Faults:

No Faults, but if anything did go wrong there is an excellent warranty.

General Comments:

The car looks excellent, it is finished in Jazz Blue and despite the British weather it gleams as brightly today as it did when it was brand new.

The interior is extremely well thought out with plenty of space for passengers, I am over six foot tall and can sit comfortably in the front or in the well shaped back seats.

Although the car only has 999cc it performs well keeping up with traffic easily, although it is no Porsche I did not expect it to be!

The handling is widely criticised by the motoring press, unfairly so, it inspires confidence in all weathers and allows the Lupo to carry it's speed through corners meaning it can hassle far more exotic cars.

One here to untold bonus of Lupo ownership is that other Lupo owners wave at you.

The dealers customer care is bad, but appear to be making an effort to improve this now.

Faults:

The only thing that went wrong with my newly purchased Lupo, was that it came equipped with a faulty universal plug for the audio-equipment. After I hooked up my new Pioneer (blue lighted) CD-player, things where really spooky...

It took me one whole Saturday afternoon to find out that the plug was the problem..

General Comments:

Being a Volkswagen fan, I was really thrilled when I entered the Lupo for the first time. Someone took great pride in designing the interior and driving at night is a joy! Often copied, never equaled, those nifty science fiction-like blue lit gauges..

The performance of this little wonder-car is surprising, with it's 75 horsepower 16 valved, 1.4 litre engine. Try to outrun any BMW at the traffic-lights, with perfect clutch-timing you may find yourself looking in the face of a dissapointed macho through your rear-view mirror! I ordered my Lupo with some nice extras: -fog lights, -electric windows and (heated!) mirrors, heated windscreen washer and, the best part, the "open air edition" folding top. Driving with the top folded back on a summer's day is so cool! Together with the fantasia green paint and the ditto green upholstery, it's a real head-turner.

That's something you can rarely say about "regular" cars these days...

Faults:

Front wheel bearing completely failed. Replaced under warranty.

Replacement indicator stalk failing.

Front disks manufacturing defect - warped. Replaced under warranty.

General Comments:

This review is an update on a previous one given to CarSurvey.org 4000 miles ago.

Brakes are now better that the discs have been replaced, but no refund was given following the previous inspection (loss 150 pounds).

Wheel bearing failed. Took garage 3 weeks to source a replacement and find a gap in their appointment book. Whilst waiting for a replacement, I had to get the car checked twice because of my fears of the bearing seizing - total cost of this 80 pounds labour. Eventually the part was replaced under warranty, but no payment made to cover my own lost monies.

Engine is making little end knocking noise under load. I am beginning to wonder if 10,000 miles with the wrong oil has taken its toll - thanks to an official Volkswagen garage!

Dashboard rattles have increased - it is now difficult to determine the origin of the noises. Everywhere is about the best you can say.

Suspension is tightening up, with the side effect that cornering is less sloppy, but uneven road surfaces are faithfully transferred to the occupants.

I have one and half years left with the car (bought under a lease buy policy) and will gladly walk (run) away from it and Volkswagen then. The end of a 12 year (and 6 car) partnership - your loss Volkswagen.