2019 VW Up GTI
Discussion
Perhaps not the most interesting things to be posted on Pistonheads today but I reckon this is the best car purchase I have ever done.
I have an old BMW E39 M5 as a summer/fun car, thankfully it's a reliable if somewhat niggly old thing so far, a daily driver it is not however, I've been running 2 consecutive 75 ps Regular Up's as a daily drivers for a few years instead, love the little things to be honest, they do anything a modern small car needs to do, they just dont do it very fast.
Enter the Up GTI, I was initially looking for a regular TSI but they very seldom come up for sale and when they do they are damn near as expensive as a GTI so I figured I might just get one of those instead.
As it turns out the Up GTI is a very rare thing here, only 46 sold, come to think of it I've never seen one in the wild at all.
I saw that these can still be bought new in the UK, not here tho, so used was the only option, there were 4 for sale, 3 reds and one white, my aim is to keep it for a few years so as low miles as possible was preferable.
I found the only 2019 for sale, sadly it's the white one, but it had half the miles of the other ones and one owner since new and only 15000 miles with full service history all 2 of them and pretty much fully loaded minus a sunroof which I'm not a fan of anyway.
What a fun thing it is, looks chunky and fun, sounds great, spacious. Fast isn't really the wording I'd use but compared to my 75 ps N/A one it's a proper rocketship and it's just as fantastic at sipping fuel as the 75 ps one, very frugal indeed, 45 mpg average so far.
I love it so far, rivals the M5 in fun but not fast factor, thats for sure. When the warranty expires late january there will be mods come spring, a tune and suspension, wheels and tyres.
A few snaps from today, I haven't had time to give it a proper wash yet, and yes, the front side windows have a slight tint which I won't remove unless the MOT-man or police officer tells me to since it's not a problem to see out of even in the dark.
I have an old BMW E39 M5 as a summer/fun car, thankfully it's a reliable if somewhat niggly old thing so far, a daily driver it is not however, I've been running 2 consecutive 75 ps Regular Up's as a daily drivers for a few years instead, love the little things to be honest, they do anything a modern small car needs to do, they just dont do it very fast.
Enter the Up GTI, I was initially looking for a regular TSI but they very seldom come up for sale and when they do they are damn near as expensive as a GTI so I figured I might just get one of those instead.
As it turns out the Up GTI is a very rare thing here, only 46 sold, come to think of it I've never seen one in the wild at all.
I saw that these can still be bought new in the UK, not here tho, so used was the only option, there were 4 for sale, 3 reds and one white, my aim is to keep it for a few years so as low miles as possible was preferable.
I found the only 2019 for sale, sadly it's the white one, but it had half the miles of the other ones and one owner since new and only 15000 miles with full service history all 2 of them and pretty much fully loaded minus a sunroof which I'm not a fan of anyway.
What a fun thing it is, looks chunky and fun, sounds great, spacious. Fast isn't really the wording I'd use but compared to my 75 ps N/A one it's a proper rocketship and it's just as fantastic at sipping fuel as the 75 ps one, very frugal indeed, 45 mpg average so far.
I love it so far, rivals the M5 in fun but not fast factor, thats for sure. When the warranty expires late january there will be mods come spring, a tune and suspension, wheels and tyres.
A few snaps from today, I haven't had time to give it a proper wash yet, and yes, the front side windows have a slight tint which I won't remove unless the MOT-man or police officer tells me to since it's not a problem to see out of even in the dark.
Edited by PowerslideSWE on Thursday 29th July 23:04
I’ve had mine a few months, great little car
I’ve changed the tyres to PS4’s as the standard tyres are awful imo, and have Bilstein coilovers on order as the suspension is a little too low budget imo for the car
As I’ve owned some expensive fast cars previously, people think I’ve hit hard times lol. I have more fun in the up than any of those cars
I’ve changed the tyres to PS4’s as the standard tyres are awful imo, and have Bilstein coilovers on order as the suspension is a little too low budget imo for the car
As I’ve owned some expensive fast cars previously, people think I’ve hit hard times lol. I have more fun in the up than any of those cars
MOBB said:
I’ve had mine a few months, great little car
I’ve changed the tyres to PS4’s as the standard tyres are awful imo, and have Bilstein coilovers on order as the suspension is a little too low budget imo for the car
As I’ve owned some expensive fast cars previously, people think I’ve hit hard times lol. I have more fun in the up than any of those cars
I think I'm taking the Bilstein route aswell when the time comes. I agree on the standard tyres, they are loud aswell, dunno if the Michelins are better but I'm sure they grip better.I’ve changed the tyres to PS4’s as the standard tyres are awful imo, and have Bilstein coilovers on order as the suspension is a little too low budget imo for the car
As I’ve owned some expensive fast cars previously, people think I’ve hit hard times lol. I have more fun in the up than any of those cars
I don't know what it is but I feel this is the most fun car I've had aswell, and I've owned alot of cars, new and old, fast and slow. It's endearing
itcaptainslow said:
I’ve got one on order and I find myself as excited about it when I bought my Elise new a few years ago…
Lovely car OP.
Thanks, I'd love an Elise, never even sat in a Lotus of any kind.Lovely car OP.
The GTI can't be ordered new in Sweden for some reason, I'm guessing due to poor sales, otherwise I would have done that.
White cars are deceptively dirty I found out, treated it to an almighty wash, de-greasing everything, washed it and prior to the 2nd bucketing I sprayed it down with a airborne rust remover, sorry, don't know the English term and the whole car turned purple, sorry for the blurred plate. And yes, I'm a huge Rossi-fan
Had mine for almost 2 years now, put over 20k on it and it's been faultless - I did change the 17's for 16's as I've mentioned in other threads.
Now the warranty is up I'm looking at the APR remap and some KW suspension, but that'll be it.
I wouldn't rave about the car, but for what it costs to buy/run (60mpg isn't difficult) and how good the residuals are, they're great things to blast around in and it's a perfect stable mate to the Italian.
itcaptainslow said:
I’m already eyeing up Bilstein coil overs…does anyone have any experience of them? KW’s are about £400 more-I’d run to these if they’re much better?
Yeah, got B14's on mine and am happy with the difference it made as I drive bumpy country roads and it's helped give a fair bit more confidence and I don't worry about the car being unsettled mid-corner as much as I first did. Although at 1000kg and being such a small car with basic torsion beam suspension it's always going to be a lively thing to chuck about so don't expect too much 
As for comparing the Bilstein to the KW's, sorry no idea!
I've made four mods to mine and I'm so happy with the car now and doubt I'll do anything else. In order of how much they improved driver enjoyment it's
APR (98 RON) remap
Lighter wheels (OZ Alleggeritas saving 5kg per corner)
Better tyres (I found the OEM Goodyear EfficientGrip awful)
Bilstein B14
Here's a photo I took this week for someone on the facebook group who was asking about 16" wheels. My car is lowered 35mm (the B14's allow from 30mm to 50mm lower).
mids said:
itcaptainslow said:
I’m already eyeing up Bilstein coil overs…does anyone have any experience of them? KW’s are about £400 more-I’d run to these if they’re much better?
Yeah, got B14's on mine and am happy with the difference it made as I drive bumpy country roads and it's helped give a fair bit more confidence and I don't worry about the car being unsettled mid-corner as much as I first did. Although at 1000kg and being such a small car with basic torsion beam suspension it's always going to be a lively thing to chuck about so don't expect too much As for comparing the Bilstein to the KW's, sorry no idea!
I've made four mods to mine and I'm so happy with the car now and doubt I'll do anything else. In order of how much they improved driver enjoyment it's
APR (98 RON) remap
Lighter wheels (OZ Alleggeritas saving 5kg per corner)
Better tyres (I found the OEM Goodyear EfficientGrip awful)
Bilstein B14
Here's a photo I took this week for someone on the facebook group who was asking about 16" wheels. My car is lowered 35mm (the B14's allow from 30mm to 50mm lower).
Has anyone found the best tyre to soften things up as that is certainly part of the problem?
Ride issues aside, they are cracking cars, as someone else has said the price paid in early 2019 looks like the bargain of the century, mine appears to have had glacial depreciation
Tin Hat said:
I felt that Bilstein coilovers has made mine too stiff for the speed hump ridden roads around here, I would definitely not recommend them to city dwellers. I had the soundactor removed and a Miltek exhaust added, that was a good swap for me.
Have you tried raising the height a bit ? I'm lucky in that I don't have speed bumps to contend with but there's a fair amount of adjustability in the height so you could see if that improves things.
I did read that you can use OBDeleven to dial down the soundactor so I was thinking of giving that a go rather than simply disconnecting it as I quite like the sound, it's just on the motorway I'd like it turned down. I'm too old for an exhaust mod. That along with the fact that you can permanently turn off the lane assist is making OBDeleven pretty appealing.
27k miles in mine and I've just requested a settlement figure to buy it out of the PCP at 34 months.
It will cost me about £5k to buy out, and equivalent ones are selling for £12-13k.
Best changes :
- Better headlights, better tyres, although the factory ones aren't that bad
- Lower inflation pressures, this is the real factory crime, they set them originally at about 40psi, when 32 is far better.
- ECU change to 140bhp, more than this it can't handle, 140bhp/ton is still nearly Audi TT 1.8 territory
Worst bits: it's not great on the motorway. 75 mph is 3000 rpm, noisy and only 40odd mpg.
Ummmm, the steering wheel isn't adjustable for reach...
Those of us who bought at launch waited 8 months and paid under £14k for them. A total total steal. Evo Magazine made it 7th best car of the year in 2018.
eCOTY https://www.evo.co.uk/group-tests/22043/evo-car-of...
|https://thumbsnap.com/pFwAaBug[/url]Otherwise : Awesome.
And red ones are faster
Edited by The_Doc on Saturday 31st July 10:41
PowerslideSWE said:
Do you run 32 psi all around?
yes, it will worsen your mpg, improve the ride I haven't looked backI also have a separate full set of 15" steel wheels, with full winter rubber on, for the winter. We often get snow up my end and I live in the middle of nowhere.
Edited by The_Doc on Saturday 31st July 16:24
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