The Background
The City Car is like a holy grail for automotive producers and VW, by definition, had to try its hand helping inhabitants of crowded cities cover their transportation needs. Vee-Dub had played this game before, with the Lupo, but while that was some sort of a small-scale Polo, the Up! is a proper microscopic vehicle.
This is not about the length, as the 3.54-meter (139 inches) long Up! comes with one of the longest wheelbases in its segment, but about trying to reinvent the entire architecture so that is makes the best use of its dimensions. However, unlike the Toyota iQ or the smart, the Up doesn't take revolution all that far, being more traditional in its approach to contemporary traffic.
Volkswagen has made a big fuss about creating the Up!, with the development process taking pretty long, but the little car if finally here. It's uses a typical VW approach to challenge the practical Citroen C1/Peugeot 107/ Toyota Aygo triplets, the fancy Renault Twingo and Ford Ka, as well as more affordable contenders coming from South Korea.
We tested the middle-range equipment level, the Move Up!, with what is, for the moment, the most powerful engine - the 75 hp version of the all-new three-cylinder 999cc petrol engine and, invited by the vehicle itself, we also took it outside city borders.
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