I am getting a Beetle!

rokrok
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Yay! I know not everyone loves 'em like me, but now that i have a good paying job and need a car, we went for a yellow beetle gls, with 8 speaker monsoon system, mp3 playing ability on the cd player (so i can hold off on the ipod for a little while) sunroof and all.











p.s. without getting into too many details, the decision and buying process and retail environment of the vw dealerships reminded me of every time i have been asked to describe why i choose macs over pc's. i mean, i just can't describe it, so much as i just know that it feels right, despite the perceived drawbacks... and a whole lotta friends want a ride now.



p.p.s. we also got a great deal on the yellow beetle, which took, um, three hours to pull out of their grasp, and one near walkout... though the guys were very nice, better than our local toyota dealers, who are certifiably reptilian.



p.p.p.s. i've got two hours a day in this car round-trip for my new commute, so i decided bells and whistles were a must (though i just didn't have the cash for the convertible).
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 34
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    dude!



    Welcome to dub land...



    If you haven't already, check out vw vortex. Second best boards on the web.



    Tons of info on models, mods, common trouble spots, dealer stuff, etc.
  • Reply 2 of 34
    It takes a special kind of man to drive a yellow Beetle.
  • Reply 3 of 34
    tmptmp Posts: 601member
    I hate to pee in your cornfalkes, but my friend has one and it's a piece of crap. The soft touch plastics in the interior peeled off within a year and a half (and not just on the grab handles, but on the door skins), the drivers power window switch has broken off, the cloth seats manage to magically stain themselves, and I just got a call from her yesterday to ask me if I could drive over and pick up her kid from school since her clutch died on her- and this car is less that three years old and has 35k miles on it. Plus, the dealers are punks.



    I hate to say it, 'cause it's (or was) a nice car, but her experience has totally turned me off VW's. Like I said, I don't want to rain on your parade, but I hope you got the extended warranty, my friend is taking very good advantage of it.
  • Reply 4 of 34
    faust9faust9 Posts: 1,335member
    You should swing by www.newbeetle.org . My wife has one and loves it to death.
  • Reply 5 of 34
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by tmp

    I hate to pee in your cornfalkes, but my friend has one and it's a piece of crap. The soft touch plastics in the interior peeled off within a year and a half (and not just on the grab handles, but on the door skins), the drivers power window switch has broken off, the cloth seats manage to magically stain themselves, and I just got a call from her yesterday to ask me if I could drive over and pick up her kid from school since her clutch died on her- and this car is less that three years old and has 35k miles on it. Plus, the dealers are punks.



    I hate to say it, 'cause it's (or was) a nice car, but her experience has totally turned me off VW's. Like I said, I don't want to rain on your parade, but I hope you got the extended warranty, my friend is taking very good advantage of it.




    well, the dealers seemed better than most, and we got the nicer interior (not leather, but up from the cloth to the leatherette). also didn't do the tdi engine or the manual trans, sorry, can't do manual, and don't care to learn in this lifetime, even though diesel is pretty easy to come by around me (a lot of truck stops near here).



    i mean, i'll let you know what, if anything, happens, but sounds like we got fairly different cars in regards to interior and engine. plus, this model has at least two revisions on the one she bought, which i guess was around 2000? and if nothing else, it just FELT more solid than at least the toyotas in its range, which is what our family usually buys (we bought a matrix last july for my wife, and it rattles just like every other toyota we've ever had). we could have done a civic or sentra after rebate, but damn if i'm not bored looking at those things.
  • Reply 6 of 34
    faust9faust9 Posts: 1,335member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by tmp

    I hate to pee in your cornfalkes, but my friend has one and it's a piece of crap. The soft touch plastics in the interior peeled off within a year and a half (and not just on the grab handles, but on the door skins), the drivers power window switch has broken off, the cloth seats manage to magically stain themselves, and I just got a call from her yesterday to ask me if I could drive over and pick up her kid from school since her clutch died on her- and this car is less that three years old and has 35k miles on it. Plus, the dealers are punks.



    I hate to say it, 'cause it's (or was) a nice car, but her experience has totally turned me off VW's. Like I said, I don't want to rain on your parade, but I hope you got the extended warranty, my friend is taking very good advantage of it.




    The soft touch is and has been a known issue. I've never heard of premature clutch failure in these things so you might ask your friend how she drives. Things to look out for are the rear brake pads wear prematurely, and the brake interlock switch fails prematurely (there's a recall on this for older beetle's). Anotherthing to keep in mind is the door mirror adjuster needs to be kept in the L or R position. If you keep it in the middle you destroy the heating element behind the mirrors. I know a lot of NB owners who didn't know that little tid bit.



    Personally, all cars have their quirks. My Mustang window switch broke before 35K, The alternator died at 50K (immediatly after the warranty wore out) and the clutch in that car was replaced twice before 80K. For the price, the NB looks cool, is ultra roomie, and fun to drive. I can live with a little rubber peeling off. Some people don't even bother with the rubber. They scrub it off with a green scotch pad and simply paint the handles to match the exterior color.



    Anyway, good luck and have fun. Also don't forget to wave.



    edit: just noticed you had a diesel. No MAF on VW diesels.
  • Reply 7 of 34
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    I like the Beetle RSi. I don't know much about the GLS.



    A friend of mine had a girlfriend (note the past tense) with a yellow turbo. It was a pretty decent car, and the back seat was surprisingly adequate, though the head-room sucked big time back there. I went nuts, though, because there was no boost gauge that I could see.



    One of my friends and co-workers was going to buy a Beetle and I was going to do work to it for him, since he wanted to be the guy with a riced out beetle. But his parents decided to move from California to Denmark, and just decided to give him their 2002 Acura TL (they're Chinese. . . I didn't quite understand it either), so no Beetle to play with.



    Working on the Beetle might be a bit tough since it's rear engine. I would guess that the tranny just attaches to the engine and comes into the cabin, but sometimes these things are less than obvious. Anyway, if you find that you can get to the tranny without trouble, just pick up a floor crane for 300 bucks and swap out your own clutch. That will save you some money even factoring the floor crane, and floor cranes are always good to have.



  • Reply 8 of 34
    tmptmp Posts: 601member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by faust9

    The soft touch is and has been a known issue.....I can live with a little rubber peeling off.



    I'm sorry, but I can't. This thing was over 25k, and was supposed to be better than my supposedly terrible American car- the interior on my crappy old LeBaron looked better at 15 years and 165k miles than this car does. It's inexusible that the interior of this car is basically falling apart. As far as the clutch, I've driven with her; she depresses the clutch. engages a gear (and she hasn't noticed perhaps because she drives it every day, but when I drove it a month ago I noticed her shift linkage is getting very loose) and releases the clutch. She doesn't try to hold it on a hill using the clutch, nor does she abuse it.



    It's too bad, because I really like this car for the most part. I've driven to and from San Francisco with her from LA on the 5, and that car is a joy- rock solid at up to 100 mph on the freeway. In that Germanic, well planted way that I've only experienced only in another friends 500SL (and, happily, in another's new Cadillac CTS). I love that about the car, but the quality issues would point me away from VW's in future.
  • Reply 9 of 34
    tmptmp Posts: 601member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Splinemodel

    Working on the Beetle might be a bit tough since it's rear engine.



    Er, I may be wrong, but I thought the New Beetle was front engine/front drive, based upon the Golf, since it's introduction in 2001.
  • Reply 10 of 34
    faust9faust9 Posts: 1,335member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by tmp

    Er, I may be wrong, but I thought the New Beetle was front engine/front drive, based upon the Golf, since it's introduction in 2001.



    They are front engine FWD. There's a lot of room if your working on the engine from the bottom. There's little to no room if your working from the top.
  • Reply 11 of 34
    dmband0026dmband0026 Posts: 2,345member
    Haha, all my fire fighter buddies have sworn off VWs. Any guesses as to why?

    I'll tell you (in case you cared)



    The engines are magnesium. Magnesium is a flammable metal. We see more car fires in VWs than in any other kind of car.



    That said,

    Congrats on the purchase, I hope she makes you a happy guy.
  • Reply 12 of 34
    fellowshipfellowship Posts: 5,038member
    VW has serious issues with the peeling interiors. I once thought about the Passat but when I looked at cars in the used lot I changed my mind fast. The cars in the used lot were less than 1 year old and looked awful inside. Every one had peeling rubber showing the plastic under.



    It is sad that such an easy thing for VW to address will keep me from spending money with them.



    I was not in the market for a used Passat I just wanted to see how the cars appeared to hold up while considering the purchase of a new one.



    I was not impressed.



    All that aside I hope you enjoy your new VW



    Fellows
  • Reply 13 of 34
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by tmp

    Er, I may be wrong, but I thought the New Beetle was front engine/front drive, based upon the Golf, since it's introduction in 2001.



    Actually, I think you're right. I'm an idiot.



    For some reason I thought it was rear engine.
  • Reply 14 of 34
    are you a dude?





    anyway, have fun w/ yer VW. i was tempted to turn towards them since my poor integra got totaled by one of the many idiots in pickups here in texas a couple weeks ago. almost got an A4. but the reliability just isnt there...

    so i got me a one-day old RSX-S sitting outside my apartment now.



    g'luck, and hope you dont run into any problems.
  • Reply 15 of 34
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Dude, there's a Mini Cooper out on some lot crying right now. How could you??
  • Reply 16 of 34
    ionyzionyz Posts: 491member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Eugene

    Dude, there's a Mini Cooper out on some lot crying right now. How could you??



    Yeah, a European car... (wait for it) thats actually MADE in Europe. Crazy I know. VW Beetle, Puebla Mexico. MINI Cooper, Oxford England.



    Anyways congrats on the new ride. Some of us don't have it so good.



    [looks outside at his '90 Volvo 240DL, falling apart one piece at a time]
  • Reply 17 of 34
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Eugene

    Dude, there's a Mini Cooper out on some lot crying right now. How could you??



    i'm sure it'll find a good home. if i was still living in toronto, i think it would be a consideration, as you need to be able to parallel park in spots the size of phone booths up there.



    and yes, i am a guy. don't know why "yellow bug" automatically evokes thoughts of a "girl car." i'm comfortable enough in my masculinity to know i have a nice ride, regardless of shape or color. sh!t, i'll enjoy it with the sunroof down across the ponchartrain causeway every day after work for a half hour (and in louisiana, there are a LOT of sunroof driving days). though i did tell my wife i draw the line at the flower holder. i mean, i know it's there, but there must be something else i can put that thing to good use for. it'll potentially look less "girly" once i slap that huge black front mask on it... a necessity in the fourteen different bug seasons we have down here.



    i will admit, the headroom thing in the back is very strange. when i was sitting behind my wife, who is short, i had enough leg room, but my head just barely brushed the roof near the window. however if we do need to ferry other people around, we do have the other car which seats four comfortably. plus, if you drop the rear seats, the car has a huge amount of cargo space for, essentially, a two-seater.
  • Reply 18 of 34
    billybobskybillybobsky Posts: 1,914member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Fellowship

    VW has serious issues with the peeling interiors. I once thought about the Passat but when I looked at cars in the used lot I changed my mind fast. The cars in the used lot were less than 1 year old and looked awful inside. Every one had peeling rubber showing the plastic under.



    It is sad that such an easy thing for VW to address will keep me from spending money with them.



    I was not in the market for a used Passat I just wanted to see how the cars appeared to hold up while considering the purchase of a new one.



    I was not impressed.



    All that aside I hope you enjoy your new VW



    Fellows




    One word: Texas....
  • Reply 19 of 34
    Quote:

    Originally posted by billybobsky

    One word: Texas....





    texas what?
  • Reply 20 of 34
    fellowshipfellowship Posts: 5,038member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by _ alliance _

    my poor integra got totaled by one of the many idiots in pickups here in texas a couple weeks ago.



    and in an unrelated post by billybobsky:



    Quote:

    Originally posted by billybobsky

    One word: Texas....





    Let it be known that in future if condescending and derogatory generalizations are made about Texas, Truck driving Texans, French, or any nationality or state you WILL be banned for at least a week.



    There has already been one suspension this week stemming from a similar offence by a member.



    Keep your name calling and bigotry to yourself rather than spew it over the boads here at AI.



    Otherwise we will have no hesitation in suspending any member's account if this is violated.



    If you have any questions PM me or any other mod. / admin. This thread will now resume to the original subject.



    Fellowship
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