2013 Volkswagen Beetle Launch Review
VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE REVIEW
What’s hot: That 118TSI engine is a delight; good ride.
What’s not: Does ‘the retro thing’ still work? Interior a bit lacking.
X-Factor: Its quirky coupe lines will win hearts, not because it’s retro, but because it looks cool. End of story.
Vehicle style: Small two-door hatchback coupe
Price: $29,990 (six-speed manual); $32,490 (seven-speed DSG)
Power/Torque: 118kW/240Nm
Fuel economy listed: 6.4 l/100km (DSG) | tested: 7.9 l/100km (highway run)
Those of us who grew up with the original Volksey, the Type 1 ‘Beetle’, we’ve got fond memories of that little car with the chaff-cutter engine and the diabolical swing-axle rear suspension.
Built here for around ten years, most with an air-cooled 1200cc engine in the bum, ageing Volkseys were everywhere – the student’s car of choice.
The small fact that a lot spent a considerable part of their time upended with their puny wheels spinning in the air, because they would flip over at the drop of a hat, didn’t bother us at all.
They were slow as, so we drove them everywhere ‘flat to the board’. Because you could, and because they were fun.
And, if you had one, you could occasionally find someone of the opposing gender eager to go to the drive-in with you because it was – at least – a car, if not an especially impressive one.
(Later, depending upon how sporting your partner was, you could spend half the night trying to work out how to extract your foot from the glovebox that you’d thrust in there in a moment of contorted passion.)
So, yes, it was inevitable that when that first retro-Beetle arrived in the late nineties, it came with great expectations. But it was all wrong.
The engine was in the front; the windscreen that was centimetres from the fingertips in the original was somewhere in the next county in the new car – and from behind the wheel it felt like you were driving it from the back-seat.
And it was too ‘girly’.
Fast forward a decade-and-a-half and Volkswagen has decided to have another shot at it.
And this one is better. Much. As a car, that is. Because aside from four wheels and a vaguely reminiscent ‘double curve’ shape, it is as much like the air-cooled rear-engined original as an emu or a tuning fork.
Retro – trying to copy and recreate something that’s gone – probably never really works. It is, at best, a pastiche, nothing more.
But don’t let that put you off the new Beetle. It’s actually quite a nice car; a good size, drives in a Golf-ish kind-of way, has a nice feel at the wheel and quite a surprising amount of space inside.
Better, sliding in under $30k for the manual version ($29,990) it’s really well priced. The DSG version is dearer, $32,490, but still comparatively inexpensive.
That price compares favourably with the Veloster Turbo and Opel Astra GTC for instance.
THE INTERIOR
Depending upon the exterior colour of the car, the interior can be a bit scary. That’s because the external colour is repeated inside on a swathe of painted plastic topping the doors and across the dash.
It looks good in ‘denim blue’ (I thought), kind-of ok in red, but garish as hell in yellow. There’s also a ‘Fender’ model with a black exterior and a sunburst interior treatment – we’ll need to hold judgment on that one till we see it.
But, over all, it’s well laid-out and quite neatly styled. The small upper-glovebox ahead of the passenger (and borrowed from the original’s glovebox style) is a useful touch, and looks really good.
Seats are also good, trimmed in a tight fabric in standard form but can be upgraded to leather. In fabric or leather they’re well-shaped enough, have ample adjustment and are comfortable.
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