Well Miss JNH picked up her new motor on Saturday and kindly (I forced her) popped me on the insurance. It is a 2012 Volkswagen Up! Black edition. After having some poor luck with bangers that were frankly rather dangerous due to numerous electric faults and a tendency to shed exterior trim on the motorway, she decided something a bit more modern was in order. After an hour of her signing various papers and me having accumulated a sizable puddle of drool next to a lovely white GTI, the car was ready.



We were due at a Christening ~190 miles away in Norwich this weekend so had decided to set off straight from the dealership. What better way to break in a new car than some rural, extremely muddy and wet NSL backroads?



The car actually had 10 miles on, I just forgot to take one initially! VW kindly left us just over a quarter of a tank and gave her a nice hamper with some wine in.. and some crisps, weirdly enough.

Few interior shots.





There is no denying it's a fairly simple interior. It's ergonomically pleasing and has all the essentials. The gloss black dash does a good job of breaking up the sea of plastic and the various chrome bits of trim give the car a quality and modern feel. The gear stick, seats and steering wheel are leather and have white trim and stitching, and are also embossed with the Up! logo.





The Z4 by this point had smelt an intruder and had resigned to the corner of the drive in a jealous rage.
I assured her it was only a brief fling.



Rear shot;




The car is a really nice place to be. The heated seats are lovely and comfortable and the speaker system is great. By far the greatest novelty is the detachable media unit the car has. It plugs into the top of the dash and acts as a Sat Nav, but also has options to show car information such as oil temperature, revs, MPG, etc. It also allows control of Bluetooth devices, so you can navigate music off of your phone, or use the voice control to ring somebody. It also has a gadget that tells you what gear to be in to be most economical, and your current gear is shown below the speedo itself. It's a bit of a gimmick in my opinion, and it actually suggests changing gears a bit too early, and leaves the poor 3 cylinder engine really straining. So I presume most folk will just ignore it.



In all honesty I wasn't expecting much from a 74 PS (I think) 1.0 3 pot. And yes, it is fairly slow. First gear needs some provoking to get moving, but once it is on the move the acceleration is ample enough and really surprised me. It definitely does not feel like a 1.0. It easily keeps up with traffic and the 3 cyl has a really distinctive grumble. Truth be told, it was fairly fun. The biggest shock was on the motorway. I was fully expecting the car to be screaming its poor head off but it is unbelievably quiet sat at 70-80 mph. I really couldn't believe how quiet and refined it was at speed, it just took it all in its little stride. You really do forget the size of the car you're driving, it does a great "big car" impression, if that makes any sense to anybody. I thoroughly enjoyed chucking it around corners, and the gearbox is a peach.

We've literally just got home, and the odo now reads 447. The car is absolutely filthy from those lovely twisty roads, and a seagull clearly took a disliking, as it felt it necessary to land a strategically placed stream of excrement on the passenger door. I don't think I've ever seen a car so dirty. All in all I'm terribly impressed and it will suit her driving needs perfectly. And I know I'll find myself making excuses to borrow it occasionally. Heck, she's already let me slap a white PH smiley on it's tiny bottom.


Edit: Not sure why a portal to hell has opened up on the bottom photo.

Looks great to me.

Someone on here was going on about some lease deals for £70 odd quid..

Really like these... The Up! GT is going to be blinder I reckon. 1.0T, 110bhp, 130lbft torque. Thats going to be a superb little thing if the normal one is already so good. That detachable gimmick thing appeals to me massively! (sucker for gimmicks)

Honestly, it's fantastic. The digital oil temp and rev gauge reminds me of a GTR! I will get a picture next time we go out. When I wasn't driving I couldn't stop playing with the damn thing.

Looks lovely, really taken.

Will be interesting to see how the Skoda and SEATs compare. Especially as one of them is priced lower.

I know someone with one in white and thought it was a horrifically dull looking thing; just like a washing machine.

However I have to say in black, that is a hell of a lot smarter looking Sounds impressive for such a small car as well

i think my MIL should get one

I think its quite a smart looking thing, the rear is unique (ish) and I like the boot lid.

I'd be worried about scratching all that Piano Black inside though!

^^

Dave if she's in the market for a small car I fully recommend one!

Is that the new Picanto youre talking about? Panda would still get my chioce in this segment! The the Up does look leagues ahead of C1/Aygo/107