New citycar model bags thumbs up!

WITH the improved up!, Volkswagen offers citycar buyers a very competitive proposition.

It’s a proper VW — just a smaller one.

The latest model of the up! sets a high standard for contenders in this class as it’s fun, clever and competitively priced.

Under the bonnet, the main news for buyers is the addition of an extra three-cylinder petrol engine to the range, a pokier 1.0-litre TSI turbo unit with 90PS on tap.

This sells alongside the existing normally aspirated 1.0-litre powerplants most customers will continue to want, these generating either 60 or 75PS.

Most will be content with the base 60PS version, capable as it is of 60 in 14.4s on the way to 99mph, quite enough to keep up with the traffic. I’m not sure I’d see the point of finding a lot more money for the 75PS variant, given that performance gains are relatively slight (0-60mph in 13.2s on the way to 106mph).

The 1.0 TSI turbo would be a fun choice, though, offering performance that Volkswagen says is comparable to that provided by the first generation Golf GTI.

The especially frugally-minded will be interested to try the fullelectric e-up! version which has a battery powerplant capable of putting out the equivalent of 82PS.

Not too much has changed with the looks of this car. There are restyled bumpers, a sleeker rear diffuser, door mirrors with integrated indicator lights, revised headlights with LED daytime running lights and smarter rear lights. Otherwise, it’s as you were.

Prices, as before, sit mainly in the £9,000 to £14,000 bracket, though the all-electric ‘e-up!’ will cost you just over £20,000, once the government grant has been subtracted from its asking price.

The up! remains the very essence of a small, affordable Volkswagen, a high quality classless car very much in the mould of the original Beetle. One of the lightest small runabouts you can buy, it still manages to feel solid, a triumph of packaging and design that’s streets ahead of any citycar the brand has yet brought us.

The SEAT and Skoda versions of this car are a little cheaper — but you’d likely lose what you gained in probable trade-in value when the time came to sell. Overall then, this is the embodiment of friendly functionality behind a badge you probably thought you couldn’t afford. A thumbs up! then? That’s about the size of it.