Had a quick squiz at the new up! and was really impressed. VW want to sell millions of these things and I'm sure they will. I am taking one for a test drive with my daughter up the toowoomba range to see how the mighty 1lt 3 cylinder copes (with 55kw it should be quite peppy because of the sub 900kg weight). I'm 6ft 2in and I had more drivers leg room in the up! than my mid sized lancer, another plus is there is a lot of room behind the engine on the exhaust side PERFECT for a turbo installation and turn it into an up! GTI. One thing I cant help but think about is how much they are like the original beetle: cheap ($14,000),enough room for 4, very basic but retro cool interior, economical (sub 5lt per 100km) but unlike a beetle- 5 star safety and 170kph top speed. If my daughter buys one I reckon she should have personalised number plates, and here it starts............Think of the possibilities.........SO many words suit the up! POWER up! GIDDY up! DOWNN up! CHEER up! SHOOT up! COWBOY up!...........but with my daughter being a part time model surely the best plates would be DRESS up!

CLEAN up
THIS WAY up
STAND Up

up chuck ! lol

I am surprised that VW is persisting with the Up! name (yes it actually has an exclamation mark!!). When the new Scirocco prototype was revealed back in 2006, it was called the IROC. That's a sneaky VW way of revealing the name - IROC is part of ScIROCco.

The previous sub-Polo very small VW was called the Lupo - a word based on the Latin for 'Wolf' (Lupus). It was made by SEAT but wasn't sold in Australia. And when VW first revealed this new model it was called the UP - obviously UP is part of LUPO. I fully expected this new car to be called the Lupo once production started. But no!

Interesting that people might think a 1-litre 3-cylinder engine would be 'slow'. Yet it produces 55 kW and 95 Nm, so the Up! will do 0-100 in 13.2 sec and 171 km/h. 55 kW is around 75 hp DIN - the 1200 Beetle only made 34 hp DIN (40 SAE), and the Superbug 53 hp DIN (60 SAE). The Up! is rated at a combined 4.7 L/100 km - that's 60 mpg in the old money. And that is even before any TDI diesel versions are introduced...

I agree with most of the sentimental comparisons with the original Beetle's qualities - except that the original Beetle was NOT cheap. That's a modern day urban myth from the USA, where it was indeed cheaper than the big US cars of the time. In Australia the Beetle was an expensive car for its size and power output. Look at the retail price lists in a Wheels or Modern Motor from the '50s or '60s - you'll see Beetles cost more than Standard 10s, Morris Minors and Minis, Ford Anglias, small Renaults and Fiats. A Deluxe Beetle was only a couple of hundred pounds less than a six clyinder Holden. This was one reason why VWA introduced the Standard in 1962 - to try to lower the retail price.

UPNGO COCKUP

chuck up
scrunch up
puke up

George Jetson would be impressed..
where's my flying car already..
n they have only managed to get this far.. farrrrrrk up

Shut-up!

Core-up!

Jump-up!

Down-up!

Jeez I've got too much time on my hands, off to work!

check up
get up
wake up

At least the new ads are funnay as !!!
The one with the old bloke going to the bowling club is GOLD.

I would love to really get an up! to buzz around in; but my Mrs can't (and won't learn) to drive manual so until it's auto it's not an option

The Beetle was expensive and in my opinion the up! is also pretty expensive. $14,000 is the price for the 3-door with no on-roads. According to the VW website, driveaway price for an up! in my suburb is $16,974 for the 3-door and $18,014 for the 5-door. That's a fortune for a sub-light car.

So, $17,000 buys you this:



But $12,500 buys you a 5-door Suzuki Alto with a 3 cylinder 1 litre that gets a similar 50kW of power and similar fuel consumption:



Or, for the price of the up! 5-door, you can get a range of cars in a slightly larger size range with many more features, including a Suzuki Swift 5 door, Hyundai i20 3 door, Kia Rio 3 door, Toyota Yaris 3 door and so forth.

Having said all this, I would buy an up! in a heartbeat if it could be optioned with the Polo GTI engine and a manual transmission. Now that would be a proper hot hatch!

Up yours!

Hi

I think SEAT and Skoda make a cheaper version, wonder if we will get them down here?

Steve

Well we went for our test drive fully loaded (4 up!) and I even sat in the back seat without folding myself in 2 which is rare for a small car. It is so smooth, quiet and solid feeling that you forget everything about 'small' or 'cheap' when you drive the thing. The 3 cylinder has a quirky but entertaining sound when giving it some revs and has no trouble keeping up with traffic even when loaded with lovely cool aircon, sweet 5 speed and just an overall high quality feel you dont get from other cheap cars. Now I have driven a hyundai i20 and getz and they were really dreadful, cheap yes, reliable probably, but they really are built for people who dont like cars or driving and cant match the safety of the up! Panel beaters will hate this car because its bad for business with laser guided automatic braking (from 5-30kph) saving some of those slow speed accidents although we weren't too keen to test this function in peak hour traffic. Yes, drive away pricing with the very cool 'maps and more' plus window tinting was getting close to 20k. but value is in the way it drives. I'd happily drive an up! to perth and back and thats something you dont get in sub 20k. cars. A full size spare wheel is a bonus and capped price servicing ( every 15,000 km) , 3 year unlimited km warranty is handy ,( Casey probably does about 40,000km per year) and 3 point turns become redundant with an awesome turning circle. After doing the math of driving high k's in a 40 year old fastback verses airconned sub 5lt economy the $85 a week payments start to make sense, plus the fastback restoration wont be under so many time restraints (which is handy when I have 3 others waiting.......)

Sounds like you bought it

Personally I'd have to go for the Alto and pocket the change, but if you enjoy it then go your hardest! I will have to test drive one of these things for myself and see what they are really like. I just saw the ad on TV for the city braking about an hour ago, and I have to admit that I'm pretty impressed at such a high-end feature being standard on this car.

do i win?

It's possible the Skoda version - called the Skoda Citigo - will be sold here, but not SEAT version (SEAT Mii). SEATs have not been sold here since TKM pulled the plug in 1999. VWGA have repeatedly said they will not be back.

I suppose you could buy a Suzuki because it's cheaper. Just like in 1960 people could have bought a Standard 10 or a Morris Minor instead of a VW Beetle because they were cheaper too. But which owners had the last laugh?

Volkswagen has already built an Up GT concept vehicle, and it's scheduled to start production in 2013. It has a turbo version of the 1.0 three cylinder engine and makes 82 kW (110 hp). That's the same as the orginal Golf GTI. And for the greenies, VW will also make electric hybrid Ups.

The daughter is now convinced that it is the car for her, so she is saving a bit of a deposit and may even consider a low k demo to save a couple of grand. VW are currently selling brand new manual golf 77tsi models for 20,990 drive away which is awesome value but she doesn't want a golf or polo so she is on the way up! .........so many bad puns. Buying a new car is not always straight forward and if we all wanted nothing but maximum features for minimum money we all would be driving cherys,great walls,daewoos,kias and all the other crap that is around. Sould it matter how the car makes you feel? Why do we even drive (and love) our VW's? is it because we think they are different or should we just all move on and play golf and watch footy?

Oh, by the way dont expect too many dealers to be able to answer too many 'technical' questions, most just go on about 'german engineering'.

euro carmakers are bending us over in our own country.the bloody thieves.now opel has jumped in aswell.this really gives me the s*#ts as these vehicles are realisticly priced and affordable anywhere else.(just my 2 cents worth .rant over)

yUPpie
pUPpy
gUPpy
stuffUP
buggerUP
f*&#kUP
UPu2
UPtherecazaly
mUPpet

VWs have never been "cheap"; the initial purchase prices have almost always been steep - the economics look better when you consider depreciation, resale value and total lifetime costs.
When RACV/NRMA/etc calculate the total cost of cars for comparison, the depreciation component is a major contributor.

hth

I just took an Up! for a test drive this morning at Austral VW; and it is unlike any other Micro in it's class

The peak power of the engine isn't what you'd call amazing but linear, smooth and adequate (just as ze germans intented) the best thing is the torque light and quick shift.

If your a complete numpty it tells you when to shift to drive more economically. Very quiet cabin, doesn't crash over bumps and great all round vision.

Compared to the 1300 in my bug I have more peak power (lighter car though so it's hard to compare) but the Up! has a really versatile engine that doesn't require fussy gear changes to keep it moving like some jap cars (honda jazz, hyundai i20)

Biggest surprises were the depth of the boot; and the fact it has a full size spare!

Overall it is an enjoyable car.

I'd even take my mrs to test drive it with the manual as it is the easiest manual box I've used, I've driven a new polo in manual and this is defiantly more manual phobe-friendly.

Quote:

Originally posted by sander288 Quote: and 1800kg of car for about $40 grand! because the weight of the car determines it's value for money!!! The lotus crew must be spewing!