Volkswagen e-Up interior
Many other small electric cars come with more equipment and posher cabins than the VW e-Up, but few can match its tiny size and affordable price-tag.
Style
The VW e-Up comes with the same interior was the standard VW Up with only a few tiny tweaks to let you know it’s an electric car. The simple, clean dashboard is laid out sensibly, all the buttons for the heating and ventilation are grouped together in the centre and the dials in front of the steering wheel are clear, concise and easy to read.
Despite costing quite a bit more than the standard petrol-powered Up, the VW e-Up EV doesn’t come with any posher-feeling materials inside. The dashboard, doors and centre console all feel equally hard and brittle and there are plenty of exposed painted metal areas on the doors.
Thankfully, all the buttons and switches you’ll use regularly feel nice and solid and you can get a few slightly more colourful trims on the dashboard to liven the VW e-Up’s cabin up a bit. Although – depending on which paint colour you pick – these may clash with the body-coloured areas on the VW e-Up’s doors.
You don’t get a great number of flashy features in the VW e-Up’s cabin, but everything’s very easy to use and the hard plastics should stand up to a good few years of abuse.
- Used
- £12,197
Infotainment
Unlike most small cars – even those not powered by electricity – the VW e-Up doesn’t come with a conventional touchscreen infotainment system. Instead, it comes with a special cradle mounted on the dashboard into which you slot your phone.
This might seem a bit old-fashioned, but many modern smartphones are more responsive and come with better touchscreens than your average built-in infotainment system.
This arrangement also lets you use your favourite music-streaming and navigation apps directly through your phone, so you needn’t fiddle about with a USB cable to connect your phone using Apple CarPlay or Android Auto screen-mirroring services.
You do get a hidden USB plug behind this cradle so you can keep your phone battery charged during long drives, but there aren’t any other USB sockets in the e-Up’s cabin. If passengers need to charge their phones, they’ll have to share a 12V socket down on the centre console.
- Used
- £12,197