Lifted VW Cross Up – The Smallest Off-road Build We Ever Featured

The variety of cars prepared for off-roading to one degree or another is quite striking. Sometimes instead of the usual Toyota Land Cruiser and Jeep Wrangler we see much more unusual cars and I’m not even talking about CUVs and urban-crossovers. The off-road theme has become so popular that it spreads even to ordinary compact city cars. An excellent example of such is this yellow Volkswagen Up Cross with bumpers and eye-catching off-road rubber with white lettering paying homage to real body-on-frame 4×4.

Undoubtedly, this car is the smallest of all that we’ve ever published on the Offroadium website. But the reason it ended up on the pages of our site is simple – this little car does have proper off-road modifications. Just like the big dogs featured here, it’s equipped with a lift kit, oversized off-road tires, and Rhino-lined bumpers along with fender flares to maximize the protection from dings and scratches.

VW Cross Up Hatchback Off-road Build

The Volkswagen Up Cross is a front-wheel drive city hatchback that’s been produced on global market since 2013, and has never been sold in the US. From the factory it comes equipped with a suspension raised by 15mm as well as bumpers with protective plastic cladding, just like we see on off-road trims of bigger crossovers and SUVs.

Equipped with a one-liter engine with a power output of 75 horsepower, it fits perfectly into the Kei Car segment, which is subject to very low taxes and fees. Apparently, this is one of the reasons why this baby attracted the attention of Japanese tuner Hirotaka Kanemoto, known for installing lift kits and off-road tires on unconventional passenger cars like the Mini Clubman, Volvo V40 Cross Country and Porsche Macan.

From the factory, the car comes with fairly small 185/60R16 wheels, which equals approximately 24 inches in overall diameter, that’s why they were replaced with more rugged Toyo Open Country R/T (I still wonder where he found the off-road tires in such a small size…or maybe those letters are just tire decals). Usually wheel arches allow using tires a few sizes larger up to 1 inch, but sometimes there’s a risk of rubbing.

In addition to the standard lift, the suspension was raised a bit more with the help of spacers, which allowed to further increase the ground clearance of the vehicle.

Of course, no aftermarket upgrades or body armor are available for this car, so you have to be creative to protect it and improve its visual appeal. Instead of welding bumpers to overload this kei car, they came up with a more elegant, yet functional solution.

Both front and rear bumpers along with fender flares were coated with a spray-in Rhino liner, an epoxy coating designed to protect truck beds from damage. It’s quite a popular technique on the global off-road scene to cover the off-road rigs from top to bottom, and certainly it made the appearance of this little Up Cross much more rugged and brutal.

List of Modifications

Suspension

• Factory 15mm lift (stock Up Cross)
• Additional suspension spacers

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Wheels & Tires

• Toyo Open Country R/T tires (size unknown, approximately 1″ larger than stock)
• Aftermarket wheels

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Exterior

• Spray-in Rhino liner coating on front bumper
• Spray-in Rhino liner coating on rear bumper
• Rhino-lined fender flares

Verdict

Sure, even with all those mods, it can hardly handle off-roading in the common understanding of this word, but with the front wheel drive and weight around 2,000 lbs it became quite a fun little car to drive and look at that shares daily commute routine and weekend camping adventures. All in all it turned into a real beast of a hatchback, making it the tiniest off-road build we ever featured on Offroadium.