The Volkswagen Up is back! And you can knock him over…
Production of the compact Volkswagen Up stopped six months ago, but you can still buy brand new models from our eastern neighbors. The German company Geparda continues to build them, with a strange difference…
The Volkswagen Up lasted on the market for a long time, twelve years. The A-segmenter was once available from 8,000 euros, but ultimately cost 18,000 euros. It is simply no longer possible for manufacturers to offer affordable hatchbacks. The emissions and safety requirements have become too strict for this.
Volkswagen Up for young people
The Geparda will therefore not succeed the UP. He serves a completely different market, that of young drivers. In Germany, you can drive a so-called L5e vehicle, a motorized tricycle, on the road at the age of sixteen.
The Geparda is not officially a tricycle, but is seen as such by the law. If you look closely at the rear of the crazy Volkswagen, you’ll notice that the rear wheels are placed very close together.
Anyone who frequently visits Germany has probably seen an L5e vehicle driving on public roads, in the form of a Fiat 500 with the rear wheel arches closed and the rear tires in the middle of the car.
Top speed of 111 km/h
In the Netherlands there are also “cars” for young drivers, such as the electric Citroën Ami and the Opel Rocks Electric, but these are limited to 45 km/h. The cheetah has a top speed of a whopping 111 km/h. It is powered by a 1.0 MPi motor that has been scaled down to 20 hp.
As a sixteen-year-old you have to be able to handle a gearbox, because the Geparda simply retains the five-speed manual gearbox from the Volkswagen Up. The car weighs 908 kilograms and has undergone modifications to the underside to ensure the car remains balanced, including a new anti-roll bar at the front.
Price of the Cheetah
By the way, the Cheetah is not cheap. As a young person or as a parent, you need to have around 20,000 euros in your pocket to be able to buy one. An Opel Rocks Electric is certainly less of a car, but it also costs significantly less: 8,699 euros.