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168-HP 1.0-Liter VW Up GTI Debunks "No Replacement for Displacement" Myth

There is something about driving small cars that larger ones, regardless of how much power they have or how good their chassis is, will never be able to replicate.
168 hp Volkswagen Up GTI 11 photos
Photo: LivingLifeFast / YouTube screenshot
168 hp Volkswagen Up GTI168 hp Volkswagen Up GTI168 hp Volkswagen Up GTI168 hp Volkswagen Up GTI168 hp Volkswagen Up GTI168 hp Volkswagen Up GTI168 hp Volkswagen Up GTI168 hp Volkswagen Up GTI168 hp Volkswagen Up GTI168 hp Volkswagen Up GTI
It probably has to do with weight rather than size, but since building lightweight cars has become virtually impossible given today's safety regulations, featherweight vehicles usually come in small packages now. Well, even size needs to be put into perspective given how thirty years ago, modern cars would have been classified about two tiers higher than the segment they're in now.

Take this Volkswagen Up GTI, for example. We say it's a city or mini car, but when you park it next to a first-gen Golf, it's marginally shorter, but at the same time, it is over an inch (2.5 cm) wider. And the Up would have to climb one flight of stairs to reach the Polo, and another one to get on the same level as the Golf these days, essentially proving the two-tiers theory (though, to be fair, the original Golf is more than 30 years old).

It's no surprise then, that a lot of people see the Up GTI as an homage to the first-ever Volkswagen car to receive those now-legendary three letters. In fact, Volkswagen does so too, and you can see why. We've already established the size to be similar, the weight is about the same (just under the one-ton mark), whereas the power has gone up from the feeble 110 hp of the original to an astonishing... 115 hp.

Yes, the 1.0-liter three-cylinder turbocharged engine produces 115 hp, and believe it or not, that's enough to have plenty of fun in the Up GTI. However, the owner of this little Volkswagen has had its output increased by nearly 50 percent, bringing the figure to a much more respectable 168 hp. Don't laugh because since it weighs under a ton, the horsepower-per-ton ratio is going to be decent - about 172 hp/ton, to be exact.

168 hp Volkswagen Up GTI
Photo: LivingLifeFast / YouTube screenshot
However, this car is really not about the power but rather the way you can throw it around in a bend. It has a front-wheel-drive architecture with an open differential, so you won't get the same purity as in something like a Mazda MX-5/Miata, but it'll still be plenty of fun.

In fact, we'd go as far as to argue you'll be having a lot more fun than in much more powerful cars and, probably just as important, you'll be doing it extremely often. When you sit on 500 hp or more, you feel like you need an occasion to make the most of that power, but with something like this, you'll be having fun every minute of your commute. That's because you can push it toward the limit without getting reckless. It's not a lot of power, but it's all usable at all times.

Just watch the clip below and tell us if you don't come away thinking the owner is a very happy man. That's the beautiful thing with cars: you don't need a big engine, a lot of power or a lot of money to have fun.

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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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