A long time ago Volkswagen invented the GTi, since then the rest of the world has done its best to try, and sometimes fail, to catch up. For 2018, however, VW has gone full circle and re-invented the spirit of the original GTi with this car, the all-new up! GTi.
It’s uncanny how similar the up! GTi’s on-paper statistics are to that original Mk1 Golf GTi from 1976. Its three-cylinder turbo engine produces virtually the same power at 113bhp (but with rather more torque at 200Nm), and so its performance is near identical to the first ever GTi’s with a 0-62mph time of 8.8sec and a top speed of 126mph.
• VW up! GTI - prices and specs
Even the interior of the up! GTi has been designed to look like a pastiche of the original Golf GTi’s, albeit with a host of contemporary technology beneath the surface to make it safer, more comfortable, massively more convenient and a whole lot more refined than it was 42 years ago.
And the price? Just £13,750 in three-door trim or £14,150 as a five-door, which makes the up! GTi seriously competitive beside rivals such as the Fiat 500 Abarth (£17,816) and the slower, less well equipped, less good Renault Twingo GT (£13,390).
The up! GTi’s centre-piece is its three-cylinder engine, which is potent enough to produce a genuinely entertaining level of performance while at the same time delivering claimed 50mpg combined economy.
VW has pulled all sorts of tricks out of the hat to make the engine feel and sound as sporting as possible, including the fitment of various acoustic enhancers without using the speakers of the new “Beats” stereo to increase engine noise. Even the windscreen acts as an amplifier.
On the move the results are mostly great, the three-cylinder motor emitting a range of purposeful sounds that make the car feel faster than it actually is. Which is no bad thing for a supermini hot hatch that’s aimed at the younger market.
Elsewhere VW has dropped the ride height by 15mm, the springs and dampers are stiffer, the wheels are 17-inch and made from cast alloy, featuring “Brands Hatch” branding for the UK market, plus the brakes are a touch bigger too, with proper ventilated discs at the front.
The gearbox is a six-speed manual, like it or not, a well-judged decision given the nature of the up! GTi and its intended audience. And on the road the whole lot gels to make the car properly swift, reasonably well sorted in terms of ride and handling, and therefore properly entertaining to drive, even if it lacks the ultimate fun factor of the more powerful Fiat 500 Abarth.
It sounds like a junior 911 when you rev it hard, but there’s also a surprising amount of acceleration in the lower reaches of the rev range. It pulls well from as little as 2000rpm, even in fifth, and at 4000rpm in third it feels impressively brisk, without ever feeling genuinely fast.
If anything the chassis feels a touch soft when you really start to lean on it while the electric power steering lacks a bit in ultimate feel, plus the front brakes started to smoke quite heavily following a committed but no more than two minute run down a twisty mountain road on the test route. But so long as you don’t expect too much from it dynamically, the up! GTi is a fun little thing to drive that’s more capable than you might expect, even if it fails to rewrite the headlines in the way that its spiritual successor from 1976 did.
The cabin is high in quality and equipment, low in unnecessary frills, even if the Tartan seats are a touch over the top. Fundamentally there’s just one spec that includes a five-inch colour screen that hooks up to an iPhone to deliver live sat nav, Bluetooth phone and audio connectivity and that six-speaker Beats stereo. Space in the GTi versions is the same as in the regular up! models, which means there’s enough in the front seats and rear seats for five (just), while the boot is a decent size for a supermini, featuring 60/40 folding seat backs.
- Model: Volkswagen up! GTi 3dr
- Price: £13,750 (£14,150 5dr)
- Engine: 1.0-litre petrol, turbocharged
- Power/torque: 113bhp/200Nm
- Transmission: 6-speed manual
- 0-62mph: 8.8sec
- Top speed: 126mph
- Economy/CO2: 50.4mpg, 129g/km
- On sale: Now
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