Attended a VW event yesterday and got behind the wheel of the all-new Beetle and the Up! city car (what is it with punctuation marks in model names? First we had the Kia Cee’d, then the Pro_cee’d for the three-door version, and now the Up!. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when that particular debate was going on). Both cars are excellent and drive exceptionally well. The Up! in particular sets new standards in small car handling. It’s very composed for something with such a small wheelbase and deserves its What Car? Car of the Year honour. The Beetle is also very good on the road, but to the buyer that’s all but irrelevant. People will choose it for the way it looks, as they do with the MINI – with handles very well – and the Fiat 500, which doesn’t. The Beetle’s predecessor, launched in 1999, quickly earned the reputation of being a car for the ladies. That wasn’t helped by the narrow vase on the dashboard. That’s gone now – it’s not even an optional extra – and one of the marketing slogans is ‘less flower, more power’. The car’s styling is certainly more macho, but whether VW can overcome people’s prejudice is another matter. Time will tell.
No comments:
Post a Comment