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| A new Beetle turbo. (As opposed to a New Beetle Turbo.) |
Still, I'll bet in ten or twenty years that it's the '97-'11 models that are the collector's items while these are just old cars. That bubble-fendered rolling arch is probably going to be judged kindly by history, despite how much it set Beetle purist teeth on edge. It's got kitschiness.
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11 comments:
In 1965 my family drove our sky blue Bug to the beach, with all our luggage loaded under the front hood, my mom & dad up front, my older bro & sis in the back seat, and my kid brother & I wedged into the well behind the front seat.
It was only 200 miles, thankfully. I was much, much smaller then, as was my younger brother.
Having owned an '01 New Beetle, the new version doesn't appeal to me in the least. In person, I think it looks like a poorly copied PT Cruiser.
Of course the fact VW took all the headroom out of the beetle means that even if I liked the looks, I couldn't own one. The greatest thing about the New Beetle for me was the vast expanse of headroom.
As for build quality though, mine was rubish and I spent more money in the 5 years of VW ownership than the 11 years I owned my GMC Pickup, by a factor of three. Considering I drove the GMC well past 100k miles and the VW was under that mark by 10k, I find that appalling.
To me, "Fahrvergnügen" will always mean "replace the sensor Fritz".
The Beetle purists I know have yet to recover from VW placing the motor in the wrong end.
Bram, I agree. My second car was the first year Super Beetle ('70 or '71, I forget). That year still had the flat windshield and dash, so looked, at a glance like the original.
Best car I ever owned. Fun to drive, good in the snow and totally reliable. I'd buy another in a flash.
I do like the new VW turbo but they look like a truncated Dodge Neon.
Anonymous Bram said...
The Beetle purists I know have yet to recover from VW placing the motor in the wrong end.
Absolutely. I always wanted one of the dune buggy conversions. Can't do that with the new ones.
Joseph, of course there's also "Fehler in aller Teilen", the German snark on Fiat.
It looks vaguely like a Beetle, but not ....
Well, I'll always remember my '68 fondly, and my girlfriend's Karmann-Ghia. That was a cool car. And a cool gal. I wonder what happened to her?
Not air-cooled. May as well be a Harley/Porsche V-Rod...
My first car was a 1970 Bug. I never could accept the front-engine reboot.
I finally traded mine after two decades of a stalled customization and all its parts in boxes for a beat up Yamaha Timberwolf ATF needing work.
When I picked up the ATV the guy mentioned someone wanting to trade a 9MM for it but he didn't want any gun. As I drove home I decided the ATV was a bigger project than I wanted so I traded it for the 9MM Taurus PT 24/7.
A week later after one range trip I wound up trading the Taurus plus $50 for my nickel pre-10 .38.
This is why I cannot bring myself to sell or trade blingy the .38 even though I don't shoot it often. Its connection to my first car.
Looks too much like the driver should be wearing a brown shirt and red armband for my tastes...
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