VW Up gets a facelift: Striking new looks help the city car celebrate its fifth birthday in style

There’s more to the new version of Volkswagen’s city car than just a bolder-looking front end

We’d love to be able to tell you that the various trim levels in the revised VW Up range are called Spruce Up, Freshen Up and Tickle Up. Alas, we can’t.

What we can tell you, though, is that there’s more to the new version of Volkswagen’s city car than just a bolder-looking front end. Like a bolder engine.

The old Up had a 1.0-litre three-pot, and so does the new one. This time, though, it’s turbocharged, and with 89bhp and 118lb ft it’ll shift you to 62mph in ten seconds flat. That’s about 30% faster than before, and you really feel it.

In the frankly unimaginable circumstances that top speed might become relevant to you, you’ll discover that it’s 115mph. Far more important, though, are returns of 64mpg and 102g/km.

Once again, there are three and five-door options, as well as enough body and roof colour combinations, trim levels and dash treatments to set an abacus on fire. Thirteen, three, seven and ten respectively, since you asked., so choose wackily enough and you may well have yourself a unique motor.

As before, top models offer the sort of kit you just don’t associate with a car of this size. Though with the Up already half a decade old, by now you should have started.

Prices will be revealed following the new-look Up’s official unveiling, which happens at the Geneva show at the start of next month.