Car Reviews

2014 Volkswagen e-Up! First Drive

A Different Sort of Fun

A Different Sort of Fun

Fun is relative. We all enjoy different pastimes on the road and in everyday life. Most car enthusiasts find it fun to drive fast, but there are some people who think it’s fun to drive as economically as possible. How can these two disparate groups find common ground? All it takes is the click of a shifter.

Specifically, a click of the shifter in the new Volkswagen e-Up!. It’s not what you’re thinking, though. Like most EVs, the e-Up! has only one, fixed gear ratio. The clicking you’re doing isn’t manually changing a gear or even electronically requesting an up- or downshift. It’s adjusting the level of regenerative braking.

Sounds dull, I know, but hear me out. Generally with EVs, you have two types of regenerative braking. The first is usually light and kicks in automatically when you lift off the accelerator pedal. The second is variable and engages with the brake pedal, recovering as much energy as possible before the mechanical brakes engage. Modulating regenerative braking with the brake pedal is a crapshoot, since you never really know when the mechanical brakes are kicking in. The automatic regenerative braking when lifting off the throttle is certainly predictable, but in most cases, not adjustable. The lone exception is the Tesla Model S, which will let you toggle between low and high after you’ve dug through enough menus.

Until now.

Many an automotive engineer has conceded that it wouldn’t be difficult to put a dial on the dash that lets the driver select how much regenerative braking he or she wants. It just hadn’t been done until now. Moving the e-Up!’s shifter left and right or back and forth toggles you through five different levels of regenerative braking. The default mode is zero braking, because per VW‘s research, coasting is actually the most efficient way to drive. Clicking the shifter to the left will step you up to regenerative braking levels one, two, and three, and clicking it right will bring you back down. Pulling straight back will move you from D to B, or Drive to motor Braking, essentially regenerative braking level four, though it feels like a bigger step, say level five or so.

What’s so great about all of that? This is where the fun comes in. The challenge, like in all hybrids and EVs, is to minimize energy consumption and maximize range. The e-Up! gives you an extra tool that allows you to alter the level of regenerative braking in real time to respond to the road. In effect, you use the shifter and the regenerative braking modes in place of the brake pedal in all but full-stop or panic braking situations.

Take a few examples. The most common is when approaching a stop. You can work the regenerative braking up and down to squeeze every last bit of electrical energy out of the car’s inertia before touching the brake pedal. Should the light turn green as you approach, you can use the regenerative braking to slow the car and grab a few extra electrons while avoiding rear-ending the car ahead as traffic begins to move. It’s also good for controlling downhill speed and avoiding a ticket while, again, juicing up the battery a little.

The real “fun,” as it were, comes as all fun does: in a cornering situation. When approaching a corner, you can push your braking point, coast in, and then start ramping up the regenerative braking. Keep it on as you enter the curve, then turn it back down to zero as you hit the apex and coast or accelerate out. It’s the same principle as cornering quickly in a sports car, just with an electric twist. It’s not better or worse than driving any other car quickly, just a different challenge — and new challenges can be fun.

That’s a good thing, because the e-Up! is otherwise exactly as you’d expect it to be. It’s a small, no-frills city car whose engine has been replaced with an electric motor. Locating the battery below the floor has helped reduce roll and improve handling by virtue of a low center of gravity, but those skinny tires aren’t going to be good for much lateral g. Needing 12.4 seconds to reach 62 mph from a stop, it’s not remotely quick, so that conservation of momentum provided by the default coasting mode is most welcome. The variable coasting and regenerative braking modes allow you to change what is otherwise a necessity into a personal challenge, and the fact that no one else on the road is doing it makes it that much harder and more rewarding.

You can also test your own endurance if you need more of a challenge. The e-Up! has an Eco mode that dials back your climate control and dampens throttle response, and an Eco+ mode that kills the climate control altogether and really puts a brick under the throttle pedal. On a moderate day, popping out the rear door windows like in a minivan (no, the rear windows don’t roll down on the five-door Up!s) will draw in enough air to keep the cabin comfortable.

Outside of its trick regenerative braking system, the e-Up! is really not especially different from the standard Up!. Both cars are perfectly competent city runabouts with room for four comfortable adults and a bit of luggage. They’re efficient both in energy consumption and use of space. If you’re like most people and don’t do a ton of driving, or at least don’t spend much time outside your metro area, they’ll serve you fine.

It seems counterintuitive, but this isn’t damning with faint praise. In fact, it’s high praise. EVs are often treated like an all-new class of vehicle held to some special, foreign standard. Really, though, they’re just cars that use a different chemical medium for storing energy. The best thing an EV can be is a good car that happens to be electric, not the other way around. The e-Up! is a good little car, and it’s also a good EV.

2014 Volkswagen e-Up!
Base price $35,600 (est)
Drivetrain Front-motor, FWD
Engine(s) 80-hp/155-lb-ft permanent synchronous electric motor
Transmission(s) 1-speed auto
Curb weight 2511 lb (mfr)
Wheelbase 95.3 in
Length x width x height 139.4 x 64.8 x 58.2 in
0-60 MPH 12.4 sec (mfr)
EPA city/hwy fuel econ Not Rated
CO2 emissions 0.00 lb/mile
On sale in U.S. Never