The Volkswagen up! GTI - Worthy Of The GTI badge?

The first ever story I read on Volkswagen's new up! GTI, the writer thought it was so good, that they went out and bought one. This intrigued me, and I was lucky enough to be invited to a Volkswagen UK drive event that was showcasing the new up! GTI model. The car is the smallest and cheapest GTI in the Volkswagen range, but is the car worthy of the GTI badging?

The original GTI was first introduced by VW in 1976 with the Golf MK1 and Scirocco models. Since then, the German manufacturer has added the badge to the Lupo, Polo and even the Passat model. 2018 brings the turn of the up!. On paper, the new model is powered by a 999cc, turbocharged engine, that produces 113BHP and 200NM of torque. This really isn't bad, considering the little car weighs just 1,070KG. It's little wonder that the little pocket rocket has won GQ's 'Scream If You Want to Go Faster' award for 2018.

The up! GTI will reach 60MPH in 8.8 seconds and has a top speed of 122MPH. So how does this stack up? The car compares with the Renault Twingo GT, having a 0-60MPH time of 10.8 seconds and a top speed of 103MPH. It is also comparable with Abarth’s 595 model, which has a 0-60MPH time of 7.8 seconds and a top speed of 131MPH. Pricewise, the up! GTI starts from £13,750, whereas the Renault starts from £13,390 and the Abarth £17,816.

The exterior of the GTI has been improved dramatically over the normal up! model, as can be expected. The wheels have grown to 17" and the car has been given a chrome tipped exhaust and side stripes that go back to the original 70's Golf. The car has been lowered by 15mm too, this is due to the sports suspension, attempting to give the car a more dynamic look. The paint colours available reminisce the original Golf, and Pure White, Tungsten Silver Metallic, Tornado Red and Deep Black Pearl are the colour options available. Owners can opt for a contrasting black roof, but I'd recommend going for the £710 optional panoramic roof instead. The up! GTI looks brilliant, with darkened rear windows and boot and a cheeky little rear spoiler, it really gives the car a sporty feel. Unfortunately, the red brake callipers that wrap the discs at the front of the car are insulted by brake drums at the rear - not very GTI-like.

Stepping inside, you can't help but feel like you're in a proper GTI. The flat bottomed steering wheel features the GTI badge, and has contrasting red stitching, which I loved. The instrument cluster behind the wheel was simple, a rev counter, a speedometer and fuel gauge. All other information can be located on a little black located underneath the speedo. The seats are wrapped in the familiar GTI Jakara Red checked cloth, which are heated as standard in the front. The seat heaters were powerful and came on quickly, which became very useful after a lot of jumping in and out of the car! The "GTI pixel red dash pad" sounded like a cool feature, but I couldn't help but feel that this was a poor interior feature. I felt that this was an attempt to match the Abarth dashboard and it felt a little bit too plastic for my liking. The gear stick was a little underwhelming too, just six numbers with a GTI badge between them, I was expecting something a little more exciting than this. I drove a 5-door model, and found leg room was a little limited in the rear. I'm 5"11, and felt the rear space was a little cramped. Two, fully grown adults would be cosy in the back, but these seats would be more suited to children.

The sound system revolves around a 5 inch colour screen in the centre of the car, which is connected to 4x 20W speakers, which after a little bit of adjusting the equaliser, provided good sound. Above the screen was a built in sat nav mount. It took me a while to figure out how to use it, but once I opened it, I found that it fit most mobile phone sizes. This was helpful as the up! GTI doesn't have an optional extra for a built in sat nav. Instead you can use your mobile, and the mount even has a USB port tucked away behind it to charge. The up! Maps and More app can be used with this to link your phone to the car via Bluetooth, providing maps, driving data and media playback.

My biggest shock was the start-up of the little car. The exhaust note really did make a rumble which isn't something you'd expect from an up! model, but hey, this is a GTI. We were told by the press guys that we would burst out laughing when putting the pedal to the metal for the first time, and they weren't wrong. The noise from hitting the accelerator was unreal, and I couldn't quite believe the sound that the little 1.0L engine could make. Don't be fooled like I was though, the up! GTI puts artificial noise into the cabin to make it sound louder than it is. So don't be sat at the traffic lights thinking everyone can hear you, because it's really quite quiet! Despite this, the artificial noise is incredibly lifelike, and I found myself keeping the revs high just so I could keep hearing that noise, which just added to the fun of driving the up!.

Fuel efficiency was about right for a GTI, and after driving the car hard through the hills of Wales, I managed an average miles per gallon of around 40MPG. Volkswagen claim that the up! GTI can reach 68.9MPG. The car was a real pleasure to drive and had no lack of power, overtaking was never a problem and getting the car up to speed was easy. Once behind the wheel, you forget your driving a little 3.6M long car and just enjoy driving the pocket rocket. Volkswagen engineered the up! GTI to pay homage to the original Golf MK1 GTI, and I think they've done just that with this brilliant little model, which well and truly lives up to the GTI badge.

A cracking little car - Image from @wb_iom

A cracking little car - Image from @wb_iom