Learn me - Old New Beetle

My daughter will soon be 16 and she is interested in an old new Beetle. Looking at how much money she can make I am guessing it will be about a 99-2001.

Are they good? Bad? Junk?

Thanks for your thoughts and time!

Headlight bulbs are a PITA

I did a headgasket on a 1.8T one and that made me sure that i will never buy a 1.8T one.

Id like a tdi one.

The 2.0 is way too boring for my personal tastes.

The engine is in the wrong place.

16yo girls: don't have a lot of disposable income for repairs, don't check their oil, and REALLY don't like calling daddy for a ride when their car doesn't start. I'd steer her elsewhere from A4 VW if at all possible, my 2.0 '03 Golf was an unreliable money pit when new, I can't imagine a decade+ of wear improves the situation.

Maybe if you can get one cheap and swap a Corolla under it when she's not looking.

the radiator support is plastic. catch that on a curb because you parked too deep in your spot aaaaaaaand 'crack'. kind of a pain in the ass to replace. at least they're cheap.

i know it's not a big deal, but i don't like how the interior panels delaminate and look crappy.

my neighbors have an "old" new beetle.. at 2am last night, it's alarm malfunctioned and would not shut off for 45 minutes no matter what they did.. and I had to be at work by 5am... I was not a happy camper

The 2.0 burn oil. The 1.8 eats coil packs. I've owned one of each.

The both chewed through wheel bearings.

Interior dor handles turn odd colors.

Now they are eating water pumps. My advice is to stear clear.

my wife's beetle hasn't broken yet actually. When we bought it I went ahead and did t-belt water pump etc to be safe.
Then again, she doesn't drive much right now.
I'd recommend a honda civic for a 16yo girl honestly. or even a del slo.
or a yota of course.

Yeah, sadly there hasn't been a reliable VW since before she was born.

Too bad b/c otherwise they tend to be nice cars.

My friend had 2 used ones. Lots of electrical problems. Both manual transmissions. Dumped them both quickly and got a Civic.

We had a saying at our repair shops...

"If it weren't for 98-03 VWs, we'd be out of business." That was literally true in many aspects. At one point, our monthly revenue was nearly 45% from VWs. ABS pumps, alternators, air pumps, oil pumps, electrical gremlins, oil pan leaks, automatic transmissions, proprietary parts that can only be sourced from a dealer, wheel bearings, windshields, A/C compressors, climate control panels, nightmare timing belt changes... the list is endless. Any car that requires you to remove the front bumper and both front fenders to replace an alternator needs to be set ablaze with 4 gallons of napalm and use what you would have spent on repairs to buy beer. Drink that beer while watching the flames and dance around it naked screaming "farhfigneugen this, bitch"

Tell her she's better off with a broken lawn mower. If you want details, I can go into it, but right now I'm not up for a 1000-word essay.

Oh... and don't get me started on how many times my detailers were asked to get rid of the "crayola" smell. It doesn't go away. Its the ridiculously cheap plastic that is used to make the whole interior. We called it "vampire skin" because it turned into sludge the first time it gets hit by sunlight.

Wow thanks everyone. I am going to ask here to read this thread.

If it isn't a TDI, I wouldn't want to touch it. +1 on the "Crayola" smell - it is very, very real, and gave me headaches. They all randomly blow headlights, my buddy's TDI has a tendency to blow taillights as well. The interior, well, sucks, and they are virtually impossible to work on. Don't even get me started on the rattles and squeaks.

My buddy bought a TDI Beetle for $1800 in need of a t-belt and water pump; he laughed all the way to the bank, but he will openly admit that it's a pretty terrible car with a great engine and that he bought it for the MPG to dollar ratio alone.

My friends wife had a 99 2.0 auto and it was mostly reliable, but had lots of little problems. They replaced it with a 98 tdi manual one, and it has been a good car. I'd for sure avoid the automatic ones though.

It sounds like the perfect car What could be safer for a 16 driver than a car that doesn't run.

How does VW do it then? They keep getting more and more market share and a quick google search indicates they are in the top five global car companies.

Oh......and I am not defending them. I owned a Jetta and would never own another one VW. That thing left me stranded twice and both times it was in the middle of an intersection where I had to get out and physically push it out of the way through traffic. Once it was a fuel pump, the other was a weird electrical gremlin.

In reply to Feedyurhed:

People like my mother in law. Her Tiguen just turned 45,000 miles and the CEL came on. Like the 4 VWs before it, it needs about $1500 in work to make the light go away. Since she knows the light will just come back next year she will probably trade it in for a new VW like she has the last 4 times. It is just as well as the truck smells like mold anyway. We've tried to talk her into something else but she's convinced that nothing else drives as well as a German car. This is her 5th since I've known her. Each had bizarre problems from day one and none have seen 70,000mi. At least this one hasn't caught fire since the driver's door won't open again.

SlickDizzy wrote: If it isn't a TDI, I wouldn't want to touch it.

I would steer clear of them too. My sister has a 00 and it's been the worst car I could imagine. Not only does it have all of the typical beetle interior and electrical issues, but now it has all of the expensive diesel issues too. On top of that it won't die, it just demands regular and massive infusions of cash to keep it running. She received the car as a gift from my dad and has paid for it twice over in the last 7 years. Her attachment to it blows my mind.

What did she do to your dad?

In reply to Wally:

There's two issues at play here. The first is that my dad is color blind so he didn't even know that the car was that horrible minty VW color when he bought it. On most cars the pain ends when you get in because you can only see the outside when you are actually outside. VW in all their wisdom brought the color inside the cabin though so it's visual pain no matter what. The secon part is the gift part. Since it was a gift she sort of feels like she can't sell it as long as it still runs. As long as you feed it $3-400 (sometimes more) several times a year, it keeps chugging along. Away from my dad she admits that she loathes the car, along with sort of loving it in a one eyed three legged puppy sort of way.

Worst interior fitted to any car I have ever sat in. I have sat in trash cans that were nicer then the Beetle.

Yeah I've only heard bad things about them...not as bad as on here, but only bad.

My boss did the same thing a couple years ago. Sold it at a loss a year later because it never went more than a couple weeks without going in for repairs. Not a car I'd suggest for a 16 yr old.

I had a 2000 Golf. Other than a tendency to eat brake rotors and a glovebox door that broke ever year on the first cold day, it was a decent car. Sold it to a friend, he drove it for about 8 more years. Had a couple of small problems like worn strut tops, but otherwise a good car. Never even smelled like crayons. Of course, we also had a 1991 Passat without problems so apparently I don't suffer from the VW curse.

A Beetle is the same thing, but at a higher price with less interior space and more difficult mechanical access. I would recommend a Golf over a Beetle, although the fact that the back seat is too small might actually be a selling point for a 16-year-old

However, if it were in my family, I'd be looking at Civics.