VW Up - why does anyone buy them?
- Thread starter Hades
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Took my test in a Triumph Toledo 1.3 way back when.....was a 4 speed, yep, and even third was not happy approaching 60mph!
Back on topic, we looked at the Up! as well as the Seat (Mii) and Skoda (Citigo) cars as our 2nd car. The idea was something with 5 doors that could be used for all the kids ferrying, trips to supermarket and so on - all wrapped up in cheap insurance and tax, but new enough so that it would be trouble-free (or warrantied) for the next 3yrs. In the end, however, as has been said herein, by the time you get a few decent options (aircon, for example) the price tends to go up quite markedly.......so we just felt we might as well jump in an A1 instead, as the spec - even for base models - is way ahead and, £ for £, the difference really is not so much.
Still, great to see such cars, but they are - understandably - not without compromise.
Just my 2p
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No need to come out the typical way lads, buy yourself a C1 and let the world know!
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Spoke to a Car Salesman (VW) at the Leeds cruise a couple of weeks ago (for anyone in West Yorks 2nd Saturday of each month B&Q car park outside Burger King off ring road - you get all sorts there, mostly yanks but anything goes apart from the chavvy boy racer crap) and he said they were selling loads of ups, more than any other car at the moment. I can only guess its young drivers or retired types. They make sense as a city car but I'd hate to be stuck in one for hours at motorway speeds. The weak petrol motors need some working.
'Back in the day' my first car was a mini (old shape) and it was a bouncy, breathless, noisy thing. That said it was lighter than most modern cars will be and that's the problem with these little cars - power not much different from my mini, but the weigh is.
That said my mini was a piece of ****e that hated starting on a morning and cut out going through puddles. Not as bad as my cousins maestro which apart from being really crap in all areas would also 'run on' after the key was taken out and we were walking away.
The Up! might not be a great car if you're a driver, but reliability is light years ahead of the old sheds most of us knocked about in.
'Back in the day' my first car was a mini (old shape) and it was a bouncy, breathless, noisy thing. That said it was lighter than most modern cars will be and that's the problem with these little cars - power not much different from my mini, but the weigh is.
That said my mini was a piece of ****e that hated starting on a morning and cut out going through puddles. Not as bad as my cousins maestro which apart from being really crap in all areas would also 'run on' after the key was taken out and we were walking away.
The Up! might not be a great car if you're a driver, but reliability is light years ahead of the old sheds most of us knocked about in.
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Pardon me if I don't rush out and buy one on Evo's recommendation... Inner Lotus Elise indeed.
These modern little "super-minis" are fantastic little cars compared to how small cars used to be. I too had a mini, I actually really liked it, but eck was it hard work. Pretty much every weekend it needed tlc just to keep it running. Early minis were shocking for not liking the damp and wet. In heavy rain the wipers would just give in. Every few weeks the front ball joints needed shimming, and all the other joints needed greasing. Mine had a party trick of simply throwing the wiper arms off the car when you needed them most. I've even had the gear stick come off I my hand and the clutch master cylinder empty it's contents over my foot!! And brakes! LOL.. At least they taught you how to anticipate..
The Up and it's likes are dream cars by comparison. They start first time everytime, need an hours worth of servicing once in a blue moon, have brakes that will stop them on a sixpence with ABS. Safety wise they are light years away from small cars of the past, Air-bags, crumple-zones. For what they do they're ideal, city-car, second car, general run about. If you need them to hit the motorway they will do that too. They not be as quiet or as comfortable as something larger but they will do it. In my first mini a 6-800 mile round trip would be like putting a man on the moon. These little car won't even blink, just film em up and go. They're great on fuel, cheap to insure, what more can you ask? You probably won't be able to fix em with spanner and a screwdriver like you could old cars. Chances are they won't go wrong anyway.
My first car was a Mini and I had a fairly new one but it was still a bugger for breaking. I used to snap engine mounts and exhaust mounts often, its brakes were in constant need of adjustment and were never very good and it leaked through the bottom of the car and around the doors. Rust needed to be kept in check and generally it needed to be fettled but with a lowered steering column it was great fun to hustle about using its 45bhp to the maximum!
LOL.. I forgot about dodgy engine mounts. What a pig of a job too.
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Mine used to lose its brakes. Last time was down a really steep hill in Harrogate. Used handbrake and gears to screech to a halt about a foot from a junction. Foot to floor, nothing.
Managed to get it home (handbrake, gears) and the brake nipples had 'unscrewed themselves' as far as I could tell. Tighten up, fill up, bleed, all ok but after the horrors of the drum brakes then my disc upgrade not exactly being fantastic (and failing) I was finally glad to get shut of the thing and walked instead for a few months. As others mentioned, old mini was a great idea but only if you are handy with spanners and don't mind getting your hands mucky.
Worst shed I owned was a Citroen Bx. The pneumatic fluid ****ed out at every opportunity and I got quite proficient at driving about without a foot brake, power steering or suspension. When the clutch cable snapped as well, I became quite the expert at driving without steering, brakes, suspension or gears. And when the engine started clattering and cutting out every now and again (to mysteriously restart moments later) I only shrugged. Par for the course.
I think the final straw came when the door solenoid gave up and locked me in so I had to climb over the passenger side to get in and out. The car was trying to tell me something I think.
Can't see modern cars doing that, but I can see repair bills being higher as there's less for a diy mechanic to do with every new generation of car, hence £100+ an hour for labour...
Managed to get it home (handbrake, gears) and the brake nipples had 'unscrewed themselves' as far as I could tell. Tighten up, fill up, bleed, all ok but after the horrors of the drum brakes then my disc upgrade not exactly being fantastic (and failing) I was finally glad to get shut of the thing and walked instead for a few months. As others mentioned, old mini was a great idea but only if you are handy with spanners and don't mind getting your hands mucky.
Worst shed I owned was a Citroen Bx. The pneumatic fluid ****ed out at every opportunity and I got quite proficient at driving about without a foot brake, power steering or suspension. When the clutch cable snapped as well, I became quite the expert at driving without steering, brakes, suspension or gears. And when the engine started clattering and cutting out every now and again (to mysteriously restart moments later) I only shrugged. Par for the course.
I think the final straw came when the door solenoid gave up and locked me in so I had to climb over the passenger side to get in and out. The car was trying to tell me something I think.
Can't see modern cars doing that, but I can see repair bills being higher as there's less for a diy mechanic to do with every new generation of car, hence £100+ an hour for labour...
Close mate of mine had a BX. He called it "Christine" because he swore the car was trying to kill him...
The suspension had a will of it's own.I suspect you're right with the ever increasing labour rates. Plus the need to plug the things into "HAL 9000" to do diagnostics and resets. "Good morning Dave, your clutch is knack'd that will be £400. How would you like to pay?"
I can't see it being long before we see the cost of a service popping up on the dash among other things.
But to be honest I'm not as agile as I was to be crawling under cars anymore.