Learn me new beatles

Darn, my 11-year old wants a New Beetle Convertible. I guess I have 5 more years to find a good one!

I'd be cutting the losses. I don't think i've heard ONE good thing about those cars.

LOL- sorry not to help, but it's funny how pop culture has changed our spelling preceptions!

AFAIK, since George and John are dead, there will be no new beatles.

On the plus side- it does have that nice flower holder.

(and hopefully Mr Brown can give real insight, as opposed to my garbage...)

Eric

I worked for VW when they came out. I warned her not to but my Mom bought two of them. There is a reason they are so cheap. I'd cut my losses and buy....ANYTHING ELSE!

I warned somebody at work to not buy one when they told me they were looking at one.

Told them to buy my buddy's xB instead.

Of course, they bought the Beetle.

Of course, it broke down and left them stranded ON THE WAY HOME FROM THE DEALER.

pinchvalve wrote: Darn, my 11-year old wants a New Beetle Convertible. I guess I have 5 more years to find a good one!

Or 5 more years to talk him/her into a Miata! (or to extol the virtues of the Mk1 MR2 .)

I had a 99 back in 99. Check for oil consumption. Mine ate about a quart every 3000 miles.

oh the cel is nearly always on, the vwvortex guys (jerks rather) joke about NOT having a cel at any given time.

I've a friend with one and I'm always surprised when I ride in the thing how cheap it feels inside. Rubber-made gives you better feeling plastic than VW did on that interior. And they're just odd little cars; why is the dashboard two feet deep? They don't ride that well either. Just an odd car. The Hyundai Accent, again, seems like a better product.

pinchvalve wrote: Darn, my 11-year old wants a New Beetle Convertible. I guess I have 5 more years to find a good one!

They got much better in the later years, my wife's 08 has been completely reliable. Nothing really out of the ordinary. My sisters 03ish was a polished turd though. Everything failed on it.

new Beatles? you mean, Oasis?

New Beatles, you know, John, Paul, George and Ringo's children.

93celicaGT2 wrote: I warned somebody at work to not buy one when they told me they were looking at one. Told them to buy my buddy's xB instead. Of course, they bought the Beetle. Of course, it broke down and left them stranded ON THE WAY HOME FROM THE DEALER.

I was a VW service manager when they first hit the streets. The short version of what I learned the hard way: cut your losses and buy a boring but utterly reliable Civic, Corolla etc.

I had a customer who signed his papers, drove his New Beetle to the edge of the parking lot and the drivers' window fell into the door. Did I mention it was pouring down rain at the time? Did I also mention the sales manager brought him back to chew MY ass?

Yup, all of the modern VW issues plus a large helping of terrible packaging and accessibility thanks to the stupid retro shape.

Wow..............these posts are not exactly a ringing endorsement for VW. Especially from a VW service manager!!!

well, here is something.. out of all the cars you see "Dubbers" driving.. how many of them are New Beetles?

Sell it now.

Happiest day in my automotive life was watching my wife's '05 New Beetle Convertible drive off to a new owner.

The air bag light will probably be a free fix for a software recall, except that you will have to shell out around $200 to pay the tech to access the computer which is buried in the dash.

Never had a CEL but it should be easy to get read. Then you can tell us what $$$ part has gone bad.

Sell it, sell it now. Place the ad today. You will take a beating on the resale value but it it is still cheaper than trying to get it 100% again.

And if the window regulators haven't all failed yet, go ahead and pull the power window fuse and only plug it back in on the day you show the car to a potential buyer.

pinchvalve wrote: Darn, my 11-year old wants a New Beetle Convertible. I guess I have 5 more years to find a good one!

Tell her they interior is made from puppy skin leather (so it will last a long time) and that Justin Bieber was almost killed by a New Beetle Convertible while helping a kitten cross the street.

nutherjrfan wrote: new Beatles? you mean, Oasis?

Nah, they said they were "better than the Beatles" LOL ok!

It's a golf with all the attention paid to form over function. So you get even less reliability, and no redeeming features of practicality, like a decent hatch.

Ditch it.

For my own story of why I personally hate them, one time in college, I had to sit in the back seat of one for a short trip around town, and it was probably the worst experience I've ever had sitting in a car. I'm not a terribly big guy (5'9", and 150lbs back then). The cramped back seat wasn't the problem. It was the trunk/roof line. The lateral bulge of the trunk where the rear window attaches was right were my head wanted to be, so I couldn't sit up properly. I either had to crane my neck backwards so that my head was wedged between the plastic and the glass, or lean it forwards so my shoulders were off the seat.

I drove the MIL's once. It amused me, but it's nothing I'd ever own. Was kinda fun hooning it like I would the Cooper. Got some odd looks from folks that day.

my friend had an early 200X model and was given a free one that had a trashed head. he thought he could transfer some of the bad interior parts to his.

he ended up selling his to carmax since it had electrical gremlins and fixed the head on the new one. Odd thing is I haven't seen his newer one around much. But I do see his Honda civic every week.

I could never understand why anyone would get a car with no usable trunk that wasn't something like an MR2.

Some magazines are saying VW is working on an update to the New Beetle. I'm guessing it will be as popular as the "update" VW came out with in 1972....the 411. And yeah, I know the 411/412 wasn't really an update of the original Beetle.

Funny, folks bought the original BECAUSE of it's stellar rep for reliability. Now, smart folks AVOID the New Beetle...for it's NOT stellar rep for reliability.

2011 model.

integraguy wrote: Some magazines are saying VW is working on an update to the New Beetle. I'm guessing it will be as popular as the "update" VW came out with in 1972....the 411. And yeah, I know the 411/412 wasn't really an update of the original Beetle. Funny, folks bought the original BECAUSE of it's stellar rep for reliability. Now, smart folks AVOID the New Beetle...for it's NOT stellar rep for reliability.

I thought the update the beetle was the 1303.. otherwise known as the "super beetle"?