Volkswagen have given the UP! a bit of a design UP!date, in their minds eye it’s all new but in reality it’s a mid-cycle refresh. Car manufacturers routinely engineer these types of updates to all models in an effort to ensure that consumers never lose interest. Like many automotive refreshes the differences are often negligible. If done right these updates can raise an eyebrow… maybe even raise two eyebrows. The updates see the introduction of a new set of headlights and tail lights, a bigger colour pallet and a new front and rear bumper design. Perhaps the biggest change you will not see is the introduction of the 1.0-litre, three cylinder, turbo-charged engine. VW’s PR machine did their mechanical best to peak up the interest by saying the new engine will usher in a new era of “truly dynamic” performance. Peel away the “spiel” and what you have is 88bhp and 160Nm of torque. That translates into perky rather than punchy performance. The 0-62mph times, top speed? doesn’t matter. The UP! is targeted at city folks, but we do work in the City and never really see many of these so called city cars on the roads. Tough EU emissions regulations are forcing car manufacturers to downsize engine capacity. The ironic twist on all this is that adding a turbo is actually cleaner and more efficient. Volkswagen claims the UP! is good for 64mpg… yeah right. Having driven similar types of cars to the UP! the economy figures are more likely to fall into the 42mpg range. The naturally aspirated 1-0-litre petrols will still be available as will the E-Up. The facelift is also a chance for VW to introduce optional extras such as automatic air-con, smartphone integration and even corner function fog lights. Perhaps for the most frivolous folks out there is the addition of the a special edition Beats model. Which is basically the addition of a 300w speaker system… With the all important DR Dre Beats logo to boot. VW will unveil the UP!dated UP! at the Geneva motorshow in March, prices are not expected to be significantly different.