You have all read about the Nissan Cube. It is, in my opinion, a disgusting creature of a car, too big and square and similar in design to a shoe box. With one such car already on the market, I have to admit that I didn’t expect to be threatened with another version quite so soon. However, it isn’t Nissan releasing a Cube Mach2 – It is VW revealing their Up! concept car, a smaller version of the Cube which is just as ugly!

Although the name of the Up! suggests that it ought to be transported by balloon like in the eponymous film, the only way this car is similar to the film is the fact that it is about as lumpy and aerodynamically terrible as a house is when flying through the air.

VW Up! Two door

The Up! is small. It is compact. And sure, it has a lot of head space for the whole family, rather than making you feel like you have crammed everyone into a sardine tin. In fact, this is where the Up! name came from, by raising the amount of space above that available in any other similarly sized car. The Space Up!, the 5 door version, really takes the biscuit for using every available inch of storage room to its very best effect. I don’t doubt that this is useful, especially for a family with lots of things and stuff to carry around.

However, whatever the usability, I just can’t force myself to like it. Or even to respect it. It is a horrible angular box with silly centre opening doors and a whole look of stupidness. And that’s a technical term. When this concept car becomes real, I can promise you I won’t be buying one!