2015 Volkswagen Club Up 1.0 75 5dr first drive

The Volkswagen Up is already a fine city car, because it does an awful lot, awfully well. In terms of its ride and relative space, for such a pint-sized silhouette, it is quite outstanding.

It could be argued that the regular versions are rather too efficient, however, in the sense that they meter out their brilliance in a slightly bland fashion.

To add a bit of sparkle and ‘up' the ante – if you’ll excuse the pun – VW has launched two new special editions: the Street Up, and the model we are testing today, the Club Up. 

The Club Up is based around the existing High Up, which means that the standard specification is pretty comprehensive. Cast your eye over the brochure and you’ll see that this means highlights such as a leather steering wheel, front foglights, air-con, heated front seats, electric front windows and heated electric door mirrors.

You also get the Garmin-based portable infotainment device that fixes to the top of the dashboard. This has a 5.0in touchscreen to operate the sat-nav, Bluetooth connectivity, MP3 playback and driving information that’s all part of the ‘Maps and More’ package, as VW refer to it. It’s not as good as some of the built-in systems out there, but nevertheless it does the job.

So what else do you get over and above that little lot if you dole out the extra £610 required for the Club model? Well, on the outside you get a choice of ‘Blueberry’ blue or ‘Deep’ black metallic, as well as a set of rather fetching 16in alloy wheels. It also comes with privacy glass on the windows aft of the B-pillars, plus silver-capped door mirrors and silver decals low down on the doors and wings.

Inside you get shiny sill kick plates, a black roof lining, special carpet mats and smart tartan cloth trim. As far as value goes that’s not bad, because just to add alloys and metallic paint to a High Up would cost an extra £880.

The version we tried was a five-door with the ‘Blueberry’ paint, and the general consensus in the car park was that it looks very smart indeed. The combination of dark glass and alloys that fill up the wheel arches makes the Club Up stand out from the masses, but stops short of being gauche.

This tester is a pathetic sucker for retro-marketing done well, so the Up’s body-coloured dash, tartan trim and fancy decals pulled me in hook, line and sinker. Yes, it’s all a touch pastiche, but it triggered happy memories of past rides in classic Beetles and Mk1 Golfs. It conspires to give the Up an extra dimension and starts to unwind the sense it’s just a machine, bereft of any character.

Elsewhere it’s classic Up. The ride is exceptional for a city car and can shame a few cars even in the executive bracket. Meanwhile, the handling is fun to a degree (it’s no Fiesta), but the cherry on top is lovely, direct steering that lets you place the Up just where you want with ease.

The steering also helps the Up to be light and nimble around town. The tight turning circle and Matchbox proportions also make it as good as any city car for prowling the streets and claiming those elusive parking places.