumably it's going to cause even greater confusion, because apart from the lack of visible tailpipes, there's no visual indicator that the car's an EV.

The front grille isn't too bad - I had to give it a good clean after 320 miles (almost exclusively motorway miles) on the road on pick up day, hundreds of splattered bugs - its a directionality thing, go with the flow. The ID3s front end was a lot worse, they had less of a front grille, but has diamond shaped dimples in the front bumper to replicate a bigger grille - they are an absolute bastard to clean.

Everything in the UI is also on the ID3, but the skins and structure are very different.

[monkeyhanger]

The number of Borns on Autotrader for immediate delivery has increased, seemingly due to a wave of V3 demo stock coming through, so if you are looking to jump on these, especially for a 230ps e-boost, I would go and have a look now.

For me, the V2 is better value than the V3. The V3 moves to 20" wheels, but there's lots of plastic inserts on teh 20" wheels, which i'm not keen on in principle, and I don't like the designs as much. 20" ride might make DCC a necessity for some.

Apart from that, the V3 makes the front seats fully electric (but no driver profile memory seemingly), with a massage function, and the seats get an alcantara type material covering rather than the Seaqual cloth.The V3 is about £1900 more than the V2 If that interests anyone here, i'd be making those enquiries now while there's a bit of choice of colour, especially for the 230ps variant (there's not many of those in the mix).

[Exonian]

The V2 e-boost definitely the sweet spot in the range.

There do seem to be quite a few coming through at the moment and I’d agree with you on the point of getting one now even if a compromise in spec is required.
As with most cars that aren’t run of the mill dull stuff there’s quite a wait and discounts will be limited at best, so it’s either a case of being prepared for a long patient gestation or grabbing a stock car and being flexible on spec. Or buying used - which isn’t an option for just launched models.

How do you find the entertainment system, now you’re well used to it, not having rear speakers MH?

[monkeyhanger]

The V2 e-boost definitely the sweet spot in the range.

There do seem to be quite a few coming through at the moment and I’d agree with you on the point of getting one now even if a compromise in spec is required.
As with most cars that aren’t run of the mill dull stuff there’s quite a wait and discounts will be limited at best, so it’s either a case of being prepared for a long patient gestation or grabbing a stock car and being flexible on spec. Or buying used - which isn’t an option for just launched models.

How do you find the entertainment system, now you’re well used to it, not having rear speakers MH?

The entertainment system is a marginally more complicated to navigate than the ID3 by default, but it's customisable (I think the later iterations of the ID3 software are too, but I never needed to customise- version 3.0 is on newly built cars, but not yet available to update).

The slightly bigger screen of the Born is a bit nicer to look at, and the audio sounds a bit better - not sure why, maybe a change in spec/supplier lately for the  ID3/Born platform. It still astounds me tgat VAG took the decision to eliminate the rear speakers, for the cost savings to be made vs customer dismay  over the decision. Its not really a bother if you never sit in the back, and the kids have their tablets.

[monkeyhanger]

Just dropped off our second ID3 - sold for £9950 more than I paid for it new a year ago. Crazy!

Heading to Woking via London via train to pick up the Aurora Blue  Cupra Born for the missus.