The Volkswagen Up GTI: A Fun and Affordable City Car

This is a really charming little car and well I do know why because it sounds cool and looks cool, it's not that expensive. This car costs nineteen thousand something in the Netherlands which is really cheap and that's what I've said before then in the whole catch world we've gone you know there has been this this war power war going on and everything is getting more powerful more powerful more serious as well with four-wheel drive systems, but the original Golf GTI was just a fun light little car. The Up GTI takes that same spirit of fun and practicality.

Evolved from the classic Golf GTI, the Up GTI has evolved to be a great city car. It's not expensive, it's not that fast, but it's quick enough to be fun. It sounds cool, it looks cool, and it's reasonably practical as well. You know it's just a really cool city car. But one thing is for sure, it doesn't have to be super fast to be fun. Volkswagen really understood this when they put a GTI label on it.

The steering is very light, the gearbox is very light, which means that those who don't like manual transmissions might find it a bit frustrating. However, this lightness can also be seen as a positive feature for some drivers. The suspension has been made stiffer than a regular Up, and the car sits 15 millimeters lower to the ground. The front and rear tracks have also been widened slightly, giving the car a more planted feel on the road. And, yes, it does have stiffer stabilizers at the back.

The performance of the Up GTI is not bad at all. It has 115 horsepower and 200 Newton meters of torque, which can result in some wheelspin when pushing hard. However, with only eight point eight seconds to go from 0-100 kilometers per hour, it's still a respectable time for such a small car. And the top speed is 196 kilometers an hour.

Compared to other cars in this class, the Up GTI has its own unique qualities. It can be compared to the Renault Twingo GT, which also has 110 horsepower and a three-cylinder engine at the back. However, while the Twingo might have a more refined chassis, the Up GTI's suspension is stiffer and more responsive.

The Volkswagen Lupo GTI was the last car in this class before the Up GTI. It had 125 horsepower and weighed over nine hundred seventy-five kilos. That's why it's been a while since we've seen a car like this again, but Volkswagen has done their homework.

Overall, I really think that this car is the only choice in its class. The Twingo might be more refined, but it's also more expensive. And let's be honest, who needs a three-cylinder engine at the back? The Up GTI may not be as fast as some of the other cars on the market, but it's still a lot of fun to drive.

The cool thing about these cars is that they're not just for driving enthusiasts. They can be enjoyed by anyone who loves cars and wants something unique and special. And that's exactly what the Volkswagen Up GTI is - a car that puts a smile on your face every time you get behind the wheel.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhat's up everyone welcome to this POV review by altered opinel my name is Max and today we've got a big one well we've got a small one it's the Volkswagen op GTI and well it's kind of a cool car and this review in this review I will try to tell and show you why that is but first we'll walk around it I'll show you all the cool features on it and then we'll take it for a drive on this beautiful road right here so we borrowed it at Auto arena in Venlo in the Netherlands so if you're interested go check them out if you're in the Netherlands and well for starters I think it looks kind of cool it's a bit chunky quite sporty looking of course because it's a GTI we've got a GTI badge in the grille and this red stripe sporty front bumper some sporty wheels as well which are 17-inch I believe yep with brake calipers painted in red we've got a black stripe going down the side which is sort of a throwback to the first Golf GTI GTI badge right there black mirror caps black spoiler on the rear another GTI badge another red stripe and a little exhaust over there and well let's start with that throwback no let's start it actually has drum brakes at the rear how cool is that discs at the front drums at the rear okay let's start with that throwback to the first Golf GTI these days a golf is much much larger than it used to be of course and the Golf GTI used to be this superlight fun car I'd weighed 800 kilos and it had 110 horsepower and still you know that was enough to to be a fun car and nowadays a golf needs at least 230 or 245 horsepower to be fun adjacent and that's because it's way too heavy and too comfortable and not sharp enough and not playful enough so you'd think that Volkswagen did the right thing by making this a GTI the question is does it deserve the badge and I think it does because it only weighs 970 kilos and it has 115 horsepower so I'll show you the engine there it is the little power plant 999 CCS so it's a three cylinder but it is turbocharged and that means that it also has 200 Newton meters of torque when we look at the interior another GTI badge right here and of course the quintessential GTI dart and fabric seats which are actually one piece so I quite like that I think that looks pretty cool and well the interior is seriously impressive on this car just going to start it up so the a conditioning can do its work it is seriously impressive this interior because it's a really small car but it still feels quite spacious in air and big enough to fit two adults or even more in the back and it also feels quite luxurious for such a small cheap car and I think that's that's really cool I love the steering wheel just a regular GTI cereal with the bottom flattened leather red stitching GTI badge this all looks pretty cool as well with a little screen that even has a reversing camera right there that's pretty cool as well yeah I think this looks really cool we also have this smartphone mount on top with a USB port at the rear and well I'll show you some cool stuff about that later on and this car also has the Beats Audio system which means that if we open this double this is actually also quite convenient and if we open this one as well this is a subwoofer so if you have a spare wheel which this doesn't I think if you have a spare wheel you have to disconnect the subwoofer with this cable and then loosen this and get the spare wheel out or get first get the so out and then get the spare wheel out which is quite ingenious I have to say okay yeah let's start with this because we have an app here on this phone just check what it's gold again the up exclamation point maps and more so if you louder this so if you download this app and connect it to the bluetooth of the car you can have all these menus and displays on your phone sort of extending from this one so if you select navigation on this system right here it switches on your phone and well you have to download these maps I'm not going to do that because we're not going to use it but so you use the navigation on your phone you can also check out live data with a temperature and a rev counter it's a bit leggy but you know it's it's a cool gimmick the only thing I don't like is that these are the only two things you can choose so why would you make them switchable I don't understand because you know you just end up with two of the same or these two so don't really get that you can use these buttons as I said to to operate that so you can have your trip computer stuff in here you can search for names in here with that one so you can draw on here and it searches your contact so you can call someone and it also has a lap timer so you can go three two one and then you can go and then you can press a lap every time you cross start/finish and when you stop you also see your average speed and a max speed pretty cool right I I kind of like it I think it suits the sort of fun character of this car it also has a GTI badge on the gear lever and it has a six-speed manual that's the only available gearbox in the air you don't get a DSG or anything and this is also the only up available with a 6-speed manual so I think that's that alone is reason enough to buy a GTI instead of a regular up okay and when you start driving it you get that lovely rumbly little three cylinder engine at the front that's always nice you know if you have an engine with an uneven number of cylinders you always get that sort of irregular sound at that that Rumble it's just fun I don't know why but I think this is a really charming little car and well I do know why because it sounds cool and looks cool it's not that expensive this car costs nineteen thousand something in the Netherlands which is really cheap and that's what I've said before then in the whole catch world we've gone you know there has been this this Wars power war going on and everything is getting more powerful more powerful more serious as well with four-wheel drive systems but the original hold hatch is just a fun light little car evolved GTI the Gulf War GTI and this sort of goes back to that it's not expensive it's not that fast but it's you know it's quick enough it sounds cool it looks cool it's reasonably practical as well you know it's just a really cool city car it also is still quite comfortable where you're driving regularly the steering is very light the gearbox is very light as well so those are positives if you just look it if you just look at it like a city car but those are negatives when you start looking at it as a sort of a warm hatchback it's not a whole hedge that's let's get that out of the way it's a warm hatchback warm hatch so the steering is very light and the gearbox very light so yeah they could have put some more weight in there as well what they did do is they did change the steering the power steering system for this GTI but I think that it could have been heavier they also change the suspension is much stiffer than a regular up it's also 15 millimeters lower the Trek front and rear is 8 millimeters wider and it has stiffer stabilizer at the rear so did they certainly tried their best to make it a bit you know a bit more sharp and a bit more playful you can actually get that rear end out when you lift off mid corner and you have enough speed but you don't have the option to switch off the traction control or the ESP so yeah it always sort of kicks in and saves you okay we'll turn around okay let's go pull away performance as I said 115 horsepower 200 Newton meters a bit of wheelspin too much so that's 0 to 100 kilometers our eight point eight seconds is the number of Volkswagen gives and top speed 196 kilometers an hour that's not bad yeah I really like it I think it's it's a really funky little warm hatch and we don't have much of those I mean you can you can sort of compare it to a Renault Twingo GT which has 110 horsepower and 898 CC three cylinder engine at the back so does the Smart forfour bravas but that's a bit more expensive but the chassis is really nice like I said it's quite comfortable so it's not super stiff and you really have to throw it into a corner and then wait sort of a moment for the suspension to set and but once it does it's it's a really nice chassis and it's actually more sort of sharp than I was expecting it's not sharp but it's more sharp than I thought it would be but that that sound coming from that little three settlers this is just so cool so it's been a while since Volkswagen has had a car in this class actually the Lupo GTI was the last one I think which had 125 horsepower and nine 75 kilos I think that's the the last one and like I said there aren't much of these cars so I do really think that this car is the only choice in this class because that Twingo I just don't really like it and the smart is more expensive so yeah kind of kind of surprised by this little car I really like it and you know like I said at the beginning does it deserve a GTI level I think it does I think that because it's sort of a throwback to that old Golf GTI it doesn't have to be super fast it's a small little cheap car I know you know that I just think that it doesn't have to be super fast to be fun and I think that Volkswagen really understood that of course by putting a GTI label on it you know more people are going to buy it and I think that you wouldn't be disappointed if you bought this car and I think that's the cool thing about these cars that you know we drive a lot of very powerful very fast cars but if you really love cars and you can still enjoy cars like this that are just fun and different and just do something that that sort of you know that just puts a smile on your face and this really does so that's it for the Volkswagen Up GTI I hope you enjoyed it you can subscribe by clicking the big button right here you can also check out this POV review or go to this POV reviews playlist and check out some more thanks for watching guys see you at the next one byewhat's up everyone welcome to this POV review by altered opinel my name is Max and today we've got a big one well we've got a small one it's the Volkswagen op GTI and well it's kind of a cool car and this review in this review I will try to tell and show you why that is but first we'll walk around it I'll show you all the cool features on it and then we'll take it for a drive on this beautiful road right here so we borrowed it at Auto arena in Venlo in the Netherlands so if you're interested go check them out if you're in the Netherlands and well for starters I think it looks kind of cool it's a bit chunky quite sporty looking of course because it's a GTI we've got a GTI badge in the grille and this red stripe sporty front bumper some sporty wheels as well which are 17-inch I believe yep with brake calipers painted in red we've got a black stripe going down the side which is sort of a throwback to the first Golf GTI GTI badge right there black mirror caps black spoiler on the rear another GTI badge another red stripe and a little exhaust over there and well let's start with that throwback no let's start it actually has drum brakes at the rear how cool is that discs at the front drums at the rear okay let's start with that throwback to the first Golf GTI these days a golf is much much larger than it used to be of course and the Golf GTI used to be this superlight fun car I'd weighed 800 kilos and it had 110 horsepower and still you know that was enough to to be a fun car and nowadays a golf needs at least 230 or 245 horsepower to be fun adjacent and that's because it's way too heavy and too comfortable and not sharp enough and not playful enough so you'd think that Volkswagen did the right thing by making this a GTI the question is does it deserve the badge and I think it does because it only weighs 970 kilos and it has 115 horsepower so I'll show you the engine there it is the little power plant 999 CCS so it's a three cylinder but it is turbocharged and that means that it also has 200 Newton meters of torque when we look at the interior another GTI badge right here and of course the quintessential GTI dart and fabric seats which are actually one piece so I quite like that I think that looks pretty cool and well the interior is seriously impressive on this car just going to start it up so the a conditioning can do its work it is seriously impressive this interior because it's a really small car but it still feels quite spacious in air and big enough to fit two adults or even more in the back and it also feels quite luxurious for such a small cheap car and I think that's that's really cool I love the steering wheel just a regular GTI cereal with the bottom flattened leather red stitching GTI badge this all looks pretty cool as well with a little screen that even has a reversing camera right there that's pretty cool as well yeah I think this looks really cool we also have this smartphone mount on top with a USB port at the rear and well I'll show you some cool stuff about that later on and this car also has the Beats Audio system which means that if we open this double this is actually also quite convenient and if we open this one as well this is a subwoofer so if you have a spare wheel which this doesn't I think if you have a spare wheel you have to disconnect the subwoofer with this cable and then loosen this and get the spare wheel out or get first get the so out and then get the spare wheel out which is quite ingenious I have to say okay yeah let's start with this because we have an app here on this phone just check what it's gold again the up exclamation point maps and more so if you louder this so if you download this app and connect it to the bluetooth of the car you can have all these menus and displays on your phone sort of extending from this one so if you select navigation on this system right here it switches on your phone and well you have to download these maps I'm not going to do that because we're not going to use it but so you use the navigation on your phone you can also check out live data with a temperature and a rev counter it's a bit leggy but you know it's it's a cool gimmick the only thing I don't like is that these are the only two things you can choose so why would you make them switchable I don't understand because you know you just end up with two of the same or these two so don't really get that you can use these buttons as I said to to operate that so you can have your trip computer stuff in here you can search for names in here with that one so you can draw on here and it searches your contact so you can call someone and it also has a lap timer so you can go three two one and then you can go and then you can press a lap every time you cross start/finish and when you stop you also see your average speed and a max speed pretty cool right I I kind of like it I think it suits the sort of fun character of this car it also has a GTI badge on the gear lever and it has a six-speed manual that's the only available gearbox in the air you don't get a DSG or anything and this is also the only up available with a 6-speed manual so I think that's that alone is reason enough to buy a GTI instead of a regular up okay and when you start driving it you get that lovely rumbly little three cylinder engine at the front that's always nice you know if you have an engine with an uneven number of cylinders you always get that sort of irregular sound at that that Rumble it's just fun I don't know why but I think this is a really charming little car and well I do know why because it sounds cool and looks cool it's not that expensive this car costs nineteen thousand something in the Netherlands which is really cheap and that's what I've said before then in the whole catch world we've gone you know there has been this this Wars power war going on and everything is getting more powerful more powerful more serious as well with four-wheel drive systems but the original hold hatch is just a fun light little car evolved GTI the Gulf War GTI and this sort of goes back to that it's not expensive it's not that fast but it's you know it's quick enough it sounds cool it looks cool it's reasonably practical as well you know it's just a really cool city car it also is still quite comfortable where you're driving regularly the steering is very light the gearbox is very light as well so those are positives if you just look it if you just look at it like a city car but those are negatives when you start looking at it as a sort of a warm hatchback it's not a whole hedge that's let's get that out of the way it's a warm hatchback warm hatch so the steering is very light and the gearbox very light so yeah they could have put some more weight in there as well what they did do is they did change the steering the power steering system for this GTI but I think that it could have been heavier they also change the suspension is much stiffer than a regular up it's also 15 millimeters lower the Trek front and rear is 8 millimeters wider and it has stiffer stabilizer at the rear so did they certainly tried their best to make it a bit you know a bit more sharp and a bit more playful you can actually get that rear end out when you lift off mid corner and you have enough speed but you don't have the option to switch off the traction control or the ESP so yeah it always sort of kicks in and saves you okay we'll turn around okay let's go pull away performance as I said 115 horsepower 200 Newton meters a bit of wheelspin too much so that's 0 to 100 kilometers our eight point eight seconds is the number of Volkswagen gives and top speed 196 kilometers an hour that's not bad yeah I really like it I think it's it's a really funky little warm hatch and we don't have much of those I mean you can you can sort of compare it to a Renault Twingo GT which has 110 horsepower and 898 CC three cylinder engine at the back so does the Smart forfour bravas but that's a bit more expensive but the chassis is really nice like I said it's quite comfortable so it's not super stiff and you really have to throw it into a corner and then wait sort of a moment for the suspension to set and but once it does it's it's a really nice chassis and it's actually more sort of sharp than I was expecting it's not sharp but it's more sharp than I thought it would be but that that sound coming from that little three settlers this is just so cool so it's been a while since Volkswagen has had a car in this class actually the Lupo GTI was the last one I think which had 125 horsepower and nine 75 kilos I think that's the the last one and like I said there aren't much of these cars so I do really think that this car is the only choice in this class because that Twingo I just don't really like it and the smart is more expensive so yeah kind of kind of surprised by this little car I really like it and you know like I said at the beginning does it deserve a GTI level I think it does I think that because it's sort of a throwback to that old Golf GTI it doesn't have to be super fast it's a small little cheap car I know you know that I just think that it doesn't have to be super fast to be fun and I think that Volkswagen really understood that of course by putting a GTI label on it you know more people are going to buy it and I think that you wouldn't be disappointed if you bought this car and I think that's the cool thing about these cars that you know we drive a lot of very powerful very fast cars but if you really love cars and you can still enjoy cars like this that are just fun and different and just do something that that sort of you know that just puts a smile on your face and this really does so that's it for the Volkswagen Up GTI I hope you enjoyed it you can subscribe by clicking the big button right here you can also check out this POV review or go to this POV reviews playlist and check out some more thanks for watching guys see you at the next one bye\n"