Now...
If they stuck a decent turbo diesel or 2.0T petrol engine into that and called it the "Bugster" I'd probably have one on my wish list, it's a fine looking Beetle..
Sadly e-cars don't quite hack it for me yet..
Volkswagen has presented its latest take on the iconic Beetle at the North American International Motor Show in Detroit. VW e-Bugster e-car Called the E-Bugster, the bodywork may look a tad 1950s retro thanks to the low roof line, but underneath everything is bang up to date thanks to an 85kW electric motor and 28.3kWh …
As much as I miss the classic Beetle design -- yeah, I'm that old -- I really dug the rebooted Beetle when it was introduced in '99 or '00.
I think this one's actually pretty slick (see previous comment re: Carrera GT). Had I the cash on hand, I'd actually consider one of these if they had a hybrid version out.
(Hell, I'm surprised they haven't reintroduced an updated Karmann Ghia design. I always thought those were really cool..)
I fall into the group of people that like the look of this... but lets be honest 100 mile range at town speeds is all very well but what is that out of town? On the motorway is that say 50 miles, or 60 miles even? Now given the half hour (round figure) charge time (better than most) this means your 60mph trip on the motorway (if you don't get run over by an impatient lorry) will mean a half hour break every hour... so an average of 60 miles per 1.5 hours or 40mph... now, going to see my boy takes 400 miles - or 10 hours in this car :(
Borrowed one once (in a Golf). Part way home the dashboard lit up with warnings, engine was still running so carried on heading for a garage. Steering virtually killed me as the power steering had failed totally. Got to the garage and opened the bonnet - the alternator pulley had fallen apart, the same belt drove everything - including power steering - and had fallen off. The garage - in Germany! - said this was common, the pulley is full of springs and bits to prevent the power shocks from the engine getting to the alternator and is prone to falling apart.
Good? An engine with a fundamental design flaw that results in catestrophic failure that can kill is not what I call good I'm afraid.
well at least you get warning lights... VW's LT35 2.8 van has a not-uncommon problem where it will cut out for no reason, then is fine when you switch it off and on again (sounds familiar...), which doesn't sound so bad unless you happen to be driving it when it cuts out. AFAIK VW have washed their hands of this as there's no fault codes that show up.