HOW can this car not have a special place in my heart, when it was my first car? I mean, sure it had skinny legs—er, tires. It took more than a while to warm up, liked taking it slow, and threw the occasional temper tantrum, but it made my early college years bearable and endearingly memorable.
It was a ’69 German-made Volkswagen Beetle that had a rear-mounted 1200cc gasoline engine, a 6-volt battery that was charged by a dynamo instead of an alternator, and providing only 30 bhp of power, but it was very forgiving in terms of its fuel consumption.
I loved how light it handled. Sure, I was able to coax it to drift (and back in those years, drifting wasn’t an in-thing at all here), and it was mainly due to the semi worn-out tires that I did mention, were skinny.
While its counterparts on the street provided a smooth vroom sound, it had a whirr that was akin to a grass cutter’s. Sure, it was the oldest car in the parking lot—ancient by comparison to the features and amenities the other cars had—but it was a standout in terms of shape, character, and most of all, heritage.
Ferdinand Porsche and his team finalized its design in 1938 as a “people’s car,” but it only saw mass production in 1945. It was as straightforward and utilitarian as a car could get, but its unique bug shape set it apart from all the rest.
Timeless
Today, the Volkswagen Beetle remains as the most recognizable automobile in the entire world. Timeless, but totally with the times.
Who would’ve imagined bi-Xenon lamps with clusters of ultra-bright LED daytime running lights would adorn a pair of headlights, thus staying faithful to the Beetle’s classic design harking to decades back?
Despite the shape that’s unmistakably a Beetle’s, the engine has been migrated to the front end—and boy, what an engine it has evolved to.
For 2016, there are two available choices, with the benefit of turbocharging for a more compact size and displacement, better fuel efficiency, and abundant power.
Volkswagen’s TSI engines come in a 1.2L variant that’s mated to a 6-speed manual transmission, and a 1.4L variant that’s equipped with Volkswagen’s renowned direct shift gearbox (DSG) for lightning-fast and seamless automatic gear shifts.
Both engines more than stack up to current performance demands without departing from its frugal roots, with the 1.4L TSI DSG topping out at 160 ps at 5800 rpm, and 240 Nm of torque from 1500-4500 rpm.
It’s a sweet-running but potent engine that allows for spirited driving without the guilt. Acceleration’s pretty linear and assertive, plus the compact size and lightweight construction complements its dynamics with a good power-to-weight ratio.
It does remind me of its more athletic cousin, the Golf GTi in terms of nimbleness and precise handling. Its electro-mechanical speed-sensitive power steering provides very positive feedback, making its impressive handling all the more predictable—and more enjoyable to drive.
When Volkswagen remade the Beetle with a brand new body in 1989, literally modernizing the classic, it made quite an impact and generated much excitement. Unfortunately, this didn’t reflect as much on its sales.
Volkswagen purists and casual fans alike found the design a bit too feminine, and somewhat dorky. I got that impression too, not knowing exactly how that was conveyed via a bug-inspired design.
The totally redesigned Beetle introduced just a few years back directly addressed that with a sportier, more masculine stance, and with impressive performance to match.
No offense to the opposite sex, but I have yet to find a lady who seeks feminine qualities in a car. Now the Beetle is a head-turner in every angle.
With a lower roofline, a longer hood with an extended bumper, a wider stance and larger wheels, it hardly needs anything else to enhance its aesthetics—well, of course, that’s what I said before I saw the racing stripes and even bigger alloy rims.
It’s a daily reminder that owning a car should be fun.
I may be subjective, but if and when I find a person who doesn’t like it at all, I’d be able to present a very interesting psychological profile to my shrink friends. I’d also imagine scenarios that’d go like: “what a bummer, they cancelled my favorite show … wait, I have a Beetle in my garage!” Or “I hate my job and I have a dead-end boss (or is it the other way around?) … that’s ok, I have a Beetle in my garage!”
Notably, I have a daughter who very rarely comments on the countless cars I’ve brought home for test drives. So, when with sparkles in her eyes, she giddily requested that I drive her in the candy red Volkswagen Beetle I just parked in our garage, Daddy obliged.
The folks in the wagen at Volkswagen, in my book, have hit the proverbial nail on the head by paying proper homage to a timeless classic in this current iteration of the Beetle. It’s a fine marriage of cutting-edge technology and a much-revered design, of a tradition that’s well maintained within a high-performance driving machine that’s remarkable for its engineering and excitement-inducing qualities, right down to that tiny flower vase mounted on the dashboard.
The venerable Bug is here to stay, and to that I say, bug me anytime.
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