Independent Reviews of Volkswagen New and Used Cars

Featured Volkswagen Review: ‘SMALL BUT PUNCHY’

(74/110)

Car and Driving’s Independent Used Review of the Volkswagen up! GTI (2016 - 2023)

By Jonathan Crouch
Added 23rd February, 2024

British buyers love a small hot hatch with agile handling, a perky feel and a bit of heritage. This car ticks all those boxes emphatically and it’ll be a perfect starting point for those one day aspiring to a Golf GTI. Critics might dismiss this as nothing more than a high-spec up! with a bit of extra power, but we’ve found it to be much more than that. It’s a willing, fizzy little thing with real personality and character. Can you have more fun than this on this kind of affordable budget? We rather doubt it. Are there issues? Well, we wish that the Volkswagen engineers had developed the gearbox a bit, rather than just throwing in much the same transmission used in the normal shopping model. The satisfaction of cog-swapping is a big part of the driving experience in a car of this sort. Otherwise, we love this up! just as it is. Ultimately, of course, it’s not that fast. But on the right road on the right day, you won’t care too much about that. A quick hatch should be about the smile it can paint across your face. This Volkswagen has been engineered to deliver that - just as its Golf predecessor was. Nothing changes.

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