The VW UP Gti - What do we all think?

Raymond Lin · 23 Feb 2018 at 16:56

OspreyO said:
Yeah.. but I miss Nicoooooollllle..........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y0KC0ThMzs

Papa?

HoneyBadger · 23 Feb 2018 at 19:18

I wonder if they will do an ‘R’ version. If they do, I’ll buy one.

adam cool dude · 23 Feb 2018 at 20:44

HoneyBadger said:
See if you can get an extended test drive.

Also, those banging on about drum brakes, my 2014 180BHP VW Amarok which weighs about two tonnes, can carry over a tonne and can tow 3.5 tonnes has massive rear drum brakes under the 19” wheels. In terms of braking performance, there’s nothing wrong with drums at all.

You are hardly going to be doing the kind of driving that warrants discs whereas a hot hatch is going to be driven like a hooligan. There is no cryptic message here. It is a fact that disc brakes offer reduced fade and are a lot better through water and rain. Drums have their positives like for example being used as a parking brake which would be useful in a truck.

Joe T · 24 Feb 2018 at 08:21

adam cool dude said:
You are hardly going to be doing the kind of driving that warrants discs whereas a hot hatch is going to be driven like a hooligan. There is no cryptic message here. It is a fact that disc brakes offer reduced fade and are a lot better through water and rain. Drums have their positives like for example being used as a parking brake which would be useful in a truck.

No-one's disputing the facts. But the point is, you wouldnt notice the difference with drums or discs fitted to the rear of a 113bhp 1-ton warm-hatch. That's why VW have made the decision. There is no cryptic message here. It's about fitting equipment appropriate for the vehicle and it's use. Anything else just adds cost which the buyer ultimately pays for.

HoneyBadger · 24 Feb 2018 at 09:03

adam cool dude said:
You are hardly going to be doing the kind of driving that warrants discs whereas a hot hatch is going to be driven like a hooligan. There is no cryptic message here. It is a fact that disc brakes offer reduced fade and are a lot better through water and rain. Drums have their positives like for example being used as a parking brake which would be useful in a truck.

Clearly you’ve never seen me drive!!!

adam cool dude · 24 Feb 2018 at 12:28

Joe T said:
No-one's disputing the facts. But the point is, you wouldnt notice the difference with drums or discs fitted to the rear of a 113bhp 1-ton warm-hatch. That's why VW have made the decision. There is no cryptic message here. It's about fitting equipment appropriate for the vehicle and it's use. Anything else just adds cost which the buyer ultimately pays for.

Your source for that is?

Joe T · 24 Feb 2018 at 14:23

My 275bhp Morgan which weighs just under 1000kg had drum brakes on the back. It has been used for track days, and gets driven hard regularly.

My 450bhp Pontiac Firebird has drum brakes on the back, and also gets driven hard.

Never had a braking issue on either. Both stop very well indeed.

A 1000kg 113bhp FWD car does not need disc brakes on the back.

Duke · 25 Feb 2018 at 10:34

My old Ford Puma had drums on the back which was 125BHP and weighed just over 1000KG and was fine.

Fluke? · 25 Feb 2018 at 12:24

Whereas the Kia Picanto 68bhp comes with both twin tailpipe exhaust AND rear disks! Factory fitted!

carrot1401 · 25 Feb 2018 at 13:25

Fluke? said:
Whereas the Kia Picanto 68bhp comes with both twin tailpipe exhaust AND rear disks! Factory fitted!

So all style and no substance?

I spoke to my friend about this; and he is of the view a GTi "should" have rear discs, but he can equally see why VW didn't bother. Not gonna stop the modders! Also remember this was originally going to be the Up! GT, NOT GTi. Renualt did something similar too, it's the Twingo GT, not RS because it doesn't warrant the badge. Now you could argue VW have affected "watered down" the GTi badge but who cares? I would have ordered one if it was called GTi, GT or R-Line

HoneyBadger · 25 Feb 2018 at 13:52

As above, if they did an ‘R’ version. With 180-200BHP and a 6 speed manual box.

That would be a hoot to drive.

Kenai · 25 Feb 2018 at 13:55

There won't be anything of that sort of power as the engine bay is designed around the 1.0 three cylinder, I don't think any of the 4 cylinders fit

HoneyBadger · 25 Feb 2018 at 13:57

Unless VW designed a VR4 twin turbo!

Yeah, I know...

carrot1401 · 25 Feb 2018 at 18:23

Kenai said:
There won't be anything of that sort of power as the engine bay is designed around the 1.0 three cylinder, I don't think any of the 4 cylinders fit

Correct, this is pretty much it for the Up in terms of engine development, not really much further you can go without a massive redesign.

carrot1401 · 25 Feb 2018 at 22:17

HoneyBadger said:
As above, if they did an ‘R’ version. With 180-200BHP and a 6 speed manual box.

That would be a hoot to drive.

Well it's half way there, this is 113hp version already has a 6 speed box!

Sargatanas2511 · 26 Feb 2018 at 09:50

They might struggle to extract 180bhp without making the car weigh a lot more though. It could end up ruining the balance.

DampDog · 26 Feb 2018 at 13:00

Sargatanas2511 said:
They might struggle to extract 180bhp without making the car weigh a lot more though. It could end up ruining the balance.

Those are my thoughts. Throwing everything at bar the kitchen sink just to get the power up would probably ruin a decent little car. If the power goes up it would need bigger brakes, they are heavier so the suspension would need looking at, springs, dampers, anti-roll bars etc. Plus it all costs money and add weight, so you are then creeping up on Polo Gti (or equivalent) territory. That comes with 190bhp and 6 speed or DSG out of the box.

Personally I would have thought a basic re-map to take it to 120bhp would be more than enough to make it a really decent little car. I've already watched one review that says engine wise, it already goes better the a Lupo Gti, with lots more usable torque pretty much everywhere.

I've never really understood the I'll buy car "A" and spend a load of cash on it to make it as fast as car "B" why not just save yourself a load of grief and buy car "B" to begin with? (though I do appreciate some folk just love to fettle with their pride and joy.) I've not seen an Up Gti in the flesh yet, but have seen a 1.0Tsi 90. And that looked well enough.

wesley · 26 Feb 2018 at 15:29

VW obviously doesnt want to make the UP GTI near quick as the polo GTI otherwise most UP customers will get the polo GTI instead for few pennies more.

price/power wise for the UP GTI is just right

Kenai · 26 Feb 2018 at 15:44

DampDog said:
Personally I would have thought a basic re-map to take it to 120bhp would be more than enough to make it a really decent little car.

Remaps are already available for other models using the 113bhp 1.0TSI that take it to 135bhp. That's more than enough to turn an Up GTI from 'fun' to 'really good fun' for those who feel they always need more power to be able to enjoy a car.

DampDog · 26 Feb 2018 at 16:16

wesley said:
VW obviously doesnt want to make the UP GTI near quick as the polo GTI otherwise most UP customers will get the polo GTI instead for few pennies more.

price/power wise for the UP GTI is just right

Yeah, Vdub spend millions marketing their products and pigeonholing them into the place they want them. But I think it's also a balancing act between performance vs reliability. The latest generation of small high-output/low emission engines are quite complex to begin with. Stressing them more than necessary could well be pretty detrimental to reliability. In truth I'm a fan of little cars anyway and it look as though it's been pitched about right.