Classic pearls of the future - VW Up! GTI
05/06/2019
With the Golf GTI, Volkswagen launched a smash hit in September 1975 that became the model for an entire vehicle category. Since then, there has been a Golf GTI in every Golf generation, but the car itself has become bigger and more powerful. Not much remained of the slender runabout weighing just under 800 kg with 110 hp ... until the Up! GTI.
If you want to know the performance data of the Up! GTI, which was presented at Wörthersee in 2017 and has been in series production since January 2018, with the original Golf GTI, you will find some interesting similarities. Both are very compact, weigh less than a ton and have roughly the same power level, as the front wheels of the Up! are driven by 115 hp.
The Up! GTI also has many features of the old GTI, such as checkered seat fabrics, red trim and, of course, the GTI badge. Like the original GTI, the Up! GTI also has a manual gearbox, although today it has six forward gears, and a dual-clutch gearbox has been dispensed with (for the time being?).
However, there are also considerable differences between the two GTIs. For example, the Up! only has three cylinders, but a turbo to develop its power. The wheels have grown to 17 inches and the Up! GTI is available as a five-door model right from the start, whereas the Golf was only available with rear doors later.
In terms of driving performance, however, there is again a parallelism, while the new model is naturally ahead in terms of fuel consumption.
The Up! GTI therefore embodies many of the old GTI ingredients and at a very reasonable price. It still lets the driver shift gears himself and dispenses with digital cockpits and oversized LCD displays. Will it be maintainable in the distant future? We hope so, because we see it as a classic pearl of the future that will hopefully still be a joy to drive in 20 years or more.
