A game changer for Australian mini car buyers with Volkswagen launching the world-acclaimed Up city car with prices starting at just $13,990.
That lays down a challenge for established mini car stars like the Suzuki Alto and Holden Barina Spark, Honda City and Nissan Micra.
As always, the detailed specification differences between the brands will be headache-inducing for prospective buyers. While the Volkswagen Up is only a four-seater, included in the extras are a $500 pack called ‘Maps and More’ which, as the name suggests, brings satellite navigation, audio and Bluetooth streaming and 32gb hard-drive music storage.
Or how about this for a price-busting compact car: for $600, Volkswagen Up can add a ‘Comfort Pack’ with cruise control and rear parking sensors.
Safety also gets a big tick with Up bringing to the compact car segment ‘City Emergency Braking’.
Power comes from Volkswagen’s turbocharged 1.0-litre, three-cylinder petrol engine with 55kW/95Nm driving through a five-speed manual transmission.
Styling is Volkswagen’s usual slick job inside and out while size-wise the Up, at 3540mm is about 524mm shorter than Volkswagen’s compact Polo hatchback.
At launch the Volkswagen Up lineup looks like this:
3-door manual $13,990
5-door manual $14,990
