Episode 21. Jonny Smith (@carpervert) and Richard Porter (@sniffpetrol) test out the new Volkswagen Up GTI. And largely manage to stick to the point for once.
Now! Guys! Now, guys, guys. Seriously, we need you guys to do more of these videos, on that side of things! Driving and podcasting in Spøøuuaarts'ah hot hatches like the Up! GTI is basically Nottingham epic! Cheers mate, thanks mate, byyeee!
I recon in 44yrs we will be discussing the Up Gti, as the grandchild of the late great Mk1 Golf Gti. I own a Pure White 3dr, and i can remember how similar it is to the original 76car.
Peter Lewis my arse is it, it’s similar but nothing like the same, my best friend still has a mk1 1.8 I’ve driven many times and own own an UP GIT, and they are totally different, just because the figures on pare look similar, VW marketing are bound to cash in on that... to drive, totally different but both amazing in their own ways!
I’ve had my Up! GTI for a month now, not quite run in yet and I’m getting an average of 57mpg on a mix of country and town driving. I had a bit of a belt in it yesterday and on a 50m B road trip I still had an average of 63!!! I’m 6’2” and I’ve no problem viewing ALL of the speedo, besides which you can set the computer to read your mph in figures in the centre of the speedo. Great wee car.....and I’m 54 so probably not the intended market.
If you don’t reset your fuel economy before a drive, it’s only lowering your average from the last time it was reset.... if you get 57mpg you must drive VERY slowly always and barely touch the throttle... I enjoy mine properly and still get an average of over 40, but have reset it before a good drive and can get well below 30... all cars can return good fuel economy if you drive light footed! My 911 I can get to nearly 40mpg... if I drive like a fanny and barely touch the throttle on the motorway at the speed limit.
S K Sorry to burst your bubble but the car resets itself every journey. I have a Since Start and Long Term fuel economy reading on the trip computer (my phone). Over the 15 months I’ve had the car my OVERALL mpg is 57.8 and I saw 81mpg a few weeks ago. I drive within the limits of any road I’m on with speed and weather etc taken into account. I’m ex Police and I used to drive hillclimb and trials cars so I’m aware of how to drive in a proficient way to maximise a particular car’s ability and function. But, thanks for your thoughts......however misguided they may be 😁
Keith Livingstone Thanks for your view Keith, I didn’t insinuate breaking any speed limit at all did I, strangely a car can be enjoyed within the speed limit and safely. Do explain this trip computer on your phone, should I assume this is a 3rd party app?! Or using VW’s Maps+more or their Connect app?🤔 The vehicle MFD on the car does NOT reset with every journey, that’s why it says “average fuel economy” the same as my Porsche, that will also show instantaneous fuel economy also, I should know about these things in detail as I work on cars for manufacturers and have to repair them when not working correctly, not an “internet” specialist like most these days🤦🏼♂️
S K Well now, if you claim you work on speedos etc I think you may need to take a refresher course. The car when started resets the AVERAGE fuel to 0.00 every time unless I do two separate journeys less than 2hours apart. This is a DIFFERENT reading from the Inst Consumption figure. On the M&M phone app there are THREE separate consumption figures (am I going too fast for you?). 1....Average from START of journey, Inst MPG AND Average over the last 2500 Miles. My BMW has this, my wife’s Up! has it on her Garmin and even our van will show all these figures. It’s not a difficult thing to either work out or understand. Oh, and let’s add this in to the mix. Twice since I bought the car I have filled the tank, driven over 100 Miles and then refilled. On both occasions, by my calculation, the MFD was only between 1.2 an 1.9mpg out. That’ll do for me.
Vet 93 use the MFD buttons on your steering wheel on the right hand side🤷♂️🙈😂 don’t mean to be a biatch, but learn what the buttons do on your steering wheel and how to use the controls of your car or RTFM.. I know as I daily one
I used to drive Seat Mii (which basically is Up!) and it was really nice. Even though mine was only 60hp. But it was great car. Surprisingly spacious. Feels even bigger then my current Ibiza:) Also, I love it has full-size spare wheel. At least mine did.
Yep agree with the speedo issue. Two years later I now own a GTI. Having owned a high up. In the GTI you can change the readout to show MPH. So no more speedo issues. Love this car.
Maybe I'm a little biased because I have one on order, but dya think it's quite telling of the fun you were having in this car that you spent most of the video talking about it, and not waffling on about sparkling water or whatever took your fancy at the time? Not that that stuff isn't entertaining, of course.
Sad they don't sell that in the states... But Johnny, the ducking to see the speedo is the a big reason I love the Model 3, I'm 6'2" and in the Tesla with the speedo off to the side and up high, I can put the wheel in any position and still see the speedo.
God damn it, I was really struggling to not trade my normal up in for one of these but you saying it’s good whilst driving on the Welsh lane which is the road I drive on to work everyday has pretty much tipped me over the edge.
In the US they call the VW tartan cloth "Clark plaid", but the actual Clark Scottish family plaid is usually a lot closer to Jonny's slippers in the blue, green, and black!
Absolutely agree about the steering wheel blocking the view of the speedometer. Also found the brake pedal to be sitting just a little too high over the gas pedal, can't simply slide your foot from one pedal to the other one.
If u go into settings u can have the Speedo on DIGITAL !!! So It’s much better way to check your speed & u can see it even when steering wheel is fully down 😀🚗
I had one, briefly. I miss it! Mine was the reason dad has a 60bhp Citigo now - and the Citigo was the reason I parted with the GTI! It just didn't feel as special anymore - the Citigo felt like 80% of the car the GTI is, but for half the price. Anyway, I'm out of the world of finance and in an old V70 2.0T Automatic 😂
Sounds sort of Puma 1.7 performance (and some of the character too), but my Puma, when driven normally (that is, WOT everywhere, because you could) would never really get better than 30mpg, and normally closer to 26 tank to tank. And that wasn't because it was broken. I think I got 38mpg on a motorway run once. Never got above 40, ever. So 40+ average for something that sounds quite nice, handles well and is cheap and cheerful - I mean, you can't say fairer than that.
I bought a Puma in 2000 and LOVED it. Having a family since, I've longer for something that is fun and inexpensive and think the UP! GTI is just the ticket to bring back the smile to my face that the Puma consisitently delivered.
You might have just convinced me to buy one! Dealer offering me a straight swap from my MX5 1.5 SEL 16 plate into his 68 reg Up! GTI 5 door. I’d swap RWD soft top fin for a more practical and still punt down the road with dog (& kids) second car. Thoughts, boys? I did actually do my own start-up RU-vid featuring an Up! GTI 😊
The wheels were originally named ‘Brands Hatch’ alloys but (I assume for copyright reasons) have been renamed ‘Oswald’ alloys, can’t for the life of me work out why, only Oswald I can remember is Max Mosley’s dad so not only is there a Nazi sympathiser under the bonnet but you are riding on four of them. 👍
The Golf GTI mark 1 was an expensive and very spartan car....... roughly £30K in today’s money. By contrast the Up GTI is pretty well equipped and decent value. This car has a galvanised body, the mark 1 GTI wasn’t but did come with guaranteed rust after four years.
Absolute shit. I have an 84 Golf campaign and the chassis is perfect. They were undersealed. The pre 81 small back light golfs were prone to rotting, not all of them.
I think Sniff's 911 is a Gen 2 997 Carrera S so a good car, free of the issues of earlier cars but not overly flash really, they don't cost much more than a high spec Golf R.
Put a turbo engine in a mk1 golf and get back to me. I did and it would eat that up! for breakfast. Comparing an engine first put in a car nearly 50 years ago to a modern turbo engine is comparing apples to oranges.
Could you do one of these "reviews" in a Dacia Sandero. Its bigger and cheaper than the UP GTI. My new top spec Sandero diesel cost me about £3000 less than the UP GTI.
"Lupo GTi" 😁 Lupo is actually quicker, more bhp and less torque... but have you seen the prices of Lupo GTi's!! People want 6k for them, non less than 4.5k - for a 15+ year old VW? Madness.
Putting a GTI badge on this is hamming it up too much, they should have saved on the fancy alloys and given it keep fit windows, the sport seats out of the UP GT prototype, and a set of old school steel rims. The review is ok though.
Chum had a Fiat Coupe Turbo LE. It could torque steer from one lane to another in the dry if you hit overbooooooooost by accident. One of those cars that seems to be terrible, and yet brilliant, at the same time.
