VOLKSWAGEN UP! Review

The Up! is a little bottle (check out the glass tailgate) of Volkswagen essence. However, in order for the Up! to make financial sense, you'll have to skip the more powerful engine and the goodies. If you don't, the Up! will enter a price range where a Polo or a Ford Fiesta, which are more complete cars, make more sense.

The car we tested, which came with the more powerful (75 hp) 1-liter engine and the medium Move Up! trim level, as well as with a few optional extras, would set you back EUR11,617 (USD14,350 at the current exchange rates), and while the extra power, and heated seats are nice to have, the price you pay for the is too high. If you don’t plan too many trips outside the city, you can go for the 60 hp version. However, the detachable satnav is a nice toy, so you can choose this from the list of options.

The Up! proved to be a mobility partner you can rely on. It offer the rolling refinement and boot space of a car belonging to the bigger segment, it really knows what efficiency means, it’s easy to play with around town and will even perform emergency stops if you are distracted - we tested this optional system and it works in the real world just like it does in the commercials, but if we had a real obstacle and not our improvised one, we wouldn’t have let it act for us, despite its credibility.

However, the car doesn’t move a screw to help you get over the dulness of the daily commute. It offers a clinical experience in every one of its aspects, having lost all the fun that was built into the concept. VW could’ve introduced a personalization line, as this pathway is starting to become a trend in this class (the Renault Twingo is the most recent example of this), but the company chose to leave this kind of details out. Nevertheless, we expect the Up! to do well on the market, as most customers won’t pay too much attention to this.