Volkswagen e-UP! Review

Electrifying.com score

7/10

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Price: £25,585 

Once a cracking small car bargain isn't quite the great deal it was. But if you need small and effiicient. the e-up! is still a fine package


  • Battery size: 32.3kWh
  • Miles per kWh: 5.23
  • E-Rating™: A+

    Click here to find out more about our electric car Efficiency Rating.​

  • Max charge rate: 40 kW
  • Range: 159 miles
  • Battery size: 32.3kWh
  • Miles per kWh: 5.23
  • E-Rating™: A+

    Click here to find out more about our electric car Efficiency Rating.​

  • Max charge rate: 40 kW
  • Range: 159 miles
  • Volkswagen e-up interior
  • Volkswagen e-up charging at charging station
  • Volkswagen e-up parked in car park
  • Electrifying.com E-Rating A+

Nicki Says

“We love the sheer usability of the Up and it's SEAT sister. It might not have the latest tech, but it is fun to drive and has just enough range to take you on longer journeys when needed. Get one on a salary sacrifice scheme and it could cost less per month that your current petrol bill!”

Ginny Says

“The Up is a great little car, but I wish VW would make up its mind about whether it wants to sell it or not. The Skoda and SEAT versions has been and gone and supply of the Volkswagen version is sporadic too. You might have to call a few dealers to find one.”

The little VW is most at home in the city, but its surprisingly capable on the motorway too.

  • 0-60mph:11.9 seconds
  • Top speed:81 mph
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Performance

Small cars like this are built for cities, and the e-UP! has performance that’s perfectly in tune with this role. Because electric motors produce all of their power as soon as you press the accelerator pedal, the little VW feels very perky when you pull away from a standstill. Up until about 20mph it will keep up with far more expensive cars. The acceleration then tails off a little, but it’s never enough to embarrass you or cause concern that you’re getting left behind on the sprint up to dual carriageway speeds. 

The 0-62 time of 11.9 seconds isn’t going to have your kids boasting in the playground, but it’s more than respectable for a city car of this size. It’s unlikely you’re going to be doing sprints like this all the way to work of course, so what this performance potential really means is that you can drive gently enough to conserve the battery without having a queue of traffic building up behind you.

Drive

Driving the e-UP! couldn’t really be any easier. The controls are as simple to operate as any small automatic city car – start, select ‘D’ and move off. The only real difference is the lack of engine noise - although there is a faint, artificially created whirr which is designed to warn pedestrians that a car is nearby. 

Once you’ve had a chance to digest the owner’s manual there are a few other options to make the e-UP! more efficient and perhaps more fun too. You can select four levels of ‘engine’ braking, where the car automatically turns the motor into a generator when you lift off the accelerator or touch the brake. This puts power back into the battery and improves the range. In the most extreme setting, it’s enough to warrant the car putting on the brake lights if you completely take your foot off the throttle pedal. However, it’s not quite enough to mean you can drive without touching the brake at all, as it is in some electric cars (such as the Nissan Leaf and BMW i3).

Other than the pedals, the e-UP! drives like you’d expect – it’s a very grown-up city car which is surprisingly refined and good fun.

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