PoloDriver

We’ve already tested mid-range Move Up and top-end High Up versions of Volkswagen’s new city car and both bring a new feeling of luxury to the class. We were keen therefore to try the most basic version, too, and were rewarded with the opportunity at Volkswagen UK’s recent regional driving activity. Based on the same five-door body shell as the High Up we tested at the same event, the Take Up forgoes the body-coloured door handles and mirrors of its siblings higher up (!) the range ladder, and makes do with a set of flush-fitting wheel trims rather than alloy wheels.

It still looks upmarket enough, though. One notable aspect of penny pinching is in the cabin, where the Take Up features a once-piece ‘standard’ dashboard moulding, just as in other cars in the VW range. Not for this miser the body-coloured or piano black dashboard strip featured on higher-specification cars, and we must admit, it’s a bit of a disappointment after the contrast gloss finishes on the two other cars we’ve driven. But, it’s probably more in keeping with the car’s ‘honest’ nature. We’ve come across it before in the Up’s Skoda Citigo cousin.

Otherwise, the Up experience is much the same. OE12 VCM was powered by the lower-output 59bhp three-cylinder engine, but you’d be hard pressed to notice any discernible difference between the two – the 74bhp unit does fell slightly more relaxed at higher speeds, but with both engines developing the same 70lb ft of torque between the same 3000-4300rpm, there’s very little in it. The same nicely weighted steering is still very much in evidence, too, as is the comfortable and class-leading ride. Performance and economy figures aren’t that different from other versions, either.

Just as in the High Up we drove, the five-door Take Up also features pop-out rear windows as opposed to sliding panes. Though here they may work better, as the cost-cutting feel that they emanate is more in keeping with the more ‘basic’ nature of the car. That the general specification is anything but (when compared to a similar size of car even just 10 years ago) is beside the point. The base model Take Up generally doesn’t feel that basic at all: its just its higher-specification siblings have spoiled us. Overall, it’s another very strong weapon in VW’s class-leading sales cannon.

VOLKSWAGEN TAKE UP
Price: £8360
Engine: 1.0-litre three cylinder
Transmission: Five-speed manual
Power/torque: 59bhp/70lb ft @ 3000-4300rpm
0-62mph: 14.4 seconds
Top speed: 99mph
Economy/CO2: 62.8mpg/105g/km
Equipment: 14” steel wheels with full-size wheel trims, RCD 215 radio system
On sale: Now
Find out more: www.volkswagen.co.uk/new/up-nf/home