VW BEETLE
The VW BEETLE
Beneath the skin, this is yet another incarnation of the A-platform, the running gear much the same as the Golf's. Only left-hand drive cars have been built so far and, worried about being deluged by a wave of grey imports, Volkswagen in Britain decided to bring in about 1000 left-hand drive cars. Only one engine was available for this batch, the new, cross-flow 2-litre, with two valves in each of its four cylinders.
An interesting exercise is to walk round the Beetle, tapping the panels. You'll be surprised at how many of them are plastic, but the big curvatures mean that they can be made as strong as steel. The number of options is limited to one, a boot-mounted six-disc CD changer at £395. You'll have to pay extra for some of the paint colours, though: yellow costs an extra £100, Lemon yellow £180 and metallics or pearls are an extra £245.
The body looks very smooth and aerodynamic, the arched roof blending well with the other panels and giving plenty of head room for driver and front passenger. Those who sit in the back don't fare so well; their heads are not only close to the roof, but are also directly exposed to any sun through the rear window. The front seats don't have a great deal of shape, but they proved remarkably comfortable over long distances. The back seat is less good, its padding thinner so that it can fold down to supplement the meagre boot, and its backrest rather too upright.
The boot is released electrically, either by a switch on the driver's door or by the centre section of the remote key; you can also twist the big VW roundel to reveal the lock and a neat spring-out release lever. For a modern car the boot is pathetically small and you would be hard put to find room for a family's luggage. Another switch on the driver's door releases the flap over the fuel filler and both doors are equipped with switches for the central locking system. The power windows are controlled by switches set into the flat part of the door trim panels, less easy to operate than on other current Volkswagens.
If you've had a look at the Beetle, you'll know that the most noticeable feature is the depth of the dashboard. It seems to stretch away into the distance, the thick A-pillars set so far forward that, at some junctions, you are looking through the side window rather than the windscreen. This arrangement takes some getting used to and forward visibility is never going to be one of the Beetle's best points.
In front of the driver is a single binnacle housing a large speedometer, with fuel gauge and tiny rev counter set into it. There is no coolant temperature gauge: the warning light is blue during the warm-up period and will turn red in the event of overheating. The rev counter is so small that it has little practical value. The other blue warning light is for main beam. This is right at the top of the speedometer and most of us found that it was invisible when we had the wheel set at the preferred height. The steering wheel looks interesting with its metallic spokes, and is positioned almost vertically, but the rim is vinyl and soon becomes slippery in hot weather.
Set into the centre of the speedometer is a liquid crystal mileage recorder, while the clock is up above the windscreen, alongside an ambient temperature display. There is also a small storage box above the mirror and another, shaped to hold sunglasses, above the driver's door. means that the vents blow cold air direct-Overall, though, interior storage space is ly on to the driver's hand and the amount quite limited, apart from sensibly shaped of adjustment is limited. Although the net pockets in the doors and a glove box top of the facia nearest the occupants is which has a big lid, but surprisingly little textured, the part immediately next to the space inside, screen has a smooth surface and strong sun can reflect quite badly.
All of this current crop of Beetles are fitted with air conditioning, the big curved Bearing in mind that its running gear is glass area making this almost a necessity. taken from the Golf and its wheels are Unfortunately, the shape of the facia right out at the corners, you would expect the Beetle to have good handling, but this is one area where we have some reservations. Don't forget that this car was designed for the USA, with the emphasis on comfort. The ride on the wide tyres is very comfortable and even big bumps in the road won't upset your passengers. You can drive with the tyres running along a line of cat's-eyes and hardly know it.
We drove flat out for many miles on German autobahns and the Beetle behaved very well, taking big, high-speed curves without any need to ease back on the throttle. It is when you drive quickly on smaller, country roads that you begin to realise that there are handling limitations. The turn-in to bends is satisfyingly quick and you won't notice anything wrong if you accelerate through, but, if you lift off, the soft damping allows the car to exhibit a degree of roll oversteer. Brake as you go into a corner and you immediately become conscious of the roll developing and the back end of the car beginning to feel less stable. Of course, you shouldn't be braking in those conditions, but it happens to us all sooner or later.
Perhaps this is why the Beetle is equipped, as standard, with ESP. Sensors measure the attitude of the car and, if the control unit feels that limits are being exceeded, the braking and the traction control system which affects engine out-put will come into action to redress the situation. We chose a clear, winding piece of road and pushed the Beetle hard, with and without the ESP switched on, and have to say that we could detect very little difference. This is understandable: during our test period there was no rain and ESP is only meant to come into operation when the car begins to slide.
The 2-litre engine developed for the Beetle is now finding a home in both the Bora and the Golf GTJ, replacing the five-valve 1.8 unit. It is not the most refined of power plants, but it does have plenty of low-down torque, the maximum value, which is the same as the five-valve's, being developed at 2400rpm. We have yet to test the Golf GTI with this engine, but the Beetle, its weight similar to that of the Golf, accelerates much more strongly than the five-valve GTI, despite having ten less horsepower.
It can accelerate pretty quickly, but when it comes to maximum speed, the Beetle is at a distinct disadvantage. It may look streamlined, but it actually has brick-like aerodynamic qualities and this limits the top speed to a claimed 116mph, whereas the equivalent Golf will go much higher. We timed the Beetle at a genuine 117mph in Germany, but it took a long time to get there and 110mph is a more realistic maximum.
The high drag factor inevitably has an effect on fuel consumption and, despite long journeys which usually help econ-omy, this Beetle managed an overall aver-age of only 28.0mpg. Even trying hard, it is difficult to better 34mpg.
We had a good illustration in Germany of the effect of the drag. We hadn't taken enough account of fuel consumption and the low level warning came on. On the Beetle, this means that you have only five litres left and the next filling station was more than 20 kilometres away. To pre-serve what little fuel was left, we decided to adopt radical techniques, coasting whenever possible. Well, we tried, but even downhill the Beetle slowed. We know that some buyers are fitting even wider wheels and tyres; that can only increase the amount of drag. After a day's driving we had another eloquent reminder of the poor aerodynamics. The front of the car and windscreen were covered with a carpet of squashed insects, something only too familiar in the days of the old Beetle.
The price of the left-hand drive Beetle must reflect that this is a seller's market and Volkswagen knows that they will all be snapped up. Prices in America, and in the rest of Europe, suggest that buyers are being asked quite a hefty sum. We have yet to hear when deliveries of right-hand drive examples will begin and it will be interesting to see what happens to the value of the left hookers when they arrive.
We've criticised several aspects of the Beetle, most of them the result of the basic design. Its handling can be firmed up, but there is little one can do about the lack of room for rear passengers and luggage, or the poor drag factor. Despite this, the Beetle is universally attractive and it is no wonder that there is a long queue to buy it. No car, however much it costs, draws so much attention and so many smiles.
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