The VW UP Gti - What do we all think?
- Thread starter Jamesyboyjim
- Start date
Pistonheads in a nutshell tbh. I rarely read their stuff because most of it is guff but I thought of OcUK when I saw that one.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Must have something to do with the price of the things. Minis aren't cheap.
But that's because they're good. And the cooper is only 2k more than that up gti.
Up GTI as tested £14,615
Mini Cooper as tested £21,760
Now granted, a good chunk of that is completely superficial stuff like window tints but given they praise the infotainment which was an £1800 option, it's not as simple as 'only' a £2000 price differential.
yeah, did not enjoy reading that.
literally a lot of fancy words and little about the cars..
But that’s list price, I don’t know what the discounts are like on the UP! But you can get upwards of 10% off the list price of the Mini. The one they tested is also optioned to a level far in excess of the Up!.
I’m amazed by just how good the current Mini is. We’ve had it just over 2 months now and I genuinely think its brilliant – I thought it was going to be a bit better than her last one which was alright for a small car but honestly it’s absolutely fantastic bit of kit. It is incredibly refined for a small car – it’s not really that much worse than my F10 on a long drive – and its crammed full of decent kit that works just as well as it does in a BMW, because it’s the same stuff. It’s like having a tiny 5 Series in some respects
The 3 cylinder petrol engine is a gem – its not fast but it never feels slow and always seems to deliver exactly the right amount of performance. The 1.6 n/a engine in the old one was quite breathless and constantly felt underpowered. It’s good fun to chuck around, it’s reasonably frugal, I love it. I hate small cars yet I genuinelly love driving this Mini.
Most of the stuff people complain about is probably what makes it so good in the first place. Yes it’s not a ‘MINI’ any more, yes its quite large for a small hatch, yes its quite expensive and premium and not cheap and cheerful but all of this stuff joins together to make a car that feels like a small premium car not a cheap city car. Plus when you look at retained value and servicing costs etc it is no more expensive to run than a cheap city car. We had her last one for 5 years from 9 months old and it lost about 100 quid a month in value and had virtually zero other costs.
The boot is crap though.
Then you have to ask why not test apples against apples?
Possibly because a completely unoptioned Mini without the Pepper Pack and Media XL upgrades etc. wouldn't come off so favourably and as so much of a 'tiny 5 series' as Fox describes it. That ability to be like a tiny 5 series though, sounds like exactly why they preferred the Up GTI in some ways. It sounds like they prefer a tiny tin can that's fun to drive even though it's not necessarily technically as competent, which isn't exactly an unheard of concept.
But the options added to the mini don't affect the drive. Which they praise!
They praise it as being more competent but not as fun, it's completely subjective but then it's more opinion piece than serious review anyway isn't it?
I think you're right. Today's (3rd gen) mini is far from small. IdI say it's closest rival is the polo.... Or maybe even the Golf. It's that big!
It's not that big, it offers nothing like the space of a Golf.
polo, clio etc.. small but far from supermini that swift/twingo/up! are.
But that’s list price, I don’t know what the discounts are like on the UP! But you can get upwards of 10% off the list price of the Mini. The one they tested is also optioned to a level far in excess of the Up!.
I’m amazed by just how good the current Mini is. We’ve had it just over 2 months now and I genuinely think its brilliant – I thought it was going to be a bit better than her last one which was alright for a small car but honestly it’s absolutely fantastic bit of kit. It is incredibly refined for a small car – it’s not really that much worse than my F10 on a long drive – and its crammed full of decent kit that works just as well as it does in a BMW, because it’s the same stuff. It’s like having a tiny 5 Series in some respects
The 3 cylinder petrol engine is a gem – its not fast but it never feels slow and always seems to deliver exactly the right amount of performance. The 1.6 n/a engine in the old one was quite breathless and constantly felt underpowered. It’s good fun to chuck around, it’s reasonably frugal, I love it. I hate small cars yet I genuinelly love driving this Mini.
Most of the stuff people complain about is probably what makes it so good in the first place. Yes it’s not a ‘MINI’ any more, yes its quite large for a small hatch, yes its quite expensive and premium and not cheap and cheerful but all of this stuff joins together to make a car that feels like a small premium car not a cheap city car. Plus when you look at retained value and servicing costs etc it is no more expensive to run than a cheap city car. We had her last one for 5 years from 9 months old and it lost about 100 quid a month in value and had virtually zero other costs.
The boot is crap though.
What alloys and tyres are you running on that Mini, Fox?
We've got a 2014 Cooper S and the 18" runflats make it run nothing like a mini 5 Series!
It's crashy and bumpy as hell, but the missus likes the aesthetics...
What alloys and tyres are you running on that Mini, Fox?
We've got a 2014 Cooper S and the 18" runflats make it run nothing like a mini 5 Series!
It's crashy and bumpy as hell, but the missus likes the aesthetics...
17 inch non rfts
