Picked up my new Dark Blue High Up! today and drove it home from the dealer for 2 hours. Got a £1000 pounddiscount through drive the deal (which was all highly efficient), and free insurance for a year through VW + the £250 3yr service pack so should be very cheap to run.Here are my first impressionsand a few questions.
The Good:
Looks really smart.
Drives very nicely - especially is fun on smaller roads between 0-50mph. On the motorway it was
fine at 70-80mph but as expected a bit noisier than a bigger more expensive car, so you wouldn't
want to use it at those speeds for long periods or that often.
The not so good:
Vibrates a lot at idle. I know it is a 3 cylinder but it does seem to vibrate a bit excessively when at
idle - i.e. when stopped in traffic jams or when first starting.
Doesn't seem to make any difference whether theengine is warm or not. The vibration goes right
through my body which is a bit unpleasant. As soon as it starts moving thevibration mainlydisappears.
Seeing as this is a city car it is supposed to spend quite a lot of time in start/stop traffic & so I
am a bit surprised by this and wish I had asked the dealer. So, question is whether this is normal
or should I get it checked by a dealer? Maybe theidlespeed is set too low, although seems to be at about
1000rpm which is normal for other cars I've driven. Any advise welcome. Will this improve with
time? Anyone got the their vibrations reduced by a trip to the dealer?
The gloss dash causes weird reflections when driving in daylight. Do you get used to this? It is certainly ratheroff putting and I hadn't really noticed it in the test drive. I went for a white dash (as I test drove an Up White and liked it). Not 100%
sure that was a good decision now as although it looks good and brightens up the cabin it does
rather stand out when you are driving in daylight (i.e. your eyes are drawn to it which wouldn't
be the case with a darker dash). I guess I'll get used to it though. I do think VW should offer
some matt dash options in High Up! spec as gloss is probably not sensible really.
As expected the radio is a bit poor compared to bigger cars. It just sounds a bit tinny (even with the
sound pack), and is abit difficult to hear on the motorway. At lower speeds it is OK.
The CD player sounds fineat lower speeds. I got the DAB radio option. The DAB channels sound slightly worse than theequivalent FM ones. Not a big problem as I'll probably only use DAB for talk channels such
as BBC R5 that aren't on FM.
On the M&M I can't work out what the 'Think Blue' circular graphics mean. The dealer couldn't
really understand it either. Exactly how it helps you drive more efficiently is a bit of a mystery.
I've already got caught out leaving the parcel shelf up! I guess you also get used to this!
Anyway I am looking forward to getting used to the car more. Will post some pics when I get
a chance and it stops raining.
The Good:
Looks really smart.
Drives very nicely - especially is fun on smaller roads between 0-50mph. On the motorway it was
fine at 70-80mph but as expected a bit noisier than a bigger more expensive car, so you wouldn't
want to use it at those speeds for long periods or that often.
The not so good:
Vibrates a lot at idle. I know it is a 3 cylinder but it does seem to vibrate a bit excessively when at
idle - i.e. when stopped in traffic jams or when first starting.
Doesn't seem to make any difference whether theengine is warm or not. The vibration goes right
through my body which is a bit unpleasant. As soon as it starts moving thevibration mainlydisappears.
Seeing as this is a city car it is supposed to spend quite a lot of time in start/stop traffic & so I
am a bit surprised by this and wish I had asked the dealer. So, question is whether this is normal
or should I get it checked by a dealer? Maybe theidlespeed is set too low, although seems to be at about
1000rpm which is normal for other cars I've driven. Any advise welcome. Will this improve with
time? Anyone got the their vibrations reduced by a trip to the dealer?
The gloss dash causes weird reflections when driving in daylight. Do you get used to this? It is certainly ratheroff putting and I hadn't really noticed it in the test drive. I went for a white dash (as I test drove an Up White and liked it). Not 100%
sure that was a good decision now as although it looks good and brightens up the cabin it does
rather stand out when you are driving in daylight (i.e. your eyes are drawn to it which wouldn't
be the case with a darker dash). I guess I'll get used to it though. I do think VW should offer
some matt dash options in High Up! spec as gloss is probably not sensible really.
As expected the radio is a bit poor compared to bigger cars. It just sounds a bit tinny (even with the
sound pack), and is abit difficult to hear on the motorway. At lower speeds it is OK.
The CD player sounds fineat lower speeds. I got the DAB radio option. The DAB channels sound slightly worse than theequivalent FM ones. Not a big problem as I'll probably only use DAB for talk channels such
as BBC R5 that aren't on FM.
On the M&M I can't work out what the 'Think Blue' circular graphics mean. The dealer couldn't
really understand it either. Exactly how it helps you drive more efficiently is a bit of a mystery.
I've already got caught out leaving the parcel shelf up! I guess you also get used to this!
Anyway I am looking forward to getting used to the car more. Will post some pics when I get
a chance and it stops raining.