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The first pictures of the five-door up!, which offers greater choice to city-car customers looking for a practical small car that fits four people – not forgetting the up!’s class leading 251-litre boot space. The five door models will be available later this year.

Rear passengers in the five-door up! benefit from exactly the same space as those in the three-door model, with 947 mm of headroom (versus 993 mm in the front) and 789 mm of legroom. The rear seat base is set slightly higher than that in the front, at 378 mm (versus 306 mm) giving passengers a clearer view of the road ahead. Click here for more information on the up!. 

The new Volkswagen up! might come with a five-star Euro NCAP test rating and the kind of interior space that would shame many a car in the class above, but when it comes to insurance it’s as small as its 3,540 mm long body, with a class-leading 1E group rating.

It’s not just the entry-level £7,995 1.0-litre 60 PS Take up! that qualifies for the lowest group, either: the £8,970 Move up! and £9,330 Move up! with BlueMotion Technology are also in group 1E.

Even if customers opt for the top-specification £10,390 1.0-litre 70 PS High up! or special edition £11,180 up! White and up! Black models, they will still find that the up! is three groups below the average for the class, with its group 2E insurance helping to keep ongoing motoring costs as low as possible.

While the customer’s costs are kept low, safety is still a high priority. As well as ultra-high and super-high strength steels being used in the vehicle’s construction, all up! models come with ABS with hydraulic brake assist, driver and front passenger airbags, side and thorax/head airbags for front-seat occupants and ISOFIX fittings in the rear. On Move up! models and above, ESP (Electronic Stabilisation Programme) is standard. A first-in-class city emergency braking system is part of an optional driver’s assistance pack that costs from just £225.

To ensure that customers continue to benefit from great value even after they’ve driven their new up! out of the showroom, Volkswagen’s three-year/60,000-mile fixed price servicing plan is available for just £299.

The up! is available to order now, with the first UK customer deliveries due in March 2012.

Retail cash price includes £750 off. Retail sales only for registrations from 1st October until 31st December 2011. *Payable within first payment. **Payable with optional final payment. Indemnities may be required. Subject to status. Available to over 18s in the UK only. Volkswagen Finance, Freepost VWFS. Offer is subject to vehicle availability from participating retailers and may be varied or withdrawn at any time.

Example above includes £1,000 deposit paid by Volkswagen Finance. Retail sales only for registrations from 14th September to 31st December 2011. Only on Match, S and BlueMotion models. *Payable within first payment. **Payable with optional final payment. 5.76p per mile excess mileage charges apply. Further charges may be payable if vehicle is returned. Indemnities may be required. Subject to status. Available to over 18s in the UK only. Volkswagen Finance, Freepost VWFS. Offer is subject to vehicle availability from participating retailers and may be varied or withdrawn at any time. ***3 years or 30,000 miles (whichever comes soonest), offer is available when purchased through solutions.