I've a real hankering for a Lupo Gti...........

[DelB]

Am I mental???? 

Anyone on here own one or had one??

[big al]

The wife has one, like a go kart to drive. Really good fun, and pretty good MPG too, about 42 average MPG,
Just make sure to go for the 6 speed one as the engine sounds like it struggles in my wifes 5 speed.
Hold their value really well, and parts are dirt cheap.

[DelB]

Thanks Big Al.

Have just been thinking recently about down-sizing. 90% of the time I'm in my Golf on my own and the wife has a Ford C-Max 'mummy-bus', so I could get away with having a smaller car. Getting fed up putting £65 worth of petrol in the car every week and only getting around 30mpg. Figure a Lupo would free up £4k or £5k, be easier on fuel, cheaper to insure and tax etc.

Just doing some preliminary research at the moment and trying to gauge opinion from people who run them.

Thanks again.

[bowie]

We've had two lupo gti's and I'm a bit sorry we sold the latest one. First one was the first of the six speed models , silver on a 51 plate. Second was an 05 silver one with leather and air con. We had nothing go wrong with either and only serviced and tyres. Watch the tyres though. They're 205 45 15. A right oddball size and only made by Dunlop and toyo. We had toyos. Quiet and last well too. And half the price of dunlops.
You'll probably find that the exhaust brackets are prone to giving way. Nothing wrong with the exhaust though , just weld the brackets up.  And that's pretty much it. Clean it and drive it !
I think one day I'll try and find a late grey (rare) or black one and put some 16" bbs rc on there. Good look.

Chris.

[matsu]

love the lupo! there have been some stunners at the past few shows ive been to and they really shift!
my daughter came to the last show and soooo wants one... i might have to let her

matsu

[DelB]

Thanks for the feedback so far guys. Is the Lupo considered to be a 'girls car' then??

[big al]

Not at all a girls car in my opinion.
I always wanted one , but couldn't afford one when I learnt to drive so bought a polo 9n instead, then moved past lupo's and got a leon,
Though they are not cheap to own, tax is £190 a year, and my wife pays £550 a year insurance, she is 31, and has 9 years no claims.
My insurance is cheaper on the MK5 GTI.

[rdfcpete]

+1 about not being a girls car.

These are my favourite supermini by a country mile and I've considered getting one as a second car having spoken to Al and his wife's about hers too 
As said, a similar age or slightly older Polo may be cheaper to run but then you won't have all the benefits of the smallest GTI 

[Hurdy]

I had a Lupo GTI a while ago. Lovely little motor

[gillm]

my misses has one great car not much goes wrong with trhem , i fitted g60 brakes to it as i thought the std were crap , she never complained about them tho

[patrickcullen87]

think the Lupo Gti's are cracking wee cars! always find myself having a good look at them everytime i see one. although i find if you buy a lupo you wont really appreciate it coming from a mk5 gti. thats just my opinion. definately wouldnt say you were daft for buying one tho 

[DelB]

Thanks again for the replies, guys. 

The wife suggested a Mini Cooper S today, but having been a VAG man since 1993, I'm really not sure I can be a turn-coat now. 

[scotta]

My mate was given a Lupo GTI as a courtesy car when the turbo on his anni let go. We took this to mean it was fully insured and we all had a go at thrashing it. 

AWESOME little motor! very Revvy, short ratio box with a short throw. I loved it!

[Jk911]

I've had lupo gti and cooper s, cooper s jcw
In my opinion the lupo is much better built and reliable than the mini although a little down on power, the only thing to look for is noisy gearbox as theses are not very robust and suffer the same problems as the polo gti, also rough or lumpy idle can be valve problems needing headwork other than that they are a cracking little motor, drive one you'll be very impressed!

[BeezerDiesel]

A mate of mine had a Lupo GTI 6 speed as a loan car once whilst his Golf was being fixed. I borrowed it for a quick blast to see what it was like. Half an hour later I was still blasting round in the thing and didn't want to give it back!!

Not a seriously quick car, but a seriously fun car.