It has taken Volkswagen a fair few years to make the call to bring the up! to South Africa. Now that it’s been done, you wonder why it took so long. The up! fights in the small two-door hatchback segment just below the Polo Vivo and hopes that the two wont steal from each other’s market. WI drove the up! at the launch in Cape Town and was quite impressed with it.

Shake up!

The Volkswagen up! will likely do a serious job of shaking up the entry-level hatch market. If the initial interest is anything to go by, VW will have no problem meeting the 200-250 units a month target it hasset. Initial impression upon stepping into the up! is that it’s typically well-built inside with a solid feel to all the finishings and joins. It’s not specced as well as some of the competition gadget wise, but they probably won’t lose too many sales by not having a USB port or only including Bluetooth as an optional extra unit. There’s still an AUX port and MP3 compatible radio unit on the top-of-the-range Move up!

Speed up!

There is only one engine available in the up! range and that’s a 1-Litre, three-cylinder petrol motor capable of 55 kW and 95 Nm. Over our test route at the coast, the engine actually felt adequate – better than the Vivo 1.4 motor for sure. The up!’s lightweight chassis means it get a move on quite quickly. You won’t be racing around town beating up traffic, but it feels ample for city driving and not too difficult on the freeway either. Whether this is still true for those who live at the Reef will still have to be tested. Claimed fuel consumption is as low as 4.7L/100km and we were averaging around 5.5L/100km over our 250km round trip of the Cape.

Drive up!

The VW up! has a solid feel to its road holding, it’s sturdy and well-planted for a such a small and light car. The steering feels evenly weighted through turns in the city and out on the open road. The front of the cabin feels quite roomy but the back as you’d expect is quite confined. VW rates the boot has a loading space of 251-Litres and thanks to a movable floor board in the boot can be turned into a flat load bay once the rear seats have been folded down. A big plus for the up! is its five-star Euro NCAP safety rating and standard ABS, front and side airbags and hydraulic brake assist.

Buy up! ?

The up! makes a good case for itselfasVW is a much-loved brand in SA so will probably sell well on that case alone. There are two derivatives available, the Take up! entry level model is extremely basic and misses out on electrics like windows and mirrors, but importantly gets good safety equipment. The top spec Move up! gets a better radio, electric windows and mirrors and some body colour mirrors. There are a few options here and there to customise your car such as 15-inch alloys, heated seats and rear parking sensors. The up! feels like a really strong competitor in this segment with badge appeal to take on Kia’s Picanto, the Chev Spark and the Suzuki Splash.

Pricing:

Volkswagen 1.0 MPI Take up! (55kW) – R133 500

Volkswagen 1.0 MPI Move up! (55kW) – R140 500