VW UP! Move - hijack risk?

S

storyteller

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I'm considering getting the UP!Move but concerned about similarities between UP! and Polo/Vivo parts (disclaimer: I know very little about cars, and I'm looking for a small, entry-level type car - my other option is the Suzuki Celerio).
Thoughts?
 
The Up is tiny and overpriced in my opinion. I wouldn't go for such a small VW.
 
The Up! is the best B-segment car around. Only issue is the limiter space even in the 5-door.

It's a much much newer design than the Vivo & rides excellent for an entry-level offering.

Hijack risk will be much much lower a Polo (Vivo).

Don't let supposed hijack risk be your main deciding factor when purchasing a vehicle.
 
Why would it be a hijack risk?

For it to be a hijack/theft risk there needs to be a demand for it. Either parts or the vehicle as a whole. VW UP! the engine is too small and there is no real market for it. It's not very popular atm so spares also won't be in big demand.

Risk - Very low.
 
When Cash In Transit robbers move on to stealing cash from lemonade stands manned by 4 and 5 year olds that cant run fast.
Or if they move onto old age home bake sales where their victims would be the elderly and infirmed - then these Cash In Transit robbers might consider a VW UP as a get away vehicle. Till then... Your UP is safe.
 
LandyMan drives an UP!?

Well, I suppose not even Landy owners actually drive the things.
 
FiestaST said:
Don't let supposed hijack risk be your main deciding factor when purchasing a vehicle.
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Are you kidding me FiestaST? What should be your main deciding factor instead? How nice the stereo was in the car you used to have before it was hijacked? :P

And it's not 'supposed' either. Whenever the SA insurers open up on it, the facts are always the same: VW Polo and Toyota Fortuner are the two most dangerous cars to buy.
 
Foxhound5366 said:
Are you kidding me FiestaST? What should be your main deciding factor instead? How nice the stereo was in the car you used to have before it was hijacked? :P

And it's not 'supposed' either. Whenever the SA insurers open up on it, the facts are always the same: VW Polo and Toyota Fortuner are the two most dangerous cars to buy.
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And Hilux.
 
Foxhound5366 said:
Are you kidding me FiestaST? What should be your main deciding factor instead? How nice the stereo was in the car you used to have before it was hijacked? :P

And it's not 'supposed' either. Whenever the SA insurers open up on it, the facts are always the same: VW Polo and Toyota Fortuner are the two most dangerous cars to buy.
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I'm not saying it's not NB. Just sometimes people put too much emphasis on the hijack risk & end with a car that don't actually enjoy for many years.
 
FiestaST said:
I'm not saying it's not NB. Just sometimes people put too much emphasis on the hijack risk & end with a car that don't actually enjoy for many years.
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I dunno FiestaST, I think these days safety is most important (both crash safety and hijack risk), then reliability (which is linked to hijack risk), and 'nice to have' features comes third as a deciding factor between whatever's left in the pool. A pretty car that you die in is just a pretty coffin.
 
There are more Fortuners and Vivos than other cars on the road, so of course more of them get stolen. And given how many cars are on the road, the 14 000 or so that get hijacked a year aren't a good enough reason to jump from one model to another. You have far more chance of being in an accident than being hijacked, so rather worry about how safe the car is.
 
I'd hazard they carry a close to 0 hijack risk, unless you happen to be the only other person about within 200m of a botched 3am ATM bombing.

Go test drive one; they're superb.
 
Colin62 said:
There are more Fortuners and Vivos than other cars on the road, so of course more of them get stolen. And given how many cars are on the road, the 14 000 or so that get hijacked a year aren't a good enough reason to jump from one model to another. You have far more chance of being in an accident than being hijacked, so rather worry about how safe the car is.
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So you don't place any truth in the explanation that Fortuners and Hiluxes are so popular to hijackers because their engines fit perfectly into the Toyota Quantum taxis? This isn't just about number of units, there may be some practical reasons too.
 
Foxhound5366 said:
So you don't place any truth in the explanation that Fortuners and Hiluxes are so popular to hijackers because their engines fit perfectly into the Toyota Quantum taxis?
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I don't think you'll find figures for why cars were stolen, but there are figures for which models are stolen, and for which models are sold, and the same cars top both of those lists.

If I were stealing a vehicle so that I could use the engine in my taxi, I'd not hijack one, I'd steal one that was parked somewhere - less risk of something going wrong and me getting caught or shot, and I don't need the body, so who cares if I bugger it up in the process of stealing it? I'd only hijack a car if I were planning on re-selling it and wanted it in good running condition, complete with keys.
 
Colin62 said:
If I were stealing a vehicle so that I could use the engine in my taxi, I'd not hijack one, I'd steal one that was parked somewhere - less risk of something going wrong and me getting caught or shot, and I don't need the body, so who cares if I bugger it up in the process of stealing it? I'd only hijack a car if I were planning on re-selling it and wanted it in good running condition, complete with keys.
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As I understand it, the way these things work is that the hijacking is handled on a marketplace model: a willing buyer places an 'order', and somebody else then fills that order through a hijacking. A taxi owner might well then just 'order' a replacement engine for his Toyota Quantum, and somewhere down the chain another Hilux ends up being hijacked (i.e. the risk isn't a factor for the end buyer). Also, practically I believe it's a lot easier to hijack vehicles than steal them: you get the keys and you drive off with it, as opposed to trying to load a Hilux onto a flat-bed truck. That's just all guess work but it feels right to me.
 
Foxhound5366 said:
Also, practically I believe it's a lot easier to hijack vehicles than steal them
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A quick Google says 55 000 vehicles stolen a year in SA, and 14 000 hijacked. I'm assuming that the 14 000 are part of the 55 000, which means that 25% of cars stolen are hijacked.
 
Colin62 said:
A quick Google says 55 000 vehicles stolen a year in SA, and 14 000 hijacked. I'm assuming that the 14 000 are part of the 55 000, which means that 25% of cars stolen are hijacked.
Click to expand...

Yes that's true, but I imagine that's like my first car: a 1992 Ford Lazer, stolen out of my office parking lot without a trace. There was no alarm, no central locking, and it was probably as easy as just hotwiring the car to steal it.

I've heard that all the security features built into modern cars makes them far harder to steal, which is why hijacking is so prevalent despite the risk. The high number of stolen cars is probably older cars without any sophisticated systems built in. The Polo and Fortuner etc are modern cars with modern systems, so hijacking them is probably necessary.
 
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