Volkswagen Up !!!

Volkswagen's concept for the Up followed on from Toyota's bold attempt to push the compact city car reset button with its brilliant but flawed iQ. The bespoke cuboid was a brazen attempt to turn design convention on its head and provided evidence that the world’s biggest car manufacturer had not bankrupted its brain trust or ambition but remained capable of genuine blue-sky originality.

Soon after the Toyota revealed the iQ as a concept, Volkswagen, the European firm that aspires to its Japanese rival’s global rank, unveiled the original Up at the Frankfurt motor show. Imaginatively packaged with a rear-mounted engine and rear-wheel drive, the Up appeared to rival the iQ’s innovative approach and suggested that VW was just as capable of wielding its own economic and engineering clout in this niche.

The Up duly caught the industry’s imagination, and despite a prolonged development, the production version still arrives in the UK on a groundswell of opinion that continues to suggest that VW might have produced something worthy of the original concept’s inventiveness.

DESIGN

VW’s manufacturing infrastructure operates on the basis of shared commonality, so its decision to replace the original concept’s unusual rear-engined set-up with an orthodox transverse front-wheel drive system is understandable. VW argued that the previous layout would have required significant extra investment and limited the Up’s capacity to share in its vast parts bin.

For anyone who found the thought of a small Volkswagen with an engine mounted just ahead of the rear axle appealing, the transformation will seem like a notable dilution of the initial Up formula, but the firm insists that the show car’s spaciousness – one of the main reasons for its unconventional configuration – has been preserved thanks to less conspicuous ingenuity.

Most of it takes place under the bonnet, where a new generation of three-cylinder motor recovers almost 100mm of available real estate from the engine bay. This feat was achieved by installing the cooling system alongside the compact powerplant rather than in front of it. The car also has one of the longest wheelbases in the segment and VW claims that the Up offers exceptional space utilisation of its diminutive 3.54m overall length.

The petrol engine is a lightweight, all-aluminium affair offered with outputs of either 59bhp or 74bhp, though the higher powered engine is only available in top-spec ‘High Up’ trim tested here, whilst the base motor powers the two lower spec models. A 110bhp GT model will join the line-up in late 2012. All are hooked up to the same five-speed manual gearbox, although a five-speed automatic will follow in 2013. The Up looks much like the concept, which is to say that it resembles the city car blueprint established by the Toyota Aygo and Citroën C1 in 2005, with a bug-eyed front and glass-hatched rear. Arguably, Volkswagen’s cleaner design language ensures a flush, better-honed three-door figure than its rivals (a five-door variant will follow in the second half of 2012), but in the metal the Up is more derivative than it is daring.

Similarly to the 107/C1/Aygo triplets, the five door Up is not radically different to the less practical option. The door aperture is wide, which allows good access. Space in the back is good for shoulder, elbows and feet but, owing to the short length and low roof of the Up, kneeroom and headroom are tight. Windows that open at the rear edge rather than sliding down may be preferred more by parents than adult occupants.

INTERIOR

The cabin is not adventurous but with Volkswagen’s seemingly effortless amalgamation of premium finish and ergonomic accuracy firmly front and centre, it hardly needs to be. Some of the switchgear layout feels like it might have originated in the new Beetle – especially set against the reflective background afforded by the glossy surround of the top-spec High Up tested here – but, if anything, the effect feels neater and better reconciled to a scaled-down city car size.

The same goes for the sat-nav (standard on top-spec models), which is supplied as a third-party Maps & More portable device. The Volkswagen Group has perched such items in the centre of dashboards before, but rarely with such harmonious success. 

The net result (at the expensive end of the line-up) is an upscale interior ambience that sets many of its rivals’ inferior offerings in stark contrast. Its conscious simplicity can’t compete with the aesthetic flair of the Fiat 500, but for prospective buyers sampling Korean and Japanese opposition it will feel like a cut above. 

Most will not feel short-changed by the car’s spaciousness. There is more legroom than one would guess at when presented with the car’s physical dimensions (it’s marginally shorter than the Hyundai i10 and Kia Picanto). Taller occupants might struggle in the back, but two average-sized adults can be accommodated well enough for a short sprint across town. There’s even space for a smattering of luggage; the petite but surprisingly deep boot has a class-leading 251-litre capacity.

PERFORMANCE

Although the Up has clearly been designed by Volkswagen and built with an urban environment in mind, prospective customers expect more than ever of a city car’s potential performance. The ability to negotiate a one-way system with reasonable vigour is no longer sufficient. Consequently, the Up must be economical, refined and responsive in equal measure – a tall order for a car with a 74bhp three-cylinder engine.

The paucity of power – and the characteristic rasp of the vocal three-pot – are most noticeable when pulling away. Considerable revs are required even with only a moderate getaway in mind. More aggressive starts are met with an incredulous response from the clutch and throttle, usually resulting in a humiliating crawl before the engine catches up with your intentions.

Fortunately, the experience improves from there. Three-cylinder petrol units are often characterised as lively or ‘happy’ motors, and VW’s latest generation by and large lives up to the billing regardless of which power output you choose. Its hoarse tone never totally disappears, and the engine’s natural cylinder imbalance means that there’s always a hint of shiver through the car’s short spine, but both are softened at a cruise, and progression often seems reasonable for the Up’s character – especially around town.

Invariably, on the open road or motorway, events will conspire to make even the higher-powered model feel slow, so if you regularly venture out of town or carry a few passengers you should avoid the base 59bhp model. But while overtaking anything more accelerative than a horse may seem foolhardy, the Up develops just enough torque not to make frequent gearchanges a necessity (which is useful, because the five-speed manual can be baggy and obstinate without very deliberate shifts) and the engine spins willingly to its 6600rpm redline.