Ragtop’s Roadrage

The New Beetle Convertible continues to be a leading contender for the title of most fashionable convertible car, especially for the women. It’s agile, economical, and cute as “a bug”. It has first rate handling based on the 4th generation Golf platform, and three engines and three transmissions available.

The Beginning

The New Beetle was introduced to North America in 2001. The convertible version of the New Beetle was introduced a few years later as a 2003 model. Its design retained a number of the most familiar styling cues from the old Beetle, including its rounded shape and the famous airtight doors. Anyone who’s ever owned an Old Beetle will remember having to open the window a crack just so the doors could be closed. The funky shape, the flower vase, and the airtight doors are, however, about the only areas in which the New Beetle resembles its predecessor.

Under the skin, this car is pure 4th generation Golf, Volkswagen’s sophisticated, compact sedan. It has superb handling, powerful brakes and a functional, yet very comfortable interior with air conditioning and power everything. The New Beetle is roomy inside and unusually compact outside because of it’s height. Six foot plus men can fit inside easily. But it’s one of the shortest cars available in North America. At only 161 inches in length, it’s about the same length as a BMW Z4. It’s 8? shorter than the PT Cruiser and even, for goodness sake, 2? shorter than the Toyota Echo sedan.

The seats are very supportive with easy-to-operate manual controls, which include height and seat cushion adjustments. The Convertible is available with everything you can think of including heated glass rear window, 10-speaker sound, electronic anti-skid protection (ESP) and even side-impact air bags, great looking 17? alloy wheels and fat 245/45R all-season tires. Fit and finish are superb. The multi-layered top is almost soundproof and, of course, completely watertight - the only noise that enters the cabin is a re-assuring “thunk” from the suspension. The roof is raised and lowered by simply turning one handle and pushing one button.

The entire vehicle is very tight, there is virtually no shimmying or shaking. Three engines are available, the familiar 2.0L 115hp up to the rocket-like 180hp turbocharged 1.8T. The diesel Beetle has perfectly satisfactory acceleration but because the diesel engine gets much of its push from torque, it can be slower getting away from the stoplight compared with, say, the 1.8T gasoline engine. Like many VWs, it can be surprisingly expensive when you start adding the options.

If you want tire-squealing acceleration and easy passing at higher speeds, order the 1.8T gasoline engine. With the TDI diesel, you get performance, engineering refinement and the new holy grail of the automobile world: environmental cachet. And no weird smell or black smoke like some desiels.