Published:
27 August 2024The all-round ride composure, remarkable road-appropriate suppleness, assured grip level and progressive body control that were the dynamic hallmarks of VW’s bigger GTI hatchbacks weren't easily conjured in the smaller Up GTI.
Compared to the Up GTI’s rivals, it was clear that some key compromises were made in order to improve its handling.
The car rode like an Up that had been lowered on its springs, and firmed up in its suspension in more ways than one – though perhaps not so carefully honed. It was a busy, reactive and excitable car to be in when travelling at a decent clip on a typical country road, and plainly one of a fairly short wheelbase that would often fall into sunken hollows and rebound out of them.
The car’s ride composure was often somewhat lacking when serious questions were asked of its chassis, and its anti-roll settings were also quite unforgiving.
The Up GTI didn't exactly dart into corners or change direction with anything like, say, a Mini Cooper. It would have to gather itself on its outside contact patches and think, for an instant, every time you turn the wheel.
This Up wasn't a car that rolled to extremes; in fact, it maintained a surprisingly flat body control. Once you’d got it turned in, however, you were made aware that the lateral grip level at your disposal was quite delicate and that you could move the car around underneath you, by deploying power or taking it away, quite freely.
Freely, that is, up to a point: when the non-switchable stability control system called time on your fun and activated the brakes to bring the car’s rear axle back into line.
