Up GTI - a good 2nd "fun" family runabout?

[daveknott5]

Considering a 5 door one of these as our 2nd car - will mostly be doing 5-30 mile round trips. It needs to be able to ferry the kids and sometimes their friends around, but be both fun and relatively economical to drive without being an uncomfortable ball-ache.

Anybody had one and got any opinions?

[jet_noise]

Family - no idea.
Fun - yes, a tiny hoot. Even more on smaller wheels IMHO.
Economical - typically 50mpg.
Noisier on the motorway.

[somouk]

Everything I've seen is that they are great little cars. I have a Mii electric which is the same size and there is plenty of room in it for 4 people so long as they are kids and not 6ft or over.

Boot is tiny.

[jet_noise]

somouk said:

Everything I've seen is that they are great little cars. I have a Mii electric which is the same size and there is plenty of room in it for 4 people so long as they are kids and not 6ft or over.

Boot is tiny.

Is it smaller than the petrols'?
I feel it's adequate for the car. A (mildly!) hidden section under a false floor and a spare wheel well below that. Which is mostly filled with subwoofer if you've bangin' Beats and tools in the GTi (jack etc).

[somouk]

jet_noise said:

Is it smaller than the petrols'?
I feel it's adequate for the car. A (mildly!) hidden section under a false floor and a spare wheel well below that. Which is mostly filled with subwoofer if you've bangin' Beats and tools in the GTi (jack etc).

Adequate for the car is probably a fair statement. Not sure the electric one is smaller than the petrol but no spare wheel well or flase floor thingy.

[Johnnytheboy]

My Up! is used for this sort of thing (minus kids).

I love it, the only red flag I'd give you is comfortable it isn't, it's very hard sprung!

[KarlMac]

I can’t comment on the GTI but I had a poverty spec Up as a courtesy car and it was bloody fantastic in the way only tiny underpowered cars can be. I can’t imagine it would be any worse with a bit more power and better suspension.

It had the same issue as my Lupos, more than enough room for 4 people but you sacrifice boot space for this.

[jet_noise]

Johnnytheboy said:

My Up! is used for this sort of thing (minus kids).

I love it, the only red flag I'd give you is comfortable it isn't, it's very hard sprung!

Recommended "comfort" tyre pressures help. Some say 205/40 MPS are better than the standard 195/45 Goodyears.

It's another reason why I prefer smaller wheel with winter tyres - taller profile makes a big difference IMHO.
I also like the greater adjustability, can be made to dance rather than just grip.

[ajap1979]

There’s a thread in Car Buying at the moment. I’ve add my thoughts there.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[itcaptainslow]

Depending on the size of the children and number of friends, it might be a bit small. Otherwise they’re great little cars-just a warning if you have a problem, the backup from VW is atrocious.

[daveknott5]

ajap1979 said:

There’s a thread in Car Buying at the moment. I’ve add my thoughts there.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Thanks pal - great link

[Antony Moxey]

Not sure on the Up but we have a two door Mii and I'm sure there's only two seats in the back so it's a four seater and not five. As for driving, it's a proper hoot so a GTi must be a real blast. Oh for a 200bhp Mii!