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BEETLE’S REVIVAL

Models Covered: (3dr hatch 1.4 1.6, 1.8T, 2.0, 2.3 petrol 1.9 diesel 2dr Convertible, 1.4, 1.6, 2.0,petrol 1.9 diesel))

BY ANDY ENRIGHT

You’ll either love or hate the ‘new’ Volkswagen Beetle. Some will celebrate it as an icon brought up to date, whilst others will feel it’s a sad pastiche of a best-forgotten relic and a Golf in drag. Whatever way you look at it, the Beetle is here, it’s sold rather well and it’s great fun to own. It might not attract the crowds or cause the slack jawed stupefaction it did when it was launched, but a Beetle will still put a smile on many driver’s faces. Is the bug back? Most think it never really went away.

To be quite frank, we don’t have much to thank Adolf Hitler for, but the KdF-Wagen (kraft durch freude – strength through joy) that was launched in 1941 certainly had something to be said for it. Fast-forward half a century to the mid 1990s, and over 22 million Beetle sales later. Volkswagen’s designers produced the Concept 1 show car that received such a tumultuous reception that production of the new Beetle was ordered. First arriving on these shores in February 1999 in left-hand drive form only, the Beetle was an immediate success, although many took advantage of cheap European imports to drive costs down further. Around 800 ‘official’ left-hand drive models were sold in the UK before the right-hand drive models started to be produced in decent numbers from the factory at Puebla, just outside Mexico City. Late 1999 saw the introduction of official right-hand drive cars, which like the first models were powered by the venerable 2.0-litre 115bhp seen in the Golf, Bora and Passat since 1992 (new Beetle old engine). Despite promises of a wider engine range, it wasn’t until the summer of 2000 that Volkswagen introduced another variant, the 1.6-litre. This 102bhp petrol unit was new not only to this car but to the entire Volkswagen line-up and acted as an import-busting value proposition for the Beetle range. 2.3-litre V5 and 1.8T engines were subsequently added to the range alongside a 100bhp TDI diesel. In early 2003 Volkswagen at last began imports of the eagerly awaited Beetle Cabriolet in either 1.6 or 2.0-litre forms amnd by summer 2003, a 1.4-litre engine had been added to both saloon and cabriolet versions and the 1.9-litre diesel also appeared in the drop top car, giving it a distinct Beetle thrum. Just from the wrong end. A facelift announced in the summer of 2005 saw the wheelarches get sharper edges, the headlamps reshaped and round red taillights introduced round the back.

A lot of attention. Paranoia. A strange compunction to make sure you look respectable before you get in, as you know people will stare at you. The Beetle provokes all of these reactions, which is remarkable when you consider the fact that it’s basically a re-skinned Golf. If anything, the Beetle interior is even more of a shock than the outside; full marks to the design team for doing the job properly, rather than filling it with Golf and Polo dials from the Volkswagen parts bin. Of course, there are plenty of telltale Volkswagen signs; the switches, the firm seats, the positive gearbox – but you don’t really notice them. What you do notice are all the natty stylish touches. The big central circular instrument cluster with its huge numbers and cute little built-in rev counter. Plus, of course, the vase (yes, you read that right), ready for you to fill with flower power. More macho buyers can pretend it’s a penholder or something. As you’d expect from the bubble-like shape, there’s plenty of headroom up front. The base of the windscreen is a long way distant across a vast shelf of dashboard. It’s almost like sitting back in your favourite armchair and watching a widescreen television. At night the view is beguiling, with spooky blue instruments filling the cabin with a diffuse glow. Rear seat occupants will be less enamoured however, with the sharply sloping roofline severely cutting headroom. No room in here for love, free or otherwise! Luggage space is rather tight, despite the hatchback arrangement. Equipment levels include most things on the average wish list; the 2.0-litre version includes alloy wheels, air conditioning, central locking, electric front windows, ABS, power steering, tinted glass, a decent stereo and power/heated mirrors. On the safety front, there’s twin side and front airbags built around a platform that’s probably the safest thing this side of £30,000. Nice touches include folding rear seat that increases boot space, the height adjustable seats and the three 12V power sockets installed around the car. Options include a CD changer, leather upholstery, a sunroof, a winter pack with heated front seats and headlight washers and, for easy city driving, and a four-speed automatic transmission.

Despite demand that is still fairly strong, Beetles were perceived to be overpriced new, and this, combined with the inconvenience of left-hand drive, has seen early model’s used values take a resolute clobbering. A 1999 T-registered Beetle was similarly priced to the Golf GTi with which it shared its 2.0-litre engine, £15,575 for the Beetle vs. £15,175 for the Golf. Take a look at the valuations now and your Beetle will be worth around £4,500 whilst the smug Golf owner’s wheels stand him or her in for at least £5,000. Volkswagen responded in part to the accusation of overpricing by reducing the new price of the Beetle by over £700 when right-hand drive production began. This prompted howls of anguish from owners of early cars who paid more for cars that were now worth significantly less. This means that the left-hand drive models are great value as a used buy as long as you don’t mind sitting on the wrong side. The 1.6-litre models are good value used, with £5,500 netting you a 2000 W plated car. The more powerful 1.8T and V5 versions have been slow sellers, the public proving resistant to the concept of a quick Bug. A 1.8T on a 2001 Y plate opens at £7,100. Insurance for the Beetle ranges between Group 8 and Group 15 depending on how many bhp your Bug is packing.

The Beetle mechanicals have been proven over the years in Golfs, Boras and Passats, so there are no great surprises here. Due to some initial grouses about build quality, the Mexican plant at Puebla instigated better quality control procedures which right-hand drive cars benefit from. The earlier cars have a lower grade of plastics used in such fittings as the cup holders and these can be broken fairly easily. One feature which bugs Beetle owners no end is the headlamp switch mounted between the driver’s door and the steering wheel. Anyone with longer legs will soon smash this dial into the fascia with their knee, and it doesn’t come back out easily. If possible, avoid the cream cloth trim, as jeans can easily leach their dye into the seat material, making it look pretty secondhand in short order. Finally, with automatic models check the automatic boxes. Many of the early cars feature a four-speed ‘box which allows ‘Drive’ to be selected and then lets the revs build for a second before lurching forward unceremoniously. Check that you can get along with this feature on your test drive. You’ll want to check on the history of your prospective purchase. Many cars were imported from Europe or the USA, and these had inferior specifications to UK cars, especially in the area of security. This could result in potentially calamitous repercussions if not disclosed to insurers. Ignition coils on the Volkswagen 1.8-litre engines have been a notable weak link. Check that the car has a decent service history and is free from parking knocks and scrapes. Finally, make sure you get in the correct seat when you go to drive away!

(approx based on a 1999 2.0 manual) Despite its more individual appeal, parts prices for the Beetle are standard Volkswagen fare. A clutch assembly is around £170, while an exhaust system with new catalyst is just under £700, while front brake pads retail at just under £100. Rear pads are £27 a pair and a new radiator is £140. A replacement headlamp unit sells for around £115, or you can buy just the lens section for about £40.

For a car so closely based on the Volkswagen Golf, it would perhaps be surprising if the Beetle were to feel significantly different to drive. But it does. The enormous windscreen pillars restrict visibility and the car feels a lot bigger than any Golf. Performance isn’t startling on the 2.0-litre cars, with a rest to sixty figure of 11.5 seconds before its catastrophic aerodynamics limit it to a 112mph top speed. The driving experience is, on the whole, favourable though. Stability feels better than a car of this shape has any right to, and refinement is a plus point. You’ll get some reflections in the big windscreen, and the mirrors need to be bigger, but the big glass area gives the car a bright interior. Handling is surprisingly good, with little body roll and a fair degree of grip generated by the modest tyres before the front end gently lets go. The manual gearboxes are a much nicer proposition than the automatic, helping to wring the available performance from that venerable 8v 2.0-litre engine. With an EC average fuel consumption figure of 30mpg, the Beetle isn’t going to cause any long faces at the pumps. The diesel TDI averages over 53mpg and brings back that evocative Beetle chunter, but those who want a few more driving thrills will probably want to seek out either the V5 or the 1.8T versions, both of which will sprint to 60 in a tad under 9 seconds. Should these prove insufficiently flashy, try a Cabriolet.

Try to justify a reason for buying a Beetle over a Golf on purely rational grounds and you’ll find yourself batting on an extremely sticky wicket. It does few things better and a lot of things a good deal worse. Where the Beetle does score as a used buy is as a cheap and cheerful fun car, shamelessly revelling in the attention whilst still offering reliable, modern motoring. An early left-hand drive manual car best fits this bill, although residual values will be better with a more conventional (albeit newer) right-hand drive model. Worthy successor or sad pastiche? Dump the historical baggage, forget the sixties ever existed and the ‘new’ Beetle suddenly seems worth it for the fun car that it is.

THE BUG’S BACK
Budget Buyers Might Expect To Have To Ignore Volkswagen’s Latest Beetle – But If So, They’d Be Overlooking This 1.6-litre Luna Version. Jonathan Crouch Checks It Out

It must come as something of a culture shock to Volkswagen dealers to find that they’re actually having to actively sell the new Beetle. The first cars to hit these shores were, after all, snapped up almost before they had rolled off the boat from Mexico. And this despite the fact that they came with steering wheels on the wrong side.

The introduction of right hand drive models early in 2000 led to another rush of customers, sending UK sales soaring to nearly 5,000 units. Only now is the novelty wearing off: hence the recent improvements to the range and the importance of the model featured here – the entry-level Beetle 1.6 Luna, available as either the familiar hard top for £12,475 or as a pretty Cabriolet for £15,775. This model may sit above the entry level 1.4-litre Beetle but it still accounts for a good share of Beetle sales. The car has been recently mildly facelifted but the changes haven’t amounted to much. There are revised bumpers and wheelarches, with sharper edges than before, plus subtly restyled headlights and front indicators, and tail lights with white circles inside the red circles. The ‘VW’ emblems have also been modified at the front and rear. In addition, there’s a new range of colours and alloy wheels, complemented by fresher fabrics for the interior. Chrome now adorns the air vents and surrounds the instruments, for what Volkswagen reckon is an even higher quality feel inside. The Luna tag means buyers of this car can now expect 16" Houston alloy wheels, in addition to ESP (Electronic Stabilisation Programme) with ABS, twin front and side airbags with active front seat head restraints, a radio/CD player, electric windows and remote central locking with alarm and interior protection. Early Beetles had all featured the 2.0-litre eight-valve 115bhp petrol engine already used in Golf, Bora and Passat models, capable of surprisingly good performance. Speed however, tends not to be an important consideration for potential Beetle buyers, many of whom were being put off by the lofty asking price. Hence the probable attraction of the Beetle 1.6. When introduced in this variant, this 102bhp petrol unit was new not only to this car but to the entire Volkswagen line-up. It’s decently fast (rest to sixty in 11.6s on the way to 111mph) and significantly more frugal than its larger-engined stablemate with a combined consumption figure of 36.7mpg.

"Buy one and make your street a prettier place…"

On paper, at least, the ‘new’ Beetle incarnation has little in common with Hitler’s original air-cooled people’s car, being a Golf in everything but name and shape. Not that this matters, of course. Volkswagen’s crude, noisy and comfortless rear engined, air-cooled original is the last thing that modern buyers would want. For them, the new Beetle must be anything but the basic, functional transport envisioned by the original’s creator, Dr Ferdinand Porsche, back in 1945. If anything, the Beetle interior is even more of a shock than the outside; full marks to the design team for doing the job properly, rather than filling it with Golf and Polo dials from the Volkswagen parts bin. Of course, there are plenty of tell-tale Volkswagen signs; the switches, the firm seats, the positive gearbox – but you don’t really notice them. What you do notice are all the natty stylish touches. The big central circular instrument cluster with its huge numbers and cute little built-in rev counter. Plus, of course, the vase (yes, you read that right), ready for you to fill with flower power. More macho buyers can pretend it’s a pen holder or something. As you’d expect from the bubble-like shape, there’s enough room inside to wear a top hat should the mood take you. More practically, that high roofline does make travelling in the rear reasonably palatable – though legroom is at a bit of a premium. Unlike many open-top conversions, the Beetle Cabriolet doesn’t flex like a wobbleboard when the road is anything less than billiard table smooth. The Golf-based chassis is renowned as one of the stiffest around and the decapitation process has retained much of that torsional rigidity. The rear view mirror doesn’t get an attack of the DTs when you pass over an expansion joint nor are there the sort of creaks associated with the final moments of a Bond villain’s lair when you negotiate a speed hump. Thanks to that huge windscreen, front seat occupants are well protected from wind buffeting, but anybody in the rear seat will get more of a leathering at speed. Rear seat accommodation for two isn’t too bad unless the front passengers have extremely long legs. Headroom is an issue at the back with the hood up, but then it is in a hard top Beetle in the first instance. There’s a usefully sized boot, but if you’re big on practicality, Volkswagen can offer you an alternative. It’s called a Passat Estate. Like all modern Volkswagens, the Beetle feels like it’s hewn from stone, with the kind of build quality you’d expect from something twice as expensive. The little touches help too; the lovely blue instrument lighting which illuminates only the figures on the speedometer; the beautifully designed unique-fit stereo. Equipment levels, as we’ve seen, include most things on the average wish list and include ESP, the Electronic Stability Programme normally reserved for performance models. This senses when you’ve entered a corner too fast and automatically reduces the power whilst selectively applying individual brakes so that the car can be kept under control. On the passive safety front, there’s twin side and front airbags built around a platform that’s still one of the safest things this side of £30,000. Nice touches include folding rear seat that increases boot space, the height adjustable seats and the three 12V power sockets installed around the car. On the road, the ride is Germanically firm and the handling competent but generally uninspiring. In summary, the new Beetle is, even in its most basic form, an unashamed indulgence, both on the part of its makers and those who will buy it. The arrival of this car, in either hardtop or cabriolet form, will make your street a prettier place.

Facts At A Glance CAR: Volkswagen Beetle 1.6 range PRICE: £12,475-£15,775 - on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 9-11 CO2 EMISSIONS: 185g/km PERFORMANCE: Max Speed 111mph / 0-60mph 11.6s FUEL CONSUMPTION: (combined) 36.7mpg STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front & side airbags / ABS / ESP WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Heightmm 4081/1836/1498

BUILDING A BETTER BEETLE
All Things Considered, Volkswagen’s Beetle 1.8T Is Probably As Good As It Gets From This Fashionable Little Car. Jonathan Crouch Checks It Out

At one time or another, almost every other Volkswagen model seems to have benefited from the Volkswagen Group’s ubiquitous 150bhp 1.8-litre turbocharged petrol engine – so why not the Beetle? Why not indeed.

In theory at least, this could be just the engine to exploit the obviously impressive abilities of the MkIV Golf-based chassis. These are limits that you’ll certainly never find behind the wheel of the standard 115bhp 2.0-litre model. And, priced from £16,155 as a hatch or £19,670 as a Cabriolet, its only just over £1,000 more. A good compromise model then, particularly as the £1,200 or so premium you’ll pay for the 1.8T over the standard 2.0-litre also entitles you to front foglights, leather for the steering wheel, gear knob and handbrake and a speed-dependent roof spoiler. Performance? Well, the rest to sixty sprint occupies 9.0s (compared to 10.9s for the 2.0) on the way to 126mph (115mph for the 2.0). Despite this, fuel consumption is actually better in the 1.8T, with 25.7mpg (compared to 23.7mpg) available on the Urban cycle and 34.9mpg (as opposed to 32.5mpg) on offer as a Combined figure. On a run, you may even hit 44mpg. The C02 emissions figures are lower too, whether you opt for the the five-speed manual or the four-speed automatic. In other words, this is probably the best all-round Beetle variant you can buy.

"This is arguably the best all-round Beetle variant you can buy"

The car has been recently mildly facelifted but the changes haven’t amounted to much. There are revised bumpers and wheelarches, with sharper edges than before, plus subtly restyled headlights and front indicators, and tail lights with white circles inside the red circles. The ‘VW’ emblems have also been modified at the front and rear. In addition, there’s a new range of colours and alloy wheels, complemented by fresher fabrics for the interior. Chrome now adorns the air vents and surrounds the instruments, for what Volkswagen reckon is an even higher quality feel inside. All this apart, the recipe is much as you’ll find it in the 2.0-litre Beetle, a car which has been on offer here in right hand drive form since early 2000. It comes surprisingly well equipped: expect to find air conditioning, an alarm/immobiliser, electric front windows, powered heated and adjustable mirrors, remote central locking and 16" 8-spoke alloy wheels. You can get all these things in a Golf of course – or indeed in any other sensible family hatchback. But you don’t buy a Beetle to be sensible. On paper, at least, the latest incarnation has little in common with Hitler’s original air-cooled people’s car, being a Golf in everything but name and shape. Not that this matters, of course. Volkswagen’s crude, noisy and comfortless rear engined, air-cooled original is the last thing that modern buyers would want. For them, the new Beetle must be anything but the basic, functional transport envisioned by the original’s creator, Dr Ferdinand Porsche, back in 1945. Modern Beetles are bought as fashion accessories, as second or third cars for the weekend jaunt or the trip to the squash club. Early US buyers included Beverley Hills celebrities, a president’s daughter and exclusive car rental establishments. In the UK you see them zipping about with advertising agencies’ names on the doors. Or parked outside fashionable restaurants and nightclubs. And in the parking slots of exclusive gated residential estates. To therefore complain about the lack of bootspace, the fact that there are no rear doors or even the price is meaningless. What matters is that this car has style – and plenty of it. Don’t buy one if you’ve a tendency towards the shy and retiring. Park it and everyone stares. Drive it and everyone drools. If anything, the Beetle interior is even more of a shock than the outside; full marks to the design team for doing the job properly, rather than filling it with Golf and Polo dials from the Volkswagen parts bin. Of course, there are plenty of tell-tale Volkswagen signs; the switches, the firm seats, the positive gearbox – but you don’t really notice them. What you do notice are all the natty stylish touches. The big central circular instrument cluster with its huge numbers and cute little built-in rev counter. Plus, of course, the vase (yes, you read that right), ready for you to fill with flower power. More macho buyers can pretend it’s a pen holder or something. As you’d expect from the bubble-like shape, there’s enough room inside to wear a top hat should the mood take you. More practically, that high roofline does make travelling in the rear reasonably palatable – though legroom is at a bit of a premium. Like all modern Volkswagens, the Beetle feels like it’s hewn from stone, with the kind of build quality you’d expect from something twice as expensive. The little touches help too; the lovely blue instrument lighting which illuminates only the figures on the speedometer; the beautifully designed unique-fit stereo. Equipment levels, as we’ve seen, include most things on the average wish list and include ESP, the Electronic Stability Programme normally reserved for performance models. On the passive safety front, there’s twin side and front airbags built around a platform that’s still one of the safest things this side of £30,000. Nice touches include folding rear seat that increases boot space, the height adjustable seats and the three 12V power sockets installed around the car. On the road, the ride is Germanically firm and the handling competent but generally uninspiring – though at least in the case of the 1.8T, there’s enough power to make the experience interesting. Like its stablemates, this version of the new Beetle is an unashamed indulgence, both on the part of its makers and those who will buy it. There’s no rational reason for shelling out £19,000 on one, just as there was no rational reason for designing it in the first place. But then, if we did everything for rational reasons, the world would be very dull indeed. The arrival of this car made the automotive landscape just that little bit brighter. And with 1.8-litre turbocharged power under the bonnet, its brighter still.

Facts At A Glance CAR: Volkswagen Beetle 1.8T range PRICE: £16,155-£19,670 – on the road INSURANCE GROUP: 14 CO2 EMISSIONS: 197g/km PERFORMANCE: Max Speed 126mph / 0-60mph 9.0s FUEL CONSUMPTION: (urban) 25.7mpg / (extra urban) 44.1mpg / (combined) 31.4mpg STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front & side airbags / ABS / ESP WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Heightmm 4081/1836/1498

SENSORY PERCEPTION
Common Sense Used To Mitigate Against The Purchase of a Volkswagen Beetle. But That’s To Ignore The Sensible TDI Model. Jonathan Crouch Reports…

Buying a diesel-engined car is something you do for very sensible reasons. It’s something of a shock then, to find that arguably the most frivolous family car you can buy comes fitted with such a powerplant. Unfortunately, Volkswagen’s Beetle gets only one diesel option. But still, you might just like it.

The unit in question is Wolfsburg’s 1.9-litre 105bhp TDI PD unit. As anyone who’s tried it over the years in Golfs, Boras (or indeed Audi A3s or A4s) will testify, this is a very strong engine, despite its lack of the latest ‘common rail’ diesel technology. Volkswagen have preferred to perfect the direct injection route, developing ‘revolutionary’ Pumpe Duse units supposed to combine high power and torque with low fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. And sure enough, the on-paper figures look rather promising. The bald statistics say rest to sixty in 12.4s on the way to 111mph, but as ever with diesels, it’s much more relevant to look at the torque (read ‘pulling power’) figure, in this case an impressive 177Ibs ft (240 Nm). Enough to ensure that you’re not constantly having to hunt up and down the gearbox to get yourself into the powerband, as was the case with diesels of old. Fuel consumption will be uppermost in your mind of course – or else you’d be buying the 1.4, 1.6 or 2.0-litre petrol-engined Beetles. And here again, you shouldn’t be disappointed. Expect over 40mpg around town, up to 64mpg on the open road and over 50mpg in normal day-to-day use. No clouds of black smoke either, thanks to an emissions figure of 149g/km.

"This is a very strong engine…"

In fact, the only thing you could reasonably object to is the price - £14,895 (or £18,775 for the Cabriolet version). It’s basically the same as an infinitely more practical Golf and fails to undercut the 115bhp 2.0-litre petrol Beetle, even though you only get almost the same specification as the much cheaper entry-level 1.6-litre version (with the addition of air conditioning). Still, that does include ABS, ESP (Volkswagen’s Electronic Stabilisation Programme), remote central locking with an alarm, electric windows, heated mirrors and a three year warranty. But hold on. We’re back to being sensible. And if you wanted to be sensible, then you’d have bought a Golf or the equally excellent Citroen C4 HDi or Ford Focus TDCi alternatives. Modern Beetles, unlike their post-war predecessors, are of course bought as fashion accessories, as second or third cars for the weekend jaunt or the trip to the squash club. Early US buyers included Beverley Hills celebrities, a president’s daughter and exclusive car rental establishments. In the UK you see them zipping about with advertising agencies’ names on the doors. Or parked outside fashionable restaurants and nightclubs. And in the parking slots of exclusive gated residential estates. To therefore complain about the lack of bootspace, the missed opportunity for extra doors in the rear, or even the price is meaningless. What matters is that this car has style – and plenty of it. Don’t buy one if you’ve a tendency towards the shy and retiring. The car has been recently mildly facelifted but the changes haven’t amounted to much. There are revised bumpers and wheelarches, with sharper edges than before, plus subtly restyled headlights and front indicators, and tail lights with white circles inside the red circles. The ‘VW’ emblems have also been modified at the front and rear. In addition, there’s a new range of colours and alloy wheels, complemented by fresher fabrics for the interior. Chrome now adorns the air vents and surrounds the instruments, for what Volkswagen reckon is an even higher quality feel inside. If anything, the Beetle interior is even more of a shock than the outside; full marks to the design team for doing the job properly, rather than filling it with Golf and Polo dials from the Volkswagen parts bin. Of course, there are plenty of tell-tale Volkswagen signs; the switches, the firm seats, the positive gearbox – but you don’t really notice them. What you do notice are all the natty stylish touches. The big central circular instrument cluster with its huge numbers and cute little built-in rev counter. Plus, of course, the vase (yes, you read that right), ready for you to fill with flower power. More macho buyers can pretend it’s a pen holder or something. As you’d expect from the bubble-like shape, there’s enough room inside to wear a top hat should the mood take you. More practically, that high roofline does make travelling in the rear reasonably palatable – though legroom is at a bit of a premium. Like all modern Volkswagens, the Beetle feels like it’s hewn from stone, with the kind of build quality you’d expect from something twice as expensive. The little touches help too; the lovely blue instrument lighting which illuminates only the figures on the speedometer; the beautifully designed unique-fit stereo. On the road, the ride is Germanically firm and the handling competent but generally uninspiring. On the safety front, there’s twin side and front airbags built around a platform that’s still one of the safest things this side of £30,000. Nice touches include folding rear seat that increases boot space, the height adjustable seats and the three 12V power sockets installed around the car. Options include a CD changer, leather upholstery, a sunroof, a winter pack with heated front seats and headlight washers and, for easy city driving, a four-speed automatic transmission. In summary, the Beetle TDI makes no sense and all the sense in the world at the same time. If you can understand that, then you’ll understand why you might buy one.

Facts At A Glance CAR: Volkswagen Beetle TDI range PRICE: £14,895 - £18,775 – on the road INSURANCE GROUP: 9 CO2 EMISSIONS: 143-145g/km PERFORMANCE: (saloon)Max Speed 115mph / 0-60mph 10.9s FUEL CONSUMPTION: (urban) 41.5mpg / (extra urban) 64.2mpg / (combined) 53.3mpg STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front & side airbags / ABS / ESP WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: (saloon) Length/Width/Heightmm 4081/1836/1498

THE NEXT BUG THING?
Volkswagen’s topless Beetle has been treated to a few changes over the years but it’s still as charming as ever. By Andy Enright

There’s something ineffably appealing about an open-topped Volkswagen Beetle. Dewy eyed romanticists will hark back to Jerry Garcia, Mama Cass and the Summer of Love, recalling their psychedelic ragtop Beetles and all the good times they signified. The latest car hasn’t sparked a return of tie-dye and sandals, but it has reintroduced a whole new generation of buyers to open top driving, Volkswagen style.

It’s been mildly facelifted but the changes haven’t amounted to much. There are revised bumpers and wheelarches, with sharper edges than before, plus subtly restyled headlights and front indicators, and tail lights with white circles inside the red circles. The ‘VW’ emblems have also been modified at the front and rear. In addition, there’s a new range of colours and alloy wheels, complemented by fresher fabrics for the interior. Chrome now adorns the air vents and surrounds the instruments, for what Volkswagen reckon is an even higher quality feel inside. Plusher Luna variants replace rather basic versions of the previous 1.4-litre and 1.6-litre models, and now include 16" Houston alloy wheels, in addition to ESP (Electronic Stabilisation Programme) with ABS, twin front and side airbags with active front seat head restraints, a radio/CD player, electric windows and remote central locking with alarm and interior protection. Prices start at £14,530. Aside from that, it’s as you were. Ignore the fact that the Beetle is merely a MkIV Golf with a pretty set of clothes on. Bin the rose-tinted spectacles and you’d have to accept that the original Beetle was crude, noisy and uncomfortable, with a choice of engines less sophisticated than you’ll find in many lawnmowers these days. The latest Beetle Cabriolet borrows the heritage, the silhouette and the blue sky from the original but fuses it with the sort of fuel economy, safety and creature comforts that the modern buyer demands.

"Unlike many open-top conversions, this Beetle doesn’t flex like a wobbleboard when the road is anything less than billiard table smooth"

Take the hood mechanism. Raising or lowering the hood will only take 13 seconds thanks to a slick electrohydraulic system. All you’ll need to do is release a pair of latches on the windscreen header rail and press a button. The hood itself is a cloth-lined three-layer construction that does a surprisingly good job of cutting down on wind noise when in the upright position and includes a proper heated glass rear window. You do lose a little of the hard top car’s geometric perfection with the hood in place, but drop it back and your Beetle Cabriolet will look a million dollars – a fair return, we think you’ll agree, on a car that can be had from less than £15,000. Although the hood doesn’t disappear neatly into a cranny in the bodywork when in the down position, the overall effect isn’t unpleasant , being vaguely reminiscent of the original. There’s a choice of five engines, the 75bhp 1.4-litre, the 102bhp 1.6-litre, the peppier 2.0-litre 115bhp unit, the 150bhp 1.8-litre Turbo or the 1.9TDI diesel, now uprated to 105bhp. There’s also an option of a six-speed automatic gearbox with the 2.0-litre petrol engine. None of the engines, bar perhaps the 1.8-Turbo, will fling you up the road with any great alacrity, but that would be missing the point of the car. The Beetle Cabriolet is built to cruise. Hammering one around with the foot to the floor seems slightly cruel, so we won’t bother with the usual 0-60 data and so on. Suffice to say, the 1.8 and 2.0-litre options are the better choices if you plan on overtaking, but the 1.6-litre car and the oil-burner have plenty enough to keep up in quick traffic. Unlike many open-top conversions, this Beetle doesn’t flex like a wobbleboard when the road is anything less than billiard table smooth. The MkIV Golf-based chassis is renowned as one of the stiffest around and the decapitation process has retained much of that torsional rigidity. The rear view mirror doesn’t get an attack of the DTs when you pass over an expansion joint nor are there the sort of creaks associated with the final moments of a Bond villain’s lair when you negotiate a speed hump. Thanks to that huge windscreen, front seat occupants are well protected from wind buffeting, but anybody in the rear seat will get more of a leathering at speed. Rear seat accommodation for two isn’t too bad unless the front passengers have extremely long legs. Headroom is an issue at the back with the hood up, but then it is in a hard top Beetle in the first instance. There’s a usefully sized boot, but if you’re big on practicality, Volkswagen can offer you an alternative. It’s called a Passat Estate. Like all modern Volkswagens, the Beetle feels like it’s hewn from stone, with the kind of build quality you’d expect from something twice as expensive. The little touches help too; the lovely blue instrument lighting which illuminates only the figures on the speedometer; the beautifully designed unique-fit stereo. Equipment levels include most things on the average wish list; the 2.0-litre version includes alloy wheels, central locking, electric front windows, ABS, power steering, tinted glass, a decent stereo and power/heated mirrors. On the safety front, there’s twin side and front airbags built around a platform that’s still one of the safest things this side of £30,000 and electronic stability control. Nice touches include height adjustable seats and that flower vase on the dashboard. Buyers in this sector have shown that they appreciate a car that combines this much style, quality and affordability. It’s an old formula but a good ‘un.

Facts At A Glance CAR: Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet range PRICE: £14,530-£19,885 – on the road INSURANCE GROUP: 6-13 CO2 EMISSIONS: 17-212g/km PERFORMANCE: [2.0] Max Speed 114mph / 0-60mph 11.7s FUEL CONSUMPTION: [2.0] (combined) 32.1mpg STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front & side airbags / ABS / ESP WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Heightmm 4081/1836/1498

BEETLE TO THE POWER OF TWO
Volkswagen’s Original 2.0-Litre Beetle Faces Stiff Competition From A Growing Number Of Rivals. Steve Ghosley Checks If It Has What It Takes

With the novelty value starting to rub off, Volkswagen have been in the unusual position of having to really sell their Beetle to a public that now has a far greater choice of retro and quirky vehicles from which to choose. Cars like the MINI and Smart car are satisfying the needs of those who want to be different and have left Volkswagen with a problem that they haven’t had to face before.

Their solution has been to continually introduce new variants like the 1.4-litre, 1.6-litre, turbo-charged 1.8-litre and Cabriolet versions as well as a 1.9-litre TDi PD diesel powered model to keep customers interested and the range fresh. There’s also been a mild facelift in recent times. The model we look at here though is the 2.0-litre petrol eight-valve 115bhp petrol engine already used, at one time or another in Golf, Bora and Passat models and capable of surprisingly good performance. This is the version that first hit the streets when the need to be seen in the latest Bug was more important to buyers than the performance or even the cost. Now that the hype has died down, the 2.0-litre Beetle has to compete with all the newly arrived versions, so how does it fare? At £14,920 for the manual variant, it isn’t cheap and if you want the automatic, that costs £15,770. There’s also a Cabriolet alternative to the fixed top version we’re looking at here, open-topped motoring in this case priced from £18,785. Whichever version you choose, this Beetle comes with a fairly high specification along with the performance you would expect from a lusty two-litre engine. It’s decently fast (rest to sixty in 10.9s on the way to 115mph) but less frugal than any of its stablemates bar the 2.3-litre V5, with a combined consumption figure of 32.0mpg. This reduces further to 29.7mpg if you opt for the automatic gearbox. Performance however, tends not to be an important consideration for potential Beetle buyers. What you get for your money though is and with this model the creature comforts over and above the standard fare consists of manual air-conditioning, ABS brakes, ‘Route 66’ alloy wheels, ‘Canasta’ cloth upholstery and carpet mats. You also get a very handy 12-volt socket in the luggage compartment. In addition, expect to find electric front windows, powered heated and adjustable mirrors, tinted glass, remote central locking and an alarm. You can get all these things in a Golf of course – or indeed in any other sensible family hatchback. But then, you don’t buy a Beetle to be sensible.

"The new Beetle is a Volkswagen through and through feeling like it’s hewn from stone …"

The car has, as we’ve said, been recently mildly facelifted but the changes haven’t amounted to much. There are revised bumpers and wheelarches, with sharper edges than before, plus subtly restyled headlights and front indicators, and tail lights with white circles inside the red circles. The ‘VW’ emblems have also been modified at the front and rear. In addition, there’s a new range of colours and alloy wheels, complemented by fresher fabrics for the interior. Chrome now adorns the air vents and surrounds the instruments, for what Volkswagen reckon is an even higher quality feel inside. This Beetle’s interior is even more of a shock than the outside; full marks to the design team for doing the job properly, rather than filling it with Golf and Polo dials from the Volkswagen parts bin. Of course, there are plenty of tell-tale Volkswagen signs; the switches, the firm seats, the positive gearbox – but you don’t really notice them. What you do notice are all the natty stylish touches. The big central circular instrument cluster with its huge numbers and cute little built-in rev counter. As you’d expect from a car with such a high roofline, there’s enough room inside to wear a top hat should the mood take you. More practically, that high roofline does make travelling in the rear reasonably palatable, although legroom is at a bit of a premium. Nice touches include folding rear seat that increases boot space, the height adjustable seats and the three 12V power sockets installed around the car. On the road, the ride is Germanically firm and the handling competent but generally uninspiring. The new Beetle is a Volkswagen through and through feeling like it’s hewn from stone, with the kind of build quality you’d expect from something twice as expensive. The little touches help too; the lovely blue instrument lighting which illuminates only the figures on the speedometer; the beautifully designed unique-fit stereo. Equipment levels, as we’ve seen, include most things on the average wish list and include ESP, the Electronic Stability Programme normally reserved for performance models. This senses when you’ve entered a corner too fast and automatically reduces the power whilst selectively applying individual brakes so that the car can be kept under control. On the passive safety front, there’s twin side and front airbags built around a platform that’s still one of the safest things this side of £30,000. This 2.0-litre Beetle has a fight on its hands and not just with the opposition’s products. Most prospective customers will be looking for something different to what this model offers. It is neither the fastest, most economical or cheapest in the range and the specification could offer more. So who’s going to continue to buy this Beetle? Perhaps a keenly priced 2.0-litre special edition version would answer that one. Over to you Volkswagen….

Facts At A Glance CAR: Volkswagen Beetle 2.0 range PRICE: £14,935 - £18,800 – on the road INSURANCE GROUP: 11 CO2 EMISSIONS: 209g/km PERFORMANCE: Max Speed 115mph / 0-60mph 10.9s FUEL CONSUMPTION: (combined) 32.0mpg STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front & side airbags / ABS / ESP WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Heightmm 4081/1836/1498

BEETLE FOR THE PEOPLE
As The Entry-Level Point To The Beetle Range, The 1.4-Litre Engined Luna Versions Look Set To Mop Up Plenty Of New Customers. Andy Enright Reports

Now that the Beetle’s fickle veneer of novelty has worn off, Volkswagen has had to revert to more traditional methods of marketing in order to move metal. The line-up has recently been facelifted following the revitalisation of interest in the range after the introduction of a Cabriolet version, plus the entry-level 1.4-litre petrol engine featured here.

When the Beetle was first launched there were plenty of naysayers who grumbled that it was merely an overpriced Golf with pretty clothes on. This was perhaps a little harsh, ignoring as it did the Beetle’s unique personality and charisma as well as the fact that later versions of the Beetle were often priced at less than their Golf equivalents. The Cabriolet version of the entry 1.4 Luna variant we look at here is priced at £14,360, which is competitive in its market, but the premium of nearly £3,000 over the hard top car for the benefit of a folding roof seems quite a hefty surcharge. Bear in mind that unlike the 1.6-litre Cabriolet, this one does without the electric power roof, Volkswagen reliving you of more cash should manually operating the roof prove beyond the pale. As we’ve said, the car has been recently mildly facelifted but the changes haven’t amounted to much. There are revised bumpers and wheelarches, with sharper edges than before, plus subtly restyled headlights and front indicators, and tail lights with white circles inside the red circles. The ‘VW’ emblems have also been modified at the front and rear. In addition, there’s a new range of colours and alloy wheels, complemented by fresher fabrics for the interior. Chrome now adorns the air vents and surrounds the instruments, for what Volkswagen reckon is an even higher quality feel inside. The Luna tag means buyers of this car can now expect 16" Houston alloy wheels, in addition to ESP (Electronic Stabilisation Programme) with ABS, twin front and side airbags with active front seat head restraints, a radio/CD player, electric windows and remote central locking with alarm and interior protection.

"The fact that a brand new Beetle can be yours from £11,535 will make a whole new breed of competitors peer rather nervously over their shoulders"

The 1390cc 16-valve 75bhp engine is a staple of the Volkswagen range and at one time or another has been found plumbed beneath the bonnets of the Lupo, Polo and Golf as well as the Beetle and is a perfectly serviceable little engine, not excelling in any one area but offering a well rounded blend of abilities. Fitted to the Beetle hatch it will accelerate the car to 60mph in 14.4 seconds and carry on to a top speed of 100mph. A combined fuel economy figure of 39.8mpg is surprisingly good for a small engine powering a relatively heavy car. The slightly weightier Cabriolet takes a second longer for the benchmark sprint, posts an identical top speed and will return a fractionally thirstier 39.2mpg. The fact that a brand new Beetle can be yours from £11,535 in this form will make a whole new breed of competitors peer rather nervously over their shoulders. For little more than a Ford Fiesta 1.4, you could instead put a Beetle on your driveway and despite the fact that the shape’s now a few years old, it still makes more of a style statement. Specify one in a bright primary colour and it will still attract the odd admiring glance. The Cabriolet model is a guaranteed head-swiveller, although these cars look better in neutral silvers and blacks. Volkswagen expect the 1.4-litre model to account for 30% of all Cabriolet sales and 25% of all Beetle hatchback buys. Even without the power hood, the 1.4-litre Beetle Cabriolet still feels a good deal more car than £14,360 will normally buy. The hood itself is a cloth-lined three-layer construction that does a surprisingly good job of cutting down on wind noise when in the upright position and includes a proper heated glass rear window. You do lose a little of the hard top car’s geometric perfection with the hood in place, but drop it back and your Beetle Cabriolet will look a million dollars – a fair return, we think you’ll agree given the asking price. Although the hood doesn’t disappear neatly into a cranny in the bodywork when in the down position, the overall effect isn’t unpleasant, being vaguely reminiscent of the original. Given that Volkswagen expect to sell twice as many hatches as Cabriolets its little wonder that the majority of their marketing push has been aimed at the hard top. Reacquaint yourself with the car and you’re instantly surprised at quite what a strange environment the cabin is. The view out of the windscreen is rather like sitting back in a comfy chair and watching proceedings on a wide-screen plasma screen television. Drive at night and the interior is illuminated by the spooky indigo glow of the clocks, the base of the windscreen a good four feet away from your face. Of course, there are plenty of telltale Volkswagen signs; the switches, the firm seats, the positive gearbox – but you don’t really notice them. What you do notice are all the natty stylish touches. The big central circular instrument cluster with its huge numbers and cute little built-in rev counter. Plus of course, the vase (yes, you read that right), ready for you to fill with flower power. More macho buyers can pretend it’s a penholder or something. As you’d expect from the bubble-like shape, there’s enough room inside to wear a top hat should the mood take you. More practically, that high roofline does make travelling in the rear reasonably palatable – though legroom is at a bit of a premium. Unlike many open-top conversions, the Beetle Cabriolet doesn’t flex like a wobbleboard when the road is anything less than billiard table smooth. There’s a lot to be said for the Beetle 1.4-litre models. Few people buy a Beetle for the performance on offer and the inescapable result of this thread of logic dictates that cheapest is best. And so it proves. Spend any more than you would on a 1.4-litre car and you’ll probably end up observing the law of diminishing returns. This probably wasn’t what Volkswagen had in mind when offering an affordable Beetle, but there it is. Cheap works for us.

Facts At A Glance CAR: Volkswagen Beetle 1.4 range PRICE: £11,535-£14,360 – on the road INSURANCE GROUP: 8 CO2 EMISSIONS: 170-173g/km PERFORMANCE: [hatch] Max Speed 100mph / 0-60mph 14.4s FUEL CONSUMPTION: [hatch] (combined) 39.8mpg STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front & side airbags / ABS / ESP WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Heightmm 4081/1836/1498

THE BUG’S BACK
Today’s Volkswagen’s Beetle meets a very different need to its famous predecessor. Jonathan Crouch reports on the latest version…

On paper, at least, the current incarnation of Volkswagen’s Beetle has little in common with Dr Porsche’s original air-cooled people’s car, being a Golf MKIV in everything but name and shape.

Not that this matters, of course. Volkswagen’s crude, noisy and comfortless rear engined, air-cooled original is the last thing that modern buyers would want. For them, the Beetle must be anything but the basic, functional transport envisioned by the original’s creator, Dr Ferdinand Porsche, back in 1945. Modern Volkswagen Beetles are bought as fashion accessories, as second or third cars for the weekend jaunt or the trip to the squash club. Early US buyers included Beverley Hills celebrities, a president’s daughter and exclusive car rental establishments. The initial furore has cooled somewhat but in the UK, you can see them zipping about with advertising agencies’ names on the doors or parked outside fashionable restaurants and nightclubs. The MINI and the Fiat 500 may have taken over its ‘it-car’ mantle but the Beetle is dripping with the same sort of retro charm. To therefore complain about the lack of bootspace, the missed opportunity for extra doors in the rear, or even the price is meaningless.

"There are changes but what really matters is that this car still has style – and plenty of it…"

Don’t buy a Volkswagen Beetle if you’ve a tendency towards the shy and retiring. Even now, people still stare. Don’t go expecting a tarmac rocket, mind you. Go for the 2.0-litre and power comes from a bog standard 8-valve engine – it’s torquey, rather than terrifically quick. Here, sixty is quickly dispatched in 10.9s on the way to 115mph. If you want even more style, try the Beetle Cabriolet. With either bodystyle, there’s a choice of five engines, the 75bhp 1.4-litre, the 102bhp 1.6-litre, that 2.0-litre 115bhp unit, the trusty 150bhp 1.8-litre Turbo or the 105bhp 1.9TDI diesel. There’s also an option of a six-speed automatic gearbox with the 2.0-litre petrol engine. If anything, the Beetle interior is even more of a shock than the outside; full marks to the design team for doing the job properly, rather than filling it with Golf and Polo dials from the Volkswagen parts bin. Of course, there are plenty of tell-tale Volkswagen signs; the switches, the firm seats, the positive gearbox – but you don’t really notice them. What you do notice are all the natty stylish touches. The big central circular instrument cluster with its huge numbers and cute little built-in rev counter. Plus, of course, the vase (yes, you read that right), ready for you to fill with flower power. More macho buyers can pretend it’s a pen holder or something. As you’d expect from the bubble-like shape, there’s enough room inside to wear a top hat should the mood take you. More practically, that high roofline does make travelling in the rear reasonably palatable – though legroom is at a bit of a premium. Like all modern Volkswagens, the Beetle feels like it’s hewn from stone, with the kind of build quality you’d expect from something twice as expensive. The little touches help too; the lovely blue instrument lighting which illuminates only the figures on the speedometer; the beautifully designed unique-fit stereo. Even the Cabriolet feels solid. Unlike many open-top conversions, it oesn’t flex like a wobbleboard when the road is anything less than billiard table smooth. The Golf-based chassis is renowned as one of the stiffest around and the decapitation process has retained much of that torsional rigidity. The rear view mirror doesn’t get an attack of the DTs when you pass over an expansion joint nor are there the sort of creaks associated with the final moments of a Bond villain’s lair when you negotiate a speed hump. On the road, the ride is Germanically firm and the handling competent but generally uninspiring. There’s the basis here, however, for a fine performance car but none of the engines quite deliver the requisite oomph. To be fair, the 1.8T manages the rest to sixty sprint in 8.7s on the way to 126mph. The entry-level 1.4-litre model takes 14.6s to do the 0-60mph and so best mimics the original Beetle’s driving experience. The Beetle, being based on the old MKIV Golf and hardly in the first flush of youth itself, doesn’t come with Volkswagen’s latest engine technology installed. The units are tried and tested but fuel economy by and large isn’t what we’ve come to expect. The 1.9TDI diesel is the exception here: despite its age, it’s still capable of 52mpg returns with emissions of 143g/km. The petrol contingent’s best performer is the 1.4 with 40mpg and 169g/km. Its worst is the 2.0-litre with its 32mpg and 210g/km. Hard top or cabriolet, the Beetle is an unashamed indulgence, both on the part of its makers and those who will buy it. There’s no rational reason for shelling out up to £19,000 on a convertible one or £16,000 on a hard-top. But then, if we did everything for rational reasons, the world would be very dull indeed. This car has made the automotive landscape just that little bit brighter. The engine range is looking a little old hat these days but the Beetle has aged well overall. It still feels solid and drives well enough while the looks still have that retro appeal. More recent resurrections of past classics may have been better executed but the Beetle is still worthy of its place amongst the new old-timers.

Facts At A Glance CAR: Volkswagen Beetle range PRICES: £11,660-£19,875 – on the road INSURANCE GROUP: 5-13 CO2 EMISSIONS: 170-214g/km PERFORMANCE: [2.0] Max Speed 115mph / 0-60mph 10.9s FUEL CONSUMPTION: [2.0] (urban) 23.9mpg / (extra urban) 40.9mpg / (combined) 32.5mpg STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front & side airbags / ABS / ESP WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Heightmm 4081/1836/1498