Volkswagen up! – Australian pricing & specs

Volkswagen’s micro city car and current World Car of the Year, the rather painfully named up!, has hit Australian shores. It’s available in three and five door layouts and pricing starts at a very cheerful $13,990. A reasonably short options list ensures the up! remains a value buy for those on a strict budget.

The Slovakian built model is just 3.54m long and 1.64m wide; sure to fit in most confined spaces. It seats four passengers and with its frugal 1.0 litre three cylinder petrol engine should sip fuel at the miserly rate of 4.9l/100km. Yet, with only 55kW/95Nm on tap from that monster donk, and a 0–100km time of 13.2 seconds, don’t start thinking the up! is going to do much more than look cute when you mash the pedal to the metal. For now, Australian buyers have to make do with a 5-speed manual transmission.

While it’s cheap and not very powerful Volkswagen hasn’t shied away from adding some decent tech to the car. Notably the up! features City Emergency Braking, which automatically operates between 5–30km/h and scans the road for hazards up to 10m ahead. If you’re not paying attention the up! will do the braking for you.

For a small fee of $500 you can get the 5″ Maps + more portable infotainment device. It looks like a no-brainer to us and as well as navigation it also brings a trip computer, hands-free phone access and more.

The up! might be small, but it’s done enough to earn a maximum five-star safety rating from Euro NCAP. It’s not the best in class, but ranks quite highly in the Supermini class.

We’re very keen to see how the Australian market accepts the up!—will it sell well or will people think it’s just that little bit too small? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Volkswagen is Launching a New Small Car: The up!: A Car with Charisma and Great Potential

• A new Volkswagen with a new generation three-cylinder petrol engine
  
• World’s first sub light car with City Emergency Braking
  
• Debut of the multi-talented Maps + More system

The up! is an all-new city car from Volkswagen. With its pure design, maximum space on a minimal footprint, quality and attention to detail as well as affordable innovations it embodies the core values of the Volkswagen brand. The up! has come to market at just the right time: almost no other vehicle class is set to grow as much in the coming years as that of the sub light segment. The up! is built at the Volkswagen plant in Bratislava, Slovakia and is available in 3-door and 5-door.

The up!’s dimensions are key to its city car status. At 3,540mm in length, 1,641mm in width and 1,476mm in height, the up! is one of the smallest four-seater cars available. Its overall length consists of short body overhangs and a long wheelbase of 2,420mm. Thanks to these dimensions the turning circle of the up! is a compact 9.8 metres.

Use of space inside the car is exceptionally good with room for four adults. This is due to the wheelbase, which is one of the longest in the segment, combined with an engine that is mounted well forward. The 251-litre boot is also significantly larger than is typical in this class. When the rear seat is fully folded, cargo space increases to 951 litres.

Powering the up! is a new generation three-cylinder petrol engine with an output of 55kW. Combined fuel consumption is a low 4.9 L/100km on the combined cycle with CO2 emissions of 114 g/km.

The entirely new up! is also the first car in its class in the world to have a City Emergency Braking function, which at speeds of between 5km/h to 30km/h detects the risk of an impending collision and can reduce accident severity by initiating automatic brake interventions that can even avoid a crash. So far, the up! is the only vehicle in the segment to be offered with this function.

Another entirely new feature appearing for the first time in a Volkswagen is the Maps + More system – a portable touchscreen module. It contains a navigation system, hands-free telephone unit, display of factual information related to the vehicle and a media player. In addition, it will now be possible to use apps to tailor Maps + More to a driver’s highly individualised personal requirements profile. Maps + More is clicked into place above the centre console where it interfaces with the electronics network of the up! In the economically priced up!, a system was developed for organising the areas of navigation, telephone, information and entertainment that is just as economical. The portable device was also designed so that it could be brought up to the latest software levels via a simple update. In cooperation with Navigon, one of the world’s leading suppliers of portable navigation systems, the special solution Maps + More was created; it is tailored to the up! and is affordable for all buyers.

Volkswagen up! Pricing*

Models

• up! 3 Door 5 Speed Manual – $13,990
  
• up! 5 Door 5 Speed Manual – $14,990

Options

• Metallic/Pearl Effect Paint – $500
  
• Maps + More Portable Infotainment Device (PID) – $500
  
• Panoramic electric glass sunroof – $1,400
  
• Comfort drive package – $600
  
• Comfort style package – $2,500

* Prices quoted are Manufacturer List Prices excluding dealer delivery charges, which may vary from dealer to dealer and statutory charges, which vary from state to state.

Downloads

• Volkswagen up! – Australian press kit (832kb PDF)
• Volkswagen up! – Australian specifications (47kb PDF)