Improved handling and better looks put Volkswagen's new "new Beetle" streets ahead of its modern predecessor. And, in an affordable price range, the people's car should find its niche in the market again, writes PADDY COMYN
IT IS ALWAYS risky to mess with an icon. And Volkswagen knows this more than most. In the late 1990s, when they finally decided to resurrect the Beetle – the people’s car – which had sold in multiples of millions around the world, they did so with, you’d imagine, the best intentions. But they were in the middle of making some pretty awful cars at the time.
The Concept 1, which was first shown in 1994, was originally on the Polo platform and this might have been the way to go for the rebirth of what was a simple car. But instead they opted for the Golf platform, and the end result was over-bloated, over-complicated and looked like a child had designed it.
It was a hit, for a while at least. Coming out at a time when the Golf, Passat and pretty much everything else Volkswagen made would send you to sleep, the “New Beetle” was a breath of fresh air.
Several left-hand drive versions were sold in Ireland because people simply couldn’t wait to get their hands on one. The thing was that it was awful to drive. You sat what felt like a mile away from the windscreen and it was so heavy and bloated that it wasn’t ever half as fun as it should have been. And the cartoon-like looks only really appealed to a female audience. The arrival of the Mini, which got the retro-futuristic theme just right, meant that the New Beetle became an also-ran.
The other difficulty with that Beetle was that it never really crossed the gender divide. While the original car was a car that suited everyone, it was a largely female audience that were drawn to the modern Beetle. As a guy, you were going to have to be pretty comfortable with your image to turn up to Gaelic or rugby training in a Beetle. The convertible was even worse in this regard. It looked like a pram.
But now we are back with a brand new, New Beetle. And it’s more Apple iPad than Amstrad. Gone is a bubble roof and bubble bonnet, replaced by an all-new design that makes the car look not too dissimilar to a Porsche 911. And that can’t be a bad thing. It sits much squatter than the last car, looks way more muscular and far less like a novelty car. It is probably no accident that the launch event only featured 200bhp 2.0-litre TFSi versions sitting on huge alloy wheels and wearing body kits. There wasn’t a pastel colour to be seen.
You’ll hardly be surprised to hear that this Beetle shares lots of components with the Golf and Jetta. The interior is very good; at least on the high specification models we were driving. In Ireland there will be three grades – Beetle, Design and Sport, with the basic grade being just that, basic. You will get air conditioning and cruise control, but have to make do with steel wheels for a car that will scrape in at under €20,000. Much like the Golf, the smarter money will go on the Design or Sport grades, but there is also a pretty massive options list, which includes an audio system made by Fender, the guitar and amp people.
Design spec adds 16-inch “Whirl” alloy wheels, front comfort seats (are the standard ones uncomfortable then?), rain-sensing wipers, and additional instruments on the dashboard – Turbocharger pressure, oil temperature and stopwatch. The Sport specification adds 17-inch “Spin” alloy wheels, black exterior mirror housings, an electronic diff and “Climatronic” automatic air conditioning.
There is a much better driving position this time around and the design has allowed greatly improved rear space for the two rear-seat passengers. Up front, the engine line-up is familiar. For Ireland, we won’t be getting the 200bhp 2.0-litre TFSi engine that we tried, which is a bit of shame, but apparently there wouldn’t be many takers. Instead, buyers will get to choose from one of three engines. The entry point to the range is a 1.2-litre TSi petrol engine that is putting out 105bhp. It has emissions of 132g/km and will sit in tax band B.
The 1.6-litre TDi also has 105bhp but sits in motor tax band A. Also available will be a 1.4-litre TSi petrol with 160bhp. All engines can be had with either a manual gearbox, five-speed in the 1.6-litre TDi, six-speed in the 1.2-litre and 1.4-litre petrol and seven-speed if you opt for the DSG double-clutch gearbox. So while we can’t tell you how these engines will be in this new car yet, you can expect them to be on a par with the Golf equivalents in terms of performance.
In terms of the drive, our 200bhp version felt fast, and it was: 0-100km/h took 7.5 seconds and the top speed potential was 223km/h. The steering felt nicely weighted, in part probably because of the enormous alloys sitting snugly in the massive wheel arches. Quite what the 16-inch basic steel wheels will look like remains to be seen.
Our test route, for the most part, consisted of straight lines, which always raises the warning flag about a car’s handling. However, it did eventually turn into one with some bends and here the Beetle acquitted itself quite well and there is no comparison between the car’s agility and the last Beetle. This latest version now has the competence you will find in any of the Golf, Jetta, Scirocco combinations, and with this decent power output it felt like quite a fun performance car, even if Volkswagen has decided not to call this 200bhp version a Beetle GTi. We won’t see it in this part of the world anyway. Let’s hope the steering feels just as good in the rest of the range.
So where will this Beetle fit then? It will sit right slap bang between the Golf and Scirocco, to be precise. The market for three-door Golfs in Ireland is almost non-existent but Scirocco is good for around 250 units a year, so Volkswagen could perhaps expect about this many Beetles to be sold in a full year.
Achieve that and they will also be matching sales of the Mini hatch. With the Scirocco starting at €25,430, you’d get quite a nice Beetle for that money. And the fact that these two are mentioned in the same sentence shows how much this Beetle has improved. The car goes on sale in Ireland from January 2012 and prices will start at under €20,000. Full pricing details will be announced at a later stage.
This latest version of the Beetle is a decent car at the second attempt. For anyone who doesn’t need a five-door car, then this latest Beetle will be a good buy.
Factfile:
Engines1.2-litre 105bhp TSi, 1.4-litre 160bhp TSi, 1.6-litre 105bhp TDi
Emissions1.2 TSi 132g/km band B, 1.4 TSi 141g/km band C, 1.6 TDi 114g/km band A
Trim gradesBeetle, Design, Sport
Priceto be confirmed, but starting from under €20,000 for the 1.2-litre TSi