I've got one as a free courtesy car from my Indy VW/Skoda garage at the moment. It's only a 1.0 engine and a basic model, but I think I'm in love [\blush]

It's a great little car for getting from A to B, commuting around town or to work. It handles like a little go-cart. OK, so doesnt have much oomph, but when it's going it's great. Fuel economy seems impressive too.

Inside it seems much bigger than it is. In the front it is not cramped or crowded and feels spacious. It's not until you get out and look at it you realise that you are almost sitting in the back! However, as an experiment i sat in the back behind the drivers seat set for me (6ft) and I found to my suprise that I could fit and my knees were no where near the back of the front seat! Now how did they do that?!

Downside is the boot. More of a glove box really. I couldn't even get a weeks food shopping in there for a family of 4, let alone a lot of camera equipment and flash etc. And for that reason I couldn't have one. Apart from that they are great.

Oh, other downside is they are suited to womens feet. If you have size 10 or over then it is a little tight on the foot room to get to the brake pedal! Eeeek!

I learnt in a Lupo! good little car, the 1.7d was a little on the rolly polly side of handling though!

as for feet try driving a 106/saxo!!! I don't know how guys manage to drive them without hitting more than one pedal!!

I had a lupo gti and would go as far as to say it was my favourite

Rare as hens teeth

Could fly along, twin centre tailpipes, xenons and bags of fun

Pricey however!

I've had 7 lupos in total, various different ones petrol and diesel but I've never had a gti model, I used to drive to London 2 or 3 times a week so i loved the 75+ mpg I was getting from the 1.4tdi version. I'm not exactly what you would call svelt and i fit in one ok and never really had any problems with my number 11 feet on the pedals.. however in a ford ka I can press all three at once with one foot

I've hotted them up in my crazy youth too, 1.6 engine, throttle bodies, body kits, coilovers, ridiculous wheels, even retrofitted cruise control to my last tdi( and that was never a factory option on a lupo) took balls of steel taking the engine loom apart on a perfectly work car I can tell you!!... Fantastic cars and I would definitely have another one. I really regret selling my last one as well but a recurring knee injury came back to haunt me so I needed an automatic car for commuting. :'(

I want one of the 1.2tdi 3L 's, 95mpg ! Gotta import though :(

My sister had one as her first car, a blue 1.0. T96 SBB! I quite enjoyed it. No power steering was interesting though!

I was also amazed at the interior space, but it all comes clear when you open the boot..!

Also loved the blue dials. Strange, but they're lovely.

I had a 1.4 16v Sport - loved it!

They are funny little cars.

My other half's Aunt had some car trouble and had to take her Porsche Carrera 4s Convertible of the road. Her husband is in the car business and got her a little Blue 1.0 Lupo poverty spec. She wasn't impressed at first but grew to love thrashing it around.

Wasn't quite the same on the Autobahn for her though and she really started to miss her Porsche!

Phil

My friend has one. Its a 1.7 diesel I think, non turbo. Horrid engine noise, slow and generally unpleasant. On the other hand it starts on the key, hasn't been serviced in years and returns very high MPG. I quite like them, but I couldn't like with the diesel. From time to time we have had 4 people in it.

His Lupo & my old Punto.

It's like the 1.9 SDI... But slower! lol

I also have a friend that used to have a Seat Arosa (which is the same as the lupo) and she literally used to go top speed on the motorway all the time... About 95mph?

Had a petrol Lupo Sport (100PS) and then a GTi. GTi remains the favourite car I've owned - so small and light it was like a mosquito - great fun. Only downsides (for me) were steering was a bit vague, no glovebox, and the oddball tyre size (just try getting tyres in 205 45 15 - I know a lot of owners fit 195s but they look crap). Also, if you front-end one you can no longer get a replacement aluminium bonnet from VW (they'll give you a standard Lupo steel one) - you can still get the aluminium wings from VW but pricey (think they're £300 + each simply for the wing alone - still need to fit and spray them).

Yes Brian, and there's a lot of very tatty GTI's being sold at high price. Good ones are worth the money though

One of my friends has a blue 1.0 one which he's had for about 7 years now and bought off of one of our other friends who had it from a year old (it's X reg). Always seems to go well and has had no massive problems, it needed a clutch replacement last year but has now done about 120k miles so I'm not surprised. The only thing that put me off a bit about it was the bare metal on the inside of the doors, I expected a bit better quality from VW (considering at the time they were new they were dearer than the Seat Arosa and other VAG group small cars).

My previous boss had the GTI in black and loved it but his only complaints were it wasn't very economical (he used to drive it to France and back to see family) and tyres cost a fortune as they were a wierd size.

The Lupo is a Seat Arosa though

As said above, most GTI owners fit a 195/45 tyre, there's not a lot of difference. To be honest anything would be better than the OE Pirelli P6000's

As said above, most GTI owners fit a 195/45 tyre, there's not a lot of difference. To be honest anything would be better than the OE Pirelli P6000's

This one had tiny rubber things on the corners - Mowhawk tyres I think? Rubbish. Went out last night to top up the fuel before returning it and it was slipping all over the place. understeer. oversteer. almostoverthehedgesteer. all quite good fun though. I'm sure a well specced GTi with decent tyres and suspension would be fantastic. The garage said that even this low spec one was pricy for what it is as they are not that common on the market.

Have to agree - Pirelli P6000's should be banned forthwith! The worst tyre in history and dangerous to boot.

As said above, most GTI owners fit a 195/45 tyre, there's not a lot of difference. To be honest anything would be better than the OE Pirelli P6000's

They all came from the factory with Dunlop SP2000s - shocking tyre in wet / greasy conditions.

Not sure if Dunlop even still produce them (haven't seen them available on any website in ages)- the only alternative in 205/45/15 is Toyo Proxes.

The one's I've seen were on P6000's, but agreed - both tyres are terrible! Almost wrote of the dealer's demo car by the back tyres letting go on a bend. Hatefull, terrible piles of steaming excrement!

I've got size 13's and never had a problem with the Lupo - same pedal box/configuration as a Polo. Citroen Saxo on the other hand... almost wrote the last one I drove off

Tiny fuel tank as well, which gives amusing range on the GTI. Great little cars though and have some character, which was definitely lost with the Fox which looks like an anonymous box. Hope the Up! regains some of the charm...

My sister has a 1.4S auto at the moment, that used to be my Gran's. Perfect for nipping round town in

Ha! Just looked it up... 34 litre tank!

So that's about 250 miles per tank in the GTI then! lol

Guess they have limited room to squeeze everything in.

I think the smart car has about the same size tank and the Toyota IQ.

Yep, if you were lucky. Unless it was bone try you'd struggle to fit 7 gallons in! When my mate had one, there was a time when £28 of fuel would fill the tank! Oh happy days....

Used to struggle to break 200 miles at times, if used properly

Space was exactly the issue, as the tank was under the rear seat bench.

Forgot about the fuel tank. Used to get about 180 / 190 miles down to quarter tank mark - remember driving to Liverpool (approx. 230 miles) - fuel light came on when I got there, so would imagine I'd just short of a gallon left (40 miles range max.) - I've seen people claim to get well over 300 miles out a tank in a GTi (even allowing for filling the expansion tank I've no idea how they did it! Hyper-granny mode perhaps!)

Made some difference when I then got a MKI Fabia vRS - drove comfortably to Accrington and back (approx. 400 miles) without the need to refuel.

My old one

Miss it!!

My old one:

My old one

Miss it!!

I tried without success to find the post where you said just after you sold your Lupo something along the lines of - 'been there, had it, didn't want it' - I now realise you were talking with tongue firmly in cheek!

My Sport (dealer picture after I traded it in - for my GTi - at Western VW in Gorgie Rd., Edinburgh) - I got £4,500 as a trade-in and the sticker price was £5,400 - not the usual dealer mark-up but it was the end of the month - for some reason they were desperate for a sale - the GTi was a great price - it was first registered in Jan. '05 and I bought it in Apr. '05 for £11,000 (1,800 miles) - Verve in Glasgow had one with an extra grand on the sticker price.

Complete with private plate - BM's .

The only picture I now have of my GTi is it looking sorry at a trader's in Melton Mowbray - I sold it via Club Lupo in absolute mint condition with 20k on the clock (in 2009) - young chap that bought it off me badly lowered it and stuck a tacky 'ROAD WHORE' decal on the boot - he only kept it for six months before swapping it for a MKII Golf with an R32 engine transplant - it's back again on Club Lupo - a guy in Grantham currently has it.