VW Up! GTI 5 Door
Discussion
gweaver said:
Worst readers cars thread ever. Four pages and over seven months, and still no car!
Sorry, I'll try harder next time 
Joey Deacon said:
I don't know how you have the patience, I would have bought something else a long time ago.
It simply boils down to the case that I don't need to replace my current car and I haven't found anything else that I want.I know it's a shambles but if I cancel, the dealer just flips the car for a profit. If I re-order, I don't get the £500 deposit contribution.
From what I can remember from the test drive, it'll be worth the wait. It should be even quicker as a combination of eating well and running will have improved the power-to-weight ratio by 2 stone since February.
andrewparker said:
This seems to be happening a lot, which suggests they've got their act together! My confirmed build date going off the app is w/c 12th, but dealer says it is next week. I'm hopeful that it's all going to go through nice and quickly from now on in.
Fingers crossed!I got another up!date (sorry) saying that it on its final stages of its journey to the UK. I’m presuming this means its on a boat.
Well, she’s home. Handover was fuss free, I’ve got my phone and all synced.
I’ve only had a short drive across town but the initial impressions are the same as the test drive. Everything just falls easily to hand and the little engine sounds great, doesn’t sound fake.
I’ll get some pictures up tomorrow in the daylight.
I’ve only had a short drive across town but the initial impressions are the same as the test drive. Everything just falls easily to hand and the little engine sounds great, doesn’t sound fake.
I’ll get some pictures up tomorrow in the daylight.
I've had a busy weekend. The up!, somewhat less so. I've got the 'photoshoot' done, I'll upload it this evening.
Friday: Handled the 1st drive to work well. Doesn't ride like a Rolls Royce but doesn't crash or bounce around the place. Seemed vocal without being noisy on the motorway. It has a DAB radio so I was able to drown the noise out by putting Chris Moyles on and pretending I was in my teens again.
Ride feels on the firm side but compliant. I'll have to take it on a back road to give it a proper assessment. On Friday evening's I do youth work and we invariably end up in a McDonald's car park quite late. It seemed to fit in well with the 'scene' there. Highlight of the day was some bloke pulling up beside me in a Mustang GT to give me a thumbs up.
Saturday: Woke up thinking that today had a high potential for 'door dings.' It was my turn to drive to the football. As we were getting the bus, the car was going to be sitting in a hotel car park all afternoon. We arrived around lunchtime so parking was at a premium. Ended up between 2 SUVs, but had plenty of space either side. No door dings resulted so the biggest concern of the day was why you'd play for a draw against 10 men?
Sunday: Was hoping to get out for a wee (gentle, still running in) hoon but had some "family business" to attend to 1st. My brother liked it, as did my niece judging by her excited babble into her sponge 'smartphone.' She takes after her dad. Brother mentioned he wasn't going to the game so I swiped his campaign card and went to watch the mighty Norn Iron get beat by Austria instead. It would have got dark before I was having proper fun anyway. This is the annoying side of a November delivery, the original 12-14 weeks would have meant I could have played until 10pm. At least I can test out the seat heater, toasty.
Friday: Handled the 1st drive to work well. Doesn't ride like a Rolls Royce but doesn't crash or bounce around the place. Seemed vocal without being noisy on the motorway. It has a DAB radio so I was able to drown the noise out by putting Chris Moyles on and pretending I was in my teens again.
Ride feels on the firm side but compliant. I'll have to take it on a back road to give it a proper assessment. On Friday evening's I do youth work and we invariably end up in a McDonald's car park quite late. It seemed to fit in well with the 'scene' there. Highlight of the day was some bloke pulling up beside me in a Mustang GT to give me a thumbs up.
Saturday: Woke up thinking that today had a high potential for 'door dings.' It was my turn to drive to the football. As we were getting the bus, the car was going to be sitting in a hotel car park all afternoon. We arrived around lunchtime so parking was at a premium. Ended up between 2 SUVs, but had plenty of space either side. No door dings resulted so the biggest concern of the day was why you'd play for a draw against 10 men?
Sunday: Was hoping to get out for a wee (gentle, still running in) hoon but had some "family business" to attend to 1st. My brother liked it, as did my niece judging by her excited babble into her sponge 'smartphone.' She takes after her dad
. Brother mentioned he wasn't going to the game so I swiped his campaign card and went to watch the mighty Norn Iron get beat by Austria instead. It would have got dark before I was having proper fun anyway. This is the annoying side of a November delivery, the original 12-14 weeks would have meant I could have played until 10pm. At least I can test out the seat heater, toasty.keekodog said:
I hope the update comes quicker than the 10 month wait for the car.....
You should be used to it by now...A point of order; I’ve changed username. Not sure if it shows up or not so just wanted to make that clear.
1st full week has been uneventful, apart from a “how the heck do I open the petrol cap” moment in a BP on Wednesday morning. Trick is to turn your key (how old school) anticlockwise and then turn the cap the same way. If you’re applying enough force that you think the whole thing’s going to snap, add an extra bit. The members of the very helpful up! Owners Club say it loosens over time.
The up! passed the 4 adult test on Wednesday when I gave my mum and 2 of her friends a lift and the 4 of us fit without issues. A credit to whoever designed the interior.
I’m getting mid 40s with the MPG on my run to work, which is 5 miles through city traffic and 5 miles of motorway. I’m very happy with that and hoping the BP Ultimate 97 will help out with that, as well as providing an extra bit of zip.
I took it out for a little drive tonight along some local twistys. It was good fun even though I was keeping it below 3/4 throttle and 4,000 rpm. Hit 200 miles already so I’ve only got another 300 before I can begin to build up to full throttle and the red line. I took a screenshot of the trip computer afterwards.
I’ve taken some terrible iPhone photos of the car too. The preview shows these upside down so you can either save and rotate the images or stand on your head.
Birdster said:
Saw these in the loca dealer. Going back for a test drive. The cars here look lovely.
Looked on drive the deal and there are discounts. I’m guessing a long wait is to be expected.
I really liked the look of the 3 and 5 door but think the 5 door just edges it into useable space.
Started playing with the spec and even with cruise and panoramic roof it’s coming up around £15K.
Might drop the roof but think it really suited the white one. Not sure if it adds much weight?
Anything you wish you had/hadn’t added?
I added the cruise and park pack, it made sense for the short motorway run to work.Looked on drive the deal and there are discounts. I’m guessing a long wait is to be expected.
I really liked the look of the 3 and 5 door but think the 5 door just edges it into useable space.
Started playing with the spec and even with cruise and panoramic roof it’s coming up around £15K.
Might drop the roof but think it really suited the white one. Not sure if it adds much weight?
Anything you wish you had/hadn’t added?
The car was very close to the top end of my budget so I had to think really carefully about options. I didn't like the sunroof enough to justify the price and I think the standard sound system's great and didn't find the need to upgrade it. I'm not a fan of climate control and I prefer the ability to adjust the temperature myself. Auto headlights and wipers would have been nice but not the sort of thing that I needed.
I was showing the car to my cousin, he's 19 and he's just bought an old Polo. He was suggesting that I do YouTube videos on 5 things I love and 5 things I hate. I fear he may have come down with "social media influenza." Still, a good idea...
I pretty much love everything about the car so here's 5 things I love more than I thought I would.
1. The sound. It's great when you put your foot down to have a listen to it but the best time for it is when you're concentrating on driving and the revs rise as you're accelerating out of a junction. Puts a smile on my face every time.
2. The ease of driving around town. A few months ago I had to borrow my mum's i10 to go to work in for a week. It was a revelation in that it was so easy to drive in town and how you could confidently fit it in those narrow gaps between double parked delivery lorries and buses coming the other way. This is what sold me the idea of getting a city car. The up! is probably easier to drive as there's probably a better view out of it and I've got a decent bit more power if I need it.
3. The interior. Space inside is brilliant, I've had 3 adult passengers in the car with no complaints. By the time I'd read a few reviews and seen a few photos, I had resigned myself to the fact that the "red pixel" dash, the body coloured door tops and the red mood lighting would look naff. It's the complete opposite. I think they combine brilliantly and make the car feel like something special. The GTI touches let you know what you're driving, the tartan seats are a bit much but the car somehow gets away with it. If you showed a petrolhead the interior, they'd tell you straight away that it's a VW GTI. I'll try and get some right way up pictures to illustrate my point later.
4. The seat heaters. The lower seat back and are are both heated. They start at level 2 and switch themselves down to level 1 after 15 minutes. I couldn't take much more heating, they properly cook you. It was 1 degree outside this morning so they were very much appreciated.
5. The way it looks compared to a standard up! It may be those subtle things but the bigger wheels, the side stripes, the slight lowering, the GTI badges combine with the gloss black mirrors, bumpers and roof spoiler all add up to make the car stand out compared to others in the range. I was talking to the owner of a Move up! on Friday and the two cars looked world's apart sat next to each other in a Tesco car park.
I wouldn't buy a car that had 1 thing I hated, never mind 5 but here's 5 things that I'm not too fussed about.
1. The infotainment. It's a good idea to have a smartphone app serve as the infotainment but it has a few compromises. You mount the phone in the dock, plug in the unsightly charging cable, open the app. It tells you there's no Bluetooth connection, you start the car and press Retry, same thing. It takes a few presses of that retry button before you're connected. It works well enough but the main screen's a bit cluttered, the radio section has 7/8ths of its area devoted to a mute button with only a tiny portion to aim for if you're trying to change stations. You can use the car's buttons to open menus on the app but you have to press the back button on your phone to bring it back to the home screen. At least it can be updated through the Apps Store.
2. The rear badge. It's massive and looks crammed in between the wiper and the boot release. It would be an awful shame if it were to "fall off." :wink:
3. The wheels. Sometimes they look a little too big. I keep imagining what the up! would look like with those Mk6 Golf GTI "phone dial" wheels and think these in 16" would just look better.
4. The black tailgate. I think it looks well but it doesn't half attract dirt. I was hoping to get my cleaning kit out at the weekend but it seemed to only rain when I had time to myself.
5. The colour choice. I think this is the dashboard's fault. I'm guessing VW are unable to offer much of a choice of paint colours as the door tops would clash with the red pixel dash. It's a shame because I think the car would look great in blue, especially that light blue you see Polo's in:
Wouldn't look half bad in this kind of green either:
Apart from this, there's not much of a update. Still running well and we're past the 350 mile mark. I'm still trying to keep it below 3/4 throttle and 4,000rpm. I'll need to fill up soon, so the range estimate of 275 miles to a tank seems about right.
A 3 vs 5 door debate could go on forever. Let's all agree that doing both 'a la Veloster' would be the worst idea.
A brief up!date (sorry) as I gave my dad a lift the car yesterday afternoon. It's fair to say he was sceptical of my decision to buy an up! but he was more impressed when he saw it. To be fair, it's a much bigger looking car than the standard up!
He was impressed by the refinement, the ride, the red glow under the dash and the seat heaters. He wasn't a fan of the engine noise.
Just clocked over 400 miles as well, not a single issue to report so far.
A brief up!date (sorry) as I gave my dad a lift the car yesterday afternoon. It's fair to say he was sceptical of my decision to buy an up! but he was more impressed when he saw it. To be fair, it's a much bigger looking car than the standard up!
He was impressed by the refinement, the ride, the red glow under the dash and the seat heaters. He wasn't a fan of the engine noise.
Just clocked over 400 miles as well, not a single issue to report so far.
I had known all that that I’d have a few hours free this afternoon so I had been keeping an eye on the weather forecast. It looked good this morning so I decided to go for a little drive.
There’s a town called Newcastle about 30 miles south of Belfast at the bottom of the Mourne mountains and it is the start of the High Mourne Senic loop, a 20 mile trail through the mountains with some twisty roads, a little bit of single track lanes and some spectacular scenery, especially with the low winter sun lighting up the scattered clouds. Barely saw another car on the route. Time to put the up! through its paces. The big thing that stood out was the flexibility of the engine. It’ll pull easily from 1,500rpm so it’s possible to leave it in 3rd gear if the twisys demand maximum concentration. The ride continues to impress with only a large pothole really catching it out. More on that later
The up! really is a great car for these types of roads, the narrow size meaning you can place it easily on the single track roads and don’t have to worry too much about what’s coming the other way on the narrower 2 way sections. The engine was great, pulling strongly and emitting that cheeky growl with every acceleration. It still really looks the part and I still haven’t seen another GTI on the road so I’m happy with the exclusivity.
Some photos:
And the evidence of the pothole that caught me out. This’ll buff out, right?
There’s a town called Newcastle about 30 miles south of Belfast at the bottom of the Mourne mountains and it is the start of the High Mourne Senic loop, a 20 mile trail through the mountains with some twisty roads, a little bit of single track lanes and some spectacular scenery, especially with the low winter sun lighting up the scattered clouds. Barely saw another car on the route. Time to put the up! through its paces. The big thing that stood out was the flexibility of the engine. It’ll pull easily from 1,500rpm so it’s possible to leave it in 3rd gear if the twisys demand maximum concentration. The ride continues to impress with only a large pothole really catching it out. More on that later
The up! really is a great car for these types of roads, the narrow size meaning you can place it easily on the single track roads and don’t have to worry too much about what’s coming the other way on the narrower 2 way sections. The engine was great, pulling strongly and emitting that cheeky growl with every acceleration. It still really looks the part and I still haven’t seen another GTI on the road so I’m happy with the exclusivity.
Some photos:
And the evidence of the pothole that caught me out. This’ll buff out, right?
A small up!date, as the car reached it's running in mileage of 933 miles (1,500km) earlier in the week. I had a pretty rough day in work so decided to give it "the beans" on the motorway on slip. It absolutely rocketed up to speed and caught me a little bit by surprise. I'll have a bit of fun with that in the future :wink:.
Debating whether or not to change the oil, VW recommends it after 10,000 miles or a year. Car also needs a wash. It's Starling Murmuration season in Belfast so we're treated to a spectacular sight of thousands of the birds flying in formation over the Albert Bridge. Unfortunately, the paintwork is treated to something else. Autoglym's Bird Dropping wipes are doing the trick but I'll be hoping to get a good deatiled wash in this weekend.
Debating whether or not to change the oil, VW recommends it after 10,000 miles or a year. Car also needs a wash. It's Starling Murmuration season in Belfast so we're treated to a spectacular sight of thousands of the birds flying in formation over the Albert Bridge. Unfortunately, the paintwork is treated to something else. Autoglym's Bird Dropping wipes are doing the trick but I'll be hoping to get a good deatiled wash in this weekend.
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