VW Might Finally Be Making An Up GTI

According to reports, VW is working on a 113bhp Up GTI to give the Abarth 595 a good kicking

25 May 2016

As petrolheads, we can’t help but look at ordinary cars and think ‘hey, wouldn’t that be good with a little more power?’ And one car we’ve thought that about for years is the VW Up - or ‘up!’ if you go by VW’s irritating stylising. After all, the brilliant Lupo GTI deserves a successor, doesn’t it? Well, it might at last be about to get one.

Citing VW engineering officials, Autocar Magazine reports that the company is indeed working on a hot Up GTI. The incoming facelifted Up is already the most powerful ever thanks to its 89bhp, 118lb ft inline-triple, but the dinky city car is set to receive the 113bhp, 147lb ft version of the 1.0-litre lump currently found in the Golf Bluemotion, plus a raft of chassis upgrades.

113bhp doesn’t sound much, but apparently prototypes are good for an 8 second 0-62mph time when equipped with a DSG gearbox - around the same as the old Lupo GTI, and only slightly slower than the more powerful Abarth 595. Oh, and it’ll almost certainly have tartan seats, which the Abarth doesn’t.

Bring it on, we say…

Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.

Comments

I wish that they would had made the Up GTI from the start, so I’d be happy for them to start it now anyway!

I thought the post meant “VW is making Up a GTi” as in a brand car called GTi. American Car guy problems.

would be great. the up is hideously underpowered for b-roads. could make a good 2nd car.

Well, in brazil we actually have an TSI version, with an 1,0 liter turbocharged 3 cylinder engine that makes 105 bhp. Unfortunately, it is only available in the 4 door version. But its something

Here in brazil our tsi has 105hp as vw says but the true number is higher, the basr models doens’t have the glass trunk thats how me differenciate from others, they are already stepping up the game over here, a civic si suffers against it