The new five-door Volkswagen up! is now available to order, costing just £365 more than the equivalent three-door model. With wide-opening rear doors and a starting price of just £8,360, getting into Volkswagen’s award-winning city car now really is easier than ever.
The five-door up! has the same virtues as its three-door sibling: a 2.42 m long wheelbase that makes for impressive interior space despite a diminutive and easy-to-park 3.54 m overall vehicle length, a capacious 251-litre boot, an efficient three-cylinder engine, new-to-the-class safety features and an innovative infotainment system.
Rear passengers in the five-door up! benefit from exactly the same space as those in the three-door model, with 947 mm of headroom (versus 993 mm in the front) and 789 mm of legroom. The rear seat base is set slightly higher than that in the front,at 378 mm (versus 306 mm) giving passengers a clearer view of the road ahead.
The five-door range mirrors that of the three-door, with a choice of Take up!, Move up! and High up! models, plus the special edition up! Black and up! White. Five-door models are expected to make up just over half of all up! sales.
As with the three-door, two BlueMotion Technology versions will also be available, offering sub-100 g/km CO2 emissions, and therefore avoiding VED. The 60 PS Move up! BlueMotion Technology returns 68.9 mpg on the combined cycle, while emitting just 95 g/km, and the 75 PS High up! BlueMotion Technology offers 67.3 mpg and 98 g/km.
A fully electric version will join the range in late 2013, and an automated manual gearbox will become optional later in 2012.
As well as front and side airbags, ABS with Hydraulic Brake Assist, Isofix child seat preparation in the rear and standard ESP (on all but the entry level Take up! model), the up! can be ordered with an optional City Emergency Braking system. This uses sensors to scan the space ahead of the vehicle, applying the brakes if it detects that the car is about to hit an object in front, and costs from just £225. The up! has received a five-star rating and the Advanced Award from Euro NCAP, the European New Car Assessment Programme. It is the first vehicle in this class to receive these awards.
Standard on the High up! model and above, and optional on the rest of the range is the Maps & More infotainment system, a mobile device that organises navigation, telephone, information and entertainment. It is removable, but unlike many other similar systems of this type, it melds with the car’s network of systems and can be used to view vehicle information, such as the display of the parking sensors (where fitted).
The up! is the World Car of the Year 2012, What Car? Car of the Year for 2012, and has also been named TopGear magazine’s Small Car of the Year.
UK deliveries of the five-door up! are expected to start in August. The three-door up! is in Retailers now.
Volkswagen up! model line-up and pricing
| Model | Engine derivative | CO2, g/km | Combined mpg | Price, £ RRP OTR |
| Take up! 3dr | 1.0-litre 60 PS 5 spd manual | 105 | 62.8 | 7,995 |
| Take up! 5dr | 1.0-litre 60 PS 5 spd manual | 105 | 62.8 | 8,360 |
| Move up! 3dr | 1.0-litre 60 PS 5 spd manual | 105 | 62.8 | 9,080 |
| Move up! 5dr | 1.0-litre 60 PS 5 spd manual | 105 | 62.8 | 9,445 |
| Move up! BlueMotion Technology 3dr | 1.0-litre 60 PS 5 spd manual | 95 | 68.9 | 9,440 |
| Move up! BlueMotion Technology 5dr | 1.0-litre 60 PS 5 spd manual | 95 | 68.9 | 9,805 |
| High up! 3dr | 1.0-litre 75 PS 5 spd manual | 108 | 60.1 | 10,515 |
| High up! 5dr | 1.0-litre 75 PS 5 spd manual | 108 | 60.1 | 10,880 |
| High up! BlueMotion Technology 3dr | 1.0-litre 75 PS 5 spd manual | 98 | 67.3 | 10,875 |
| High up! BlueMotion Technology 5dr | 1.0-litre 75 PS 5 spd manual | 98 | 67.3 | 11,240 |
| up! Black 3dr | 1.0-litre 75 PS 5 spd manual | 108 | 60.1 | 11,305 |
| up! Black 5dr | 1.0-litre 75 PS 5 spd manual | 108 | 60.1 | 11,670 |
| up! White 3dr | 1.0-litre 75 PS 5 spd manual | 108 | 60.1 | 11,305 |
| up! White 5dr | 1.0-litre 75 PS 5 spd manual | 108 | 60.1 | 11,670 |
