We’ll soon be moving away from fossil fuels entirely as a family (on a household level)…

The Next Car

The Polestar 2 experiment has been a success. A few months in and over 2,500 miles (even without commutes), it has been an excellent automobile. Yes I’ve had niggles with the key and the app, and the ride is a little rough for around town with the near dystopian state of UK roads, but otherwise it has been a dream of a car. Comfortable. Powerful. Quiet. And quite unique looking. I caught someone standing outside the front of the house trying to puzzle out what exactly it was. That just so happened to be my reaction when we first came across one as well.

“What on earth is that logo from?”

“Is that rear lightbar from Knight Rider?”

And whilst I did really like the dark coloured hire car I had, I’ve grown to love the Magnesium light grey/white-ish colour. It helps that it is really forgiving when it comes to dirt and dust.

I think I’ve successfully buried the lede long enough. As you might have gathered from the preamble, the Polestar 2 isn’t going to be our only electric car. The Ford Fiesta has served us well over the last decade with over one hundred thousand miles on the clock and no major bugs, but it’s time for an update. The PS2 is going to remain the biggest car in the household for bigger journeys, but the Fiesta is being replaced with a Cupra Born.

Cupra Born (and Seat bred)

Another brand you might not have heard of, but with car shapes and names that sound eerily familiar. Cupra is to Seat as Polestar is to Volvo. Both companies started life in the autosport arena then became performance off-shoots, and eventually standalone brands. The Cupra Born is an all-electric hatchback that shares a platform with the Volkswagen ID.3, and has proven itself one of the best small electric cars. The Born is incredibly similar to the ID.3, although it is positioned as a sportier offering and undercuts the VW price by around £3,000 as of writing for a comparable specification.

Compared to the Polestar 2 Long Range Dual motor with a 0-60 mph time of 4.3 seconds, the Cupra Born base model comes in at 7.3 seconds which is considerably slower, but by no means a slouch. The Ford Fiesta 1.2 petrol we’re replacing does 0-60 in around 12.9 seconds. It’s hard to beat the instant torque nippy feel of an electric motor, even in a less powerful car. The range is significantly less too, at 265 miles vs 368 miles, but it will be interesting to see how that tracks with real world usage. Most of our driving with the Born will be around Plymouth, with longer journeys every few months.

This is by no means an attempt to eclipse the real reason anyone would buy a Cupra car. Who wouldn’t want to align themselves with Los Iluminados from Resident Evil 4? One is a Spanish group with a cult following…and the other is a fictional organisation in a videogame.

Around Plymouth

It’s hard to beat fresh seafood in Plymouth, and where better than right on the Barbican. Platters is one of our favourite fish restaurants and the portion size is phenomenal. It did mean we were out of action for most of the rest of the day suffering from a food-induced near-comatose state.

The week has brought rain and shine, although the last couple of days have been closer to what we’d expect for July. Upwards of 20 degrees and clear skies. We managed a trip out to Wembury today, even stretching to a swim in the sea. The water, although not what you’d call warm, was quite pleasant once the initial shock subsided. And that’s after the initial shock of driving there on horrifyingly narrow country roads. It is a lovely part of the world even if access leaves something to be desired.