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Volkswagen up! joins our fleet and Honda Jazz departs
WHAT ’S the most demanding design brief for a car? You have to admit, the parameters set out for the new Bugatti Chiron must have been pretty tough to achieve with a top speed that could exceed 275mph. It’ll be equally hard for Rolls-royce’s next super-luxurious Phantom saloon.
However, I think the development goals for Volkswagen’s up! were just as tough. There’s not much profit margin in the city car sector, but the up! still has to be practical, economical, spacious, affordable, offer enough tech, handle well and deliver a decent mix of performance and refinement.
Just like the original, this facelifted VW up! I’m running on the Auto Express fleet delivers in all these areas, except it now offers even more, thanks to a key addition: Volkswagen’s 1.0 TSI turbocharged three-cylinder engine. This takes the up!’s output to 89bhp and gives the VW an incredible level of maturity.
It feels sophisticated on the move anyway, because the car rides well and softens lumps and bumps in the road with impressive finesse. It’s got cruise control (£365), heated seats (£235), a panoramic roof (£700) and parking sensors (included in the £365 Cruise Pack) – all features that wow in a city car. These options – especially the cruise control – mean it feels relaxed on the move.
Wind and road noise is on par with a family hatch, as is comfort, but this up! also mixes its maturity with youthful appeal. I appreciate this £11,490 threedoor beats model won’t be to everyone’s taste (it’s either this or High up! trim if you want the 1.0 TSI unit) but I actually like the beats additions.
Apart from the door graphics and red mirror caps, it’s relatively subtle from the outside, with only beats logos
“The beats stereo delivers punchy sound at an affordable price to appeal to music lovers”
on the B pillars highlighting which model it is. Inside, it’s a bit more extrovert. The up!’s colourful dash panel is finished in matt white with an overlaid light grey pattern added to it, and a beats audio logo emblazoned on the front.
Volkswagen has joined forces with the headphone and audio producer to deliver a decent sound system in a compact city car, so the beats has a 300-Watt stereo with an eight-channel amplifier and a subwoofer in the boot. It delivers a decent, punchy sound at an affordable price, and will appeal to music lovers and a more youthful audience that has grown up with beats headphones clamped to their ears. There’s a bright five-inch colour screen, although it’s rectangular and quite narrow rather than square, while the rest of the car’s infotainment is controlled through VW’S Maps+more app on your smartphone, which docks in a cradle on top of the dash.
I’ve already found some positives and negatives to this set-up, which I’ll be exploring in further reports.
But for now, I’m incredibly impressed with how the up! mixes two distinct characters. It has a mature feel when it comes to refinement, composure and relaxing performance, but its combination of engine, chassis, beats visual additions and hard-hitting hi-fi give it a sprightly edge.