Born Vz Vs Mokka Gse: A New Golden Age Of Hot Hatch Is Here

Can a circa-two-tonne electric car call itself a hot hatch?

This updated Cupra Born VZ seems to be passing its first key test with flying colours. Folks younger than I repeatedly pull alongside in their modified Vauxhall Corsas or Seat Ibizas, slowing down with just the right timing to look across and wave, nod in approval or, on one occasion, liberally dish out chef's kisses. How very Gen Z.

Have I missed something? The Born's mid-life facelift looks like a subtle one to my 39-year-old eyes, and Cupra's insistence on a purely grey (or grey-adjacent) colour palette doesn't make this a bold, over-the-top attack on the senses like the Day-Glo Ibiza Cupras of old. The youth love it, though. Perhaps its newly prominent rear 'diffuser' has a function after all.

It's a promising start on our journey to meet an unlikely rival. Whether the mumsy Vauxhall Mokka can ever rub along with the newest generation of drivers I don't know, but the GSE version has a better chance than normal. It takes all that's likeable about the Mk2 Mokka - sketched crisply under the leadership of Brit Mark Adams - and pumps up the aggression with enormous 20in wheels (matching the Cupra), a black bonnet and neon-bright front brake calipers.

The Born is spun from a pure electric platform and arguably looks like a mini-MPV in silhouette as a result, but the Mokka is unmistakably an ICE car at heart. It's loads lighter, too: around 400kg less than our Spanish contender on paper, not to mention £10,500 less to buy with the benefit of the UK government's Electric Car Grant. That's something for which only lowlier Borns are eligible.

There's also a gap in their performance. The Vauxhall claims 277bhp and 254lb ft of torque against the Cupra's 322bhp and 402lb ft, although the former's much skinnier 1597kg frame means their 0-62mph times are similar. On range and efficiency the pair diverge more: the Born's bigger battery and more bespoke platform take it nearly twice as far on the WLTP test cycle, at 388 miles to the Mokka's 201. Yikes.

Enthusiasts might recoil at the GSE's front-driven layout, too. The halo VZ has always done a pretty good job of making merry with the Born's rear-wheel-drive configuration, and its mid-life spruce-up hasn't done much to disrupt this.

The Cupra impresses me greatly on our way to meeting Matt Prior in the Vauxhall. It keeps apace with traffic down the M6, sipping impressively little from its battery capacity (scoring more than 4.0mpkWh), while a quick zap at the services sends its battery back up past 80% at close to its 185kW DC charging maximum.

It's proving to be an electric car with a complete absence of inconvenience - and a refined one at that. Its Hankook tyres don't intrude too much on progress, and there's a neat, adaptive brake regen function that reads the traffic ahead and often slows the car at least as smoothly and smartly as I would have myself - all without activating its adaptive cruise control.

It reveals the true breadth of its talent away from the motorway network, however. Dynamic tweaks for the facelifted Born VZ are minor, amounting to a new launch control function and 'interior sound signature'. The latter is much more welcome than the former, providing a nice backdrop and dynamic anchoring point in the car's sportier modes (or a primed Individual set-up). While synthesised noise profiles feel increasingly odd without virtual gearshifts to punctuate them, as in some techier rivals, it's a welcome addition here nonetheless.

The chassis beneath warrants some additional theatre. While not a complete transformation over that of a regular Born, there's some welcome extra swagger in the VZ and an alert, agile character that encourages a toggle into ESP Sport (via a clunky menu) for more thorough investigation. Pleasant steering and a chance to awaken the rear axle with a prudent stab of its throttle bring a taste of hot hatch mischief to match the design that sent those Ibiza-driving lads doolally. It's not some yobbish drift mode and the stability control always casts its shadow over your progress. Yet it's a useful way to expose a chassis that is composed and compliant over a tricky piece of road, and the 15 (count them!) stages of its adaptive damping are always ready to help soak up the worst of British Tarmac.

The only thing to stymie your pace is, with some irony, its braking. That clever regen in traffic or amid a motorway slog robs the brake pedal of decisive bite or a truly trustworthy feeling at a more committed pace. The Born always slows and stops as you wish, but it ties an uncomfortable knot in your stomach at times as the sensations from its pedal match those of an old BMW M3 rinsed too hard on a track day. You need the brakes, too: this is a rapid car, at least up to the national speed limit, with throttle response that's absurdly sharp if you've toggled the settings up to the topmost Cupra mode. Better to ease this back in your Individual set-up to more neatly match the fluid handling.

As I swap keys with Prior, he warns me the Mokka feels a lot firmer on British roads than it did on its Spanish launch - and this despite its standard-fit hydraulic bump stops. It does feel rather boisterous after the eloquent Born, with heavier steering, less yielding passive suspension and enough tyre squeal and torque steer to immediately give away its driven front axle.

Both cars hide true unfiltered dynamism behind a single-speed transmission and stringent safety systems, but experiencing them back to back is essentially a quick demonstration of front-wheel drive versus rear-wheel drive.

Yet the grin on my face is wide. While there has been little consistency in the badges and attitudes applied to fast Vauxhalls, this GSE undeniably exhibits some VXR uncouthness. It's more binary and older-school than its numerous electric crossover rivals, with a pure, almost hydraulic feel to its steering. Its ride is rough 'n' tumble over more broken surfaces, yet there's taut, tight-fisted body control as a by-product.

It pitches and rolls more than its lower, lither Corsa GSE sibling (naturally), yet it feels like an engineer's car, as if it has had folk who enjoy the act of driving on its development team. You can sense that people who care about the way a car intrinsically feels held strong sway in the decision-making process, and its Alcon brakes and Torsen differential here prove the worth of the brand-name components they are. Abarth and Alfa Romeo sell related cars with similar set-ups, I might add. As will Peugeot, soon.

There's joy to be had in hustling the Mokka specifically, however. On one occasion a biker overtakes me swiftly out of a village, assuming, I imagine, that my tortoise pace will quickly hold them up. We stick together for the full length of a favourite stretch of road.

This is a mischievous little Vauxhall, all the more charming for the disparity between its badge perception and its abilities. While it feels its power deficit alongside the Born, it has a more progressive, linear throttle and is more immediately welcoming as a result. Its Sport mode decouples the regen, too, so you have pure friction braking and a more natural feel, righting the Cupra's most overbearing wrong.

The downside of that is inevitable. Vauxhall claims 201 miles of range on the WLTP cycle, and you'll easily halve that with a modicum of enthusiasm. The Born slips through the air so much more easily and dips into a far shallower reserve of its battery capacity. If we are to judge these cars on purely sensible parameters, then it's a decisive moment in the test: the Vauxhall is relegated to the role of 'fun second car' in the shadow of the Cupra's all-round ability. The GSE's 310-litre boot and 100kW peak charging also cement its practicality's also-ran status.

There's lots to commend inside, though, and Luddites will relish its physical climate controls compared with the Born's unsatisfying temperature sliders. Its sports seats are fabulous, but precious little has changed about the standard Mokka interior around them, and they probably stifle rear leg room enough to impede this car's family credentials.

Mind you, a heroic pair of seats have long been the staple of our hot hatch heroes, and each of these cars has picked up that particular baton and sprinted. Cupra also boasts that its Cup seats are made of 'a minimum of 33%' flax fibre in a boost to their sustainability and weight-saving credentials, although the fact they're a mirror image of the seats in snapper Jack Harrison's rarer, pricier Formentor VZ5 long-termer is perhaps just as appealing.

The Born's facelift has brought with it proper steering wheel buttons, a full quartet of electric window switches on the driver's door and an enlarged - and wonderfully customisable - instrument display that squeezes full potential from a digital layout. While some Volkswagen Group missteps remain, the vast touchscreen in the middle is broadly very easy to use on the move and makes light work of disabling unwanted safety systems.

It's objectively the better car here, and subjectively it's often the more impressive to drive, with greater depth and breadth to its ability. Yet the £10,000-cheaper Mokka undeniably looks like a bargain alongside it, with an insatiably old-school attitude on a gnarly piece of road. It's happy to give its all to you immediately. While the Cupra visually plays the part of a hot hatch for youthful onlookers (and offers a lot more beneath its skin), the Vauxhall puts up a commendable fight dynamically.

Ultimately both cars provide a welcome signpost to an electric future that's rather fun.

Verdict

Winner: Cupra Born VZ

The better all-rounder of this pair: a sharper handler and roomier inside, plus it can achieve fairly astonishing real-world efficiency. Pricey, though.

Runner-up: Vauxhall Mokka GSE

GSE is less polished to drive but feels more mischievous for it. Much cheaper to buy – a fact betrayed by its smaller battery and less bougie trim.