This I like..

[Willy]

Now if they'd just build a diesel one that could pull my horse trailer...

http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/leisure/2011/04/18/2012-volkswagen-beetle/#slide=1

[FAC257]

Yeah, I liked that as soon as I saw the picture the other day. It is really a sharp looking bug.


FAC

[brad kaste]

Yeah,....not so cutesy as the current one. Hopefully,....they haven't screwed it up by putting a flower bud holder on the dash.

[OBIO]

I still prefer the original Bug....would love to have a Bug with the split rear window....that is one sharp looking little car. Would also love to have one of the VW Microbus thingies...the van thing. And a Kharman Ghia coupe with a lot of mods (front mounted V-6, rear wheel drive via a modified Corvette rear end, independent front suspension via modified Mustang II style get up). And a VW Thing would be nice....painted up like a WW2 German staff car of course.

OBIO

[SpitXIV]

I still like the VW, when I was a kid we had a 1962. I can still remember the new car
smell to this day. My nephew calls it a "Chic Car". I told him I'll wave to you as I pass
while you're filling up your gas eater.

[Astoroth]

And a VW Thing would be nice....painted up like a WW2 German staff car of course.

OBIO


Oh yeah! I always wanted a Thing!

[TARPSBird]

Looks like VW's taken a cue from the new retro-'69 Camaro and changed the styling to look a bit more like the classic Beetle. Not enough though, I still like the original. But that's me - I would've been happy if Chevy had stopped re-styling cars after the '55 Bel Air. :icon_lol:

[Willy]

I've owned a few original Beetles over the years and at this stage of life, I'd rather have the new one. Too much engine maintence on the old ones. No oil filter, just a wire screen to catch the big chunks so oil needs changing more often and the valves need periodic adjustment or you'll burn one.

Now if I was still young enough to enjoy turning wrenches, it might be a different story.

[FAC257]

One of our favorite cruising cars when I was in high school was a VW van that one of us had. The first thing that comes to mind whenever I remember that thing was that the sound of the engine hurt my ears. Didn't matter if you were inside or out.

My roomate about the same time had a VW Bug that had the rear hood removed and a frame extension welded on it. The exterior was a cheezy faded silver flake and the interior was brown shag carpet. The floor board was covered with sea shells glued on, smooth side up. The VW engine was replaced with a Corvair Monza engine with some sort of spider(?) super charger thing on top. To keep the front end on the ground during a quick acceleration he kept a bag of cement in the front trunk.

It's one of only two cars I've been in during an actual full out street drag. We were at a stop light and some guy in a brand new sports car of some sort pulled up next to us at the light. Niether my buddy or I had any idea how fast the VW actually was other than without the cement, it would pull wheelies in a heart beat until the frame extension hit the ground. When the light turned red and we floored the VW, it buried the speedometer all the way to the stop much quicker than I would have thought. It was still accelerating on the tach when we backed off out of shear terror. Going 90+ mph in a bug that isn't balanced well is not fun.

We left that rich guy's new sports car in the dust. When he caught up to us at the next light he was just shaking his head. :)

FAC

FAC

[TARPSBird]

FAC, that VW story could have been made into a song by Jan & Dean or the Beach Boys! :icon_lol:

[stiz]

why are all modern cars so rudy "smooth" ... they all lack character nowadays ... bring back the odd shapes and the grooves on the bonet etc ... i'll pay the extra 0.0001 MPG they add ...

[kilo delta]

It's getting more Porsche-like. Biggest engine will be the 2.0lt FSi iirc...the older model had a 3.2lt RSi sports version.

I still prefer the old,air cooled Beetle's,though. Back in the early 90's I restored a few of them. The last of which had a full 4 year resto...every nut,bolt,rubber etc replaced with new,Porsche Guards Red paint with early 911 headlights,smoothed out early style panels, slammed suspension on specially imported polished alloys,Fiesta XR2i interior with big sound system and a rebuilt and fully detailed 1641cc engine! Man ,I loooved that car. Had it finished and on the road 3 weeks when it was written off in an accident through no fault of mine. I was livid...but then moved on to working on/driving VW GTi's instead.:icon_lol: