A NEW car with a desirable Euro badge for less than $14,000 plus on-roads?

It's true, thanks to the strong Aussie dollar and, dare we say, some hard-ball negotiation tactics from the ambitious crew at Volkswagen Australia.

Australia is only just getting to know the affordable sub-light genre, which has so far been populated by sharply-priced Asian runabouts.

But has Volkswagen cut corners to put a cat among the pigeons with its new Up hatchback or does this latter-day people's car redefine the phrase cheap and cheerful?

A clue: we are inclined toward the latter.