You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Automotive<br />
Thumbs<br />
up to<br />
VW’s<br />
city car<br />
Volkswagen’s up! - the factory’s<br />
marketing types insist on<br />
the silly non-capitalised “u”<br />
and mandatory exclamation<br />
mark that wreaks havoc with<br />
sentence construction - has had a moderate<br />
facelift for 2017.<br />
The original, launched in<br />
2015, came in three-door hatch<br />
format only but in May last year<br />
VW added a couple of five-door<br />
models to the line-up. Now,<br />
for 2017, there’s no longer any<br />
mention of three-door versions,<br />
with the four current models all<br />
being five-door hatches.<br />
There are new head and<br />
tail-lights, bumpers, front trim<br />
strips, and a redesigned bonnet,<br />
along with new wheels and<br />
wing mirrors with integrated<br />
indicators.<br />
The only engine in the lineup<br />
is the same naturally-aspirated<br />
55kW one-litre three-cylinder<br />
unit as before, mated to<br />
a very tidy five-speed manual<br />
transmission, and there are four<br />
specification levels.<br />
That VW sees potential buyers<br />
as being mostly bubbly<br />
young things obsessed with<br />
cuteness is apparent when you<br />
look at the various model names<br />
- “Take up!”, “Move up!”,<br />
“up! beats” and “Cross up!”.<br />
Everything else about the car<br />
itself is classy though.<br />
The Up - we’ll call it that<br />
for simplicity - shares a couple<br />
of characteristics with the Datsun<br />
Go. They both have two-letter<br />
names that sound like things<br />
you’d say to a dog, they’re both<br />
small city cars, and they both<br />
use pint-sized three-cylinder<br />
petrol engines. Apart from that,<br />
they’re about as different as it’s<br />
possible to be.<br />
The Datsun is a cheap ‘n<br />
cheerful car built on a tight<br />
budget to compete at the very<br />
bottom end of the small car<br />
market, while the Volkswagen<br />
- well, isn’t. After the launch<br />
two years ago I said that it was<br />
possibly my favourite in a very<br />
competitive class, and after<br />
driving the facelifted version I<br />
feel exactly the same.<br />
The Up is, in my book, one<br />
of the tidiest and best-built little<br />
cars around, and the fact<br />
that for roughly the same sort<br />
of money - between R165,000<br />
and R195,000 - you could buy<br />
a more spacious 1.4-litre VW<br />
Polo Vivo wouldn’t deter me<br />
from splashing out on one. Not<br />
everybody agrees, obviously:<br />
VW sold 2,951 Polo Vivos in<br />
January, which was exactly ten<br />
times the number of Ups they<br />
moved.<br />
I reckon if VW did some<br />
market research they might find<br />
that many of the Ups they sell<br />
go to retired folk who want a<br />
small, refined high-quality car<br />
that’s safe, reliable, fun to drive<br />
and cheap to run.<br />
QWIKAIRPORTTRANSFERS<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
34<br />
Kzn Lifestyle Magazine • Issue 21
Change language