Back in 2012, the Volkswagen group introduced three new small cars. We had the VW Up!, Seat Mii and Skoda Citigo. The cars had different brand names, but basically they all had the same VW mechanical DNA.
It was a clever piece of marketing, but also a bit annoying using an exclamation mark in the title. There were three versions, the entry level Take Up, the mid-range was known as the Move Up and the top of the range was the High Up. Prices started at €10,995.
Now the VW Up! is back as an electric car and is known as the e-Up! I don’t like people using the exclamation mark in every sentence so for the rest of this review I will just call it the e-UP.
Back in 2019 the Up got a make-over and this is the electric version we now have. Naturally in the intervening 11 years the price has climbed and the entry price is now €27,850. Naturally the car is much more modern than the version from 2012 and inside the only item that you may remember is the sturdy old-style handbrake, which is always welcome.
This is a city car and it would be ideal as a second car in the family where not a huge amount of driving is done. If you have a home charger you can get up to 250km on a full charge from the 32.3kWh battery. Depending on your daily commute you should get close to a week’s driving on a full charge.
It’s a four door and while you could squeeze three children into the back seat, the e-Up only caters for four adults in comfort. The rear windows don’t roll down, just open out ever so slightly.
On the dash there is a nice touch of silver which certainly brightens up the interior. Most modern electric cars are started by pressing a button on the dash, but the e-Up has an old-fashioned ignition key.
The boot is small but very deep and there is a slot to store away the charging cables. My test car had a tiny reversing camera, but really you can turn this car on the proverbial sixpence and shouldn’t need a reversing camera.
Unlike most modern cars there is no 10- or 12-inch infotainment screen on the dash, just a clamper into which your mobile phone slots in.
Basically it’s a very simple lay-out on the dash. There are two decent-sized dials for the A/C, otherwise everything is small and neat. You get a three-dial instrument binnacle in front of you, with a small digital display that gives you battery range and other trip computer information.
There is a vanity mirror for the front seat passenger, but none on the driver’s side. A cream roofline adds to be bright interior décor. There is also plenty of glass at the back, in fact the rear door is all glass, apart from the frame.
The starting price is €27,850 and as usual the more goodies you request, the higher the price. Road tax is €140.
Yes, it’s small, but it’s also very tidy around town and so easy to handle.
It has been suggested that if everybody started buying small economical cars like the e-Up back in 2012, rather that big SUV’s, we would have a cleaner environment by now. But that’s a debate for another day.
