Volkswagen Up! GTi arrives to cast a performance glow on VW’s Up range

The Volkswagen Up! GTi has been revealed as VW’s new hot little city car, complete with a lively 113bhp three-cylinder turbo petrol engine.

Just last week we revealed Volkswagen are about to launch a new GTi, and this time it would be for the Up! Range of little city cars, and here it is – the 2018 Volkswagen Up! GTi.

Expected to go on sale in the UK in early 2018 – and costing around £14.5k – the Up! Gti aims to take the fight to cars like the Abarth 500, although it’s doing that with a chunk less power.

In fact, the Up! Gti makes do with a 1.0 litre, three-cylinder turbo petrol good for 113bhp, but at under a tonne in weight it should be enough to make the Up! GTi feel pretty lively in the real world.

The GTi’s power goes to the front wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox and VW claim it can hit 62mph in 8.8 seconds on its way to a top speed of 122mph,

VW seem keen to make the Up! GTi act like a proper performance model, so you get retuned suspension with tweaked dampers and springs, a lower ride height and even a sound actuator to make the exhaust sound a bit more fruity than the little three-pot can deliver without help.

Unsurprisingly, the Up! GTi also comes in for some cosmetic titivation to look like a VW GTi should, with tweaked bumpers,  cornering fogs, GTi badges, honeycomb grille, splashes of red and a set of 17” ‘Brands Hatch’ alloys.

Inside there’s red pixel trim, chequered upholstery, flat-bottomed steering wheel, GTi badges and more so you know you’re in a ‘sporty’ VW.

The Volkswagen Up! GTi  will go on sale in early 2018 and be available as a three-door and five-door model.