Rental Review: 2015 Volkswagen Beetle 1.8 TSI - This probably comes a bit as a surprise to those of you who get your news through the ...
This probably comes a bit as a surprise to those of you who get your news through the glass bottle thrown into the sea and worn by persistent current to the remote island on which you have been blocked by your plane crashes FedEx, but Volkswagen is in a bit of difficulty because of issues regarding emissions diesel. I think it's a safe bet that the man I saw on Highway 71, the other day with "LOVE TDI" as the license plate on his Jetta is not feelin 'it
while the New Beetle -. Now called just Beetle - was available as a TDI before the current kerfuffle, the version that I rented on Monday, is powered by the same turbocharged gasoline engine that I liked in the Jetta TSI earlier this year. As tested, it is $ 22,615.
So if you buy one?
My plans to provide a full review of this vehicle for you, the reader CAPD were slightly sidelined by motocross injury suffered Wednesday morning. . So I'll ask my driver to the hospital, the infamous Danger Girl, for his contribution over the next few paragraphs
I master the Beetle about eighty miles Monday with a question in my mind: Who would buy Golf on this equivalent?
start with the aesthetics of it. For better or for worse, it looks more like an original type I that Volkswagen New Beetle did. I think this is a good thing; it is not as cutesy and visual link to other VW by descendants of the original water, such as the Porsche 991, is quite obvious. The baby blue paint our rental car does not make it more likely to be driven by a man, though.
is once you get inside that really proportions revised pay. The windshield is near, and it is almost vertical. What a nice feeling, not having surface of the dashboard remotely deployed the value of a GM van Dustbuster in a subcompact car! This immediately makes the Beetle feel like a vehicle "real" and not a kind of oddball lash-up. The painted airbag cover with its logo "Beetle" is a nice touch even if it is not strictly back-right.
The remaining controls are the same rough quality that you would have in a new Golf. It might be my imagination run away with me, but I think they have a shelf above the substance used in the Jetta. The chairs "V-Tex" are favorable. As expected, a back seat room is tight but I was still able to mount a "friend 5'9 there for a journey of ten-mile.
On the road, the Beetle is like a short -wheelbase Golf, which is basically 3.8 inches. Director feel is acceptable. the TSI is gay on her work and rarely feels out of breath. VW wants to sell you one of his packages and-sound-system roof opening and therefore the basis Beetle skimps on everything from automatic headlights for a backup camera. (They should fix this last omission in the next two model years or more.) Directorate and the braking force are high but not obtrusively so.
We'll forgive the microphone Danger Girl. what it opinion
" I really do not like blind spots. " That's right - there's a lot of sail panel on the car and the placement of the headrest of the passenger manages to hide the right rear quarter window.
"It goes very quickly and I keep accelerating by accident." DG has been the engine of my V6 Accord, which will obviously make a bloody vivisection on a Volkswagen TSI including the Golf R in a street race, but do not twist the crank very hard at 00 rpm. The TSI on the other hand, offers an early and constant power.
"It should have a backup camera" . Agreed; this is not a car with a splendid rear visibility.
"I do not like the button that adjusts the seats." get used to it, kiddo. That's the way Volkswagen.
In truth, the seat of manual button is not great for cars with multiple drivers, but if you are, for example, a 45-year-old single elementary school teacher as every owner Beetle North America this is not a problem and it offers more precision in the setting.
"I like the way the rear seats give the impression of being bucket seats." just enough.
"to use the two cup holders, you have to put the little wanna-be the center console up. " VW has always struggled with cupholders. Even my Phaeton had cupholders ugly, although those of Byzantine complexity with veneers high quality in Eucalyptus or California Walnut
"There is no Bluetooth." I think she's right. - most VWs entry-can . Kia differ in this respect
posed the question: "Do you have this Beetle or a four-cylinder Accord"? Danger Girl came down on the side of the Beetle. "Agreements four cylinders are for people who can not afford a real deal." Reflection on the implications for women believing such a thing makes my injured leg. It also makes me think about the break in the OutKast song "Prototype", where Andre 3000 said. "I can not afford not to save" DG, however, that she'd rather have a Fiesta ST a Beetle STI, and it's a fair price comparison.
If this car was the first New Beetle, VW could be in a much stronger position today. As n ' no, and from the tanker apparently did not care for the idea of meeting emissions standards, and for many other reasons closely linked to a sometimes arrogant dismissal of the company's north American market, they are in trouble. the excellence at affordable price and type of accidental chic I saved VW after the Second World War, but I would not compare this model harmlessly niche do more than temporarily occupy the exhibition area generally dedicated to his compression ignition brothers.
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