Volkswagen Beetle 2011 Review - International

Volkswagen Beetle

For example, no carmaker aiming at the masses today uses its rear-engined, rear-drive layout or an air-cooled engine. Of the brands you might recognize, only Porsche adheres to the rear-engined idea (it long ago abandoned air cooling) and even then it's more for emotional than logical reasons. After all, Ol' Pappa Porsche did design the Beetle and Porsche's 911 has its own stupendous groundswell of emotive supporters.

Yet, when Porsche had the opportunity to start afresh on a sportscar about the size of the original 911, it chose a mid-engined layout. And today of the four different Porsche body architectures you can buy, only one of them is rear-engined – the one that its public won't let Porsche make any other way...

Logic and emotion rarely cross paths though, so Volkswagen has gone to the fruit tree to pick Beetle buyers off the low-hanging branches again for the second time in 14 years. It's a response, again, to those who think the Golf might be a bit cold and/or conventional -- even though they actually like its strength, economy, safety and reliability.

Yet, really, with all those Beetles built, sold and serviced over the years, you'd think Volkswagen might have more ability to tap into what a modern iteration ought to be. After all, another German company (BMW) did a reasonable job of just that with MINI. It just took the original, checked its own model cycle timing, went back to the start and did six logical, virtual generations based on contemporaneous data and technology (before they even began thinking about the one they wanted to sell)… Voila, the modern MINI was born. 

Okay, so it wasn't universally loved, but it was a damned sight better as a car than VW's revision of the iconic Beetle 14 years ago. Now, though, VW's tried a new Beetle again. It's only the third all-new Beetle in more than 60 years - unfortunately, the score remains one from three…

VW Oz is staying mum on local launch date but the best bet for the Beetle's third Australian coming is February-April next year. Right-hand drive versions of the car don't go on sale in the UK until late January.

That's a lot of wriggle room for bits, pieces and prices and the timing will largely depend on how successful Volkswagen is at satisfying Beetle demand in the more influential places like the USA, the UK and Germany.

As a guide, the Beetle is cheaper, engine for engine, than the Golf in its domestic market and, with two fewer doors and less luggage space, it probably should be.

There will be, initially, three equipment lines for here and New Zealand, including the base Beetle, the mid-spec Design and the top-spec Sport.

The trim differences aren't enormous – just enough to encourage people ever upwards – and is most instantly noticeable by the trim on the high dashboard. The Beetle has a solid black (at least in Europe), the Design transfers the body colour to the dash while the Sport has a carbon-fibre look that doesn't look much like carbon-fibre at all and harks back to the worst excesses of Mercedes-Benz's interior designers a decade ago.

The higher dash is there mostly as a throwback to the original Beetle. Another throwback has been the inclusion of a second, top-hinged glovebox in front of the passenger -- where most cars have either clear sky or an airbag. It's not a huge hole and you wonder if actually giving the car a proper traditional glovebox might not have been more beneficial, but the VW product folk seem to be enamored of their own cleverness.

The interior also carries over an (optional) instrument pod for the middle of the dashboard. This includes the oil temperature, a clock and a boost-pressure gauge. Elsewhere, there is a high-mounted MMI screen which includes the satnav and entertainment features, climate-controlled aircon and, for the top-spec cars, a Fender sound system. The good folks at Panasonic have done the donkey work for it but it is built to Fender's own specifications.

The cabin materials, though, don't feel up to Golf standards. The leather-trimmed three-spoke steering wheel feels fantastic and so does the shift lever for the DSG gearbox, but other interior plastics aren't so convincing. For starters, there are the window winder switches from the old-generation Golf IV, but more concerning is the cheaper, hard, hollow feel from the plastics on the top of the dashboard and the console. It might be beautifully fitted together, but it doesn't scream that it's been luxuriantly appointed.

Fortunately that feel doesn't translate to the seats. They've comfortable, nice to touch and are extremely supportive without being too clingy. That goes for the rears (two only) too.

Otherwise, it gets three cupholders, large storage bins in the door and the oh-so-contrived straps attached to the B-pillars.

So, unlike the original Beetle it apes (but like the first new Beetle), it's a front-engined car with front-wheel drive. That doesn't stop Volkswagen from trying to make the Beetle sound as rear-engined as possible, heavily shielding the engine compartment with sound deadening and loudly tuning the exhaust so that the less aware might think that's where the engine lives.

It doesn't debut any startlingly new technology, though, and given that the Golf VII is due to be launched late next year and that's a bit disappointing. It means the technology of the Beetle is clearly following the Golf VI, not leading the Golf VII and that, towards the end of it lifecycle, it will be almost a full generation behind its own sibling's pace.

Initially, there will be six engines (four of them petrol), though VW Oz is unlikely to want its dealers toting that level of inventory.

The 77kW 1.2-litre turbo petrol and equally powered 1.6-litre turbodiesel are likely to stay in China and Europe, though the 1.4-litre 118kW turbo petrol might make it here. There's also a 125kW multi-point fuel-injection version of the five-cylinder petrol engine but that's a US-only machine.

The glamour pusses, then, will be the 147kW/280Nm 2.0-litre direct-injection, turbocharged engine that's also sitting cheerfully inside the Golf GTi and the 103kW 2.0-litre turbo-diesel.

If the oiler's 103 doesn't sound like much, consider it as torque rich -- with 320Nm at just 1750rpm (about 1000 revs above idle). VW quotes a 4.9-litres/100km thirst on the combined cycle.

It's a little thirstier with the DSG self-shifting gearbox that almost everyone will use with it, but at 5.3 litres/100km, it's not going to be a deal breaker. While a 0-100km/h time of 9.8 seconds isn't startling, it's much better in real-life situations and squirting away when the car's already rolling.

That leaves the familiar 147kW petrol engine, with its 7.4 litre/100km consumption and 173 grams/CO2 number. In the Beetle, it also hits 100km/h in 7.5 seconds on its way to a 223km/h top speed.

There's a six-speed manual as well as the optional six-speed DSG double-clutch unit, while it uses an adaption of the Golf's strut front suspension and a light-weight rear suspension with an anti-sway bar. The 147kW engine scores a standard electronic diff lock, too, and all Beetles have electromechanical steering.

For starters, it doesn't have the second-generation's outrageous headroom. You'll still comfortably slot very tall people in the front of the thing, even though it's lost 38mm of headroom. There's more width in the cabin for all four occupants and there's more rear legroom, too.

The boot is more generous as well, with the hatchback providing another 100 litres of space at 310. Drop the splitfold rear seats flat and it gives up 905 litres, though the opening isn't huge and the lip is a bit high, leaving you an up-and-over lift you just don't have to do with the Golf.

Overall the car is 84mm wider at 1808mm, its overall length is 152mm longer at 4278mm and the roofline is 12mm lower at 1486 (the difference between that and the reduction in headroom is taken up by the panoramic sunroof).

The windscreen has been moved back, so that the design focal point is actually the C-pillar, and the high dash is designed so you can't actually see how long and high the bonnet is.

It's also got more grip and security on the road than its predecessor, too, which helps.

The obvious competitor for Beetle is the MINI but to be blunt, the MINI is a better car in pretty much every area. Even if you want to buy a German retro-inspired car, the MINI is still the thing to have.

There's also the Fiat Cinquecento, but that's a full size smaller than either of the German (or semi-German) cars. It's also a bit under-engineered to play at this level and it's a bit under-engined as well.

The real competitor VW should be worried about is its very own Golf. Apart from looking nothing like the iconic Beetle, it's better in every respect.

The proximity key means you can start it on a button rather than a twist and as soon as the familiar four-cylinder fires up, you know there's something odd here. For starters, it sounds a lot deeper and warblier than it does in the Golf GTI. Secondly, and perhaps more strangely, it's at the wrong end.

The entire exhaust system has been contrived to imbue the front-engined, inline four-cylinder, front-wheel drive Gen III Beetle with the sound signature of the rear-engined, horizontally-opposed, rear-drive Gen I Beetle.

It's possible VW is banking on people not actually knowing the engine is behind the front bumper, but if you do actually pop the bonnet (which doesn't have gas struts) to find out what's under the nose, the entire exhaust tune just sounds weird.

Other than trying its level best to sound like something it's not, there are no issues with the driveline whatsoever. It's strong, it's calm, it's excited when you want it to be and it's smooth and good.

Even if the dash feels miles higher than anything else going around today, the steering wheel feels placed just so. Yes, the seat's hip point feels high, but the seat itself is comfy and there is cabin space aplenty, even before you open the extra, contrived second glovebox. Could be worse, though. At least it's not a flower vase again.

Berlin's roads aren't overly lumpy, having mostly been rebuilt and renewed since the fall of the Wall, but the Beetle seemed to find imperfections where the BMW 1 Series (launched on the same day, in the same city), once the epitome of unnecessary vertical thumpings, found none.

The Beetle's underpinnings are so sensitive that you can even feel the little coils in the road at the traffic lights, while expansion joints transfer what verges on violence into the cabin. For sure, there's no wallowing in the suspension here. It just rides hard. Very hard...

This stiff suspension probably contributes to another shortcoming of the Beetle's setup. Squeeze down on the throttle at the lights and the Victoria Police are going to take you away faster than you can say "Lewis Hamilton".

There's a surprising amount of wheelspin from the front end of the Beetle, even when you're not using full throttle. It also means that, while the Beetle carries a healthy amount of mid-corner speed, it regularly has its issues accelerating out of the corner, even with the traction and stability controls systems helping out regularly.

It doesn't stop there, though. Left to its own devices, the DSG shifts up gears early and often, seeming to hunt for the tallest gear possible as early as possible. This is good for economy but can be a bit annoying when you're flowing along with the traffic.

Another traffic issue is the heavy reflections that come off the shiny surfaces around the inside of the cabin just beneath the glasshouse. These can dummy you into thinking there are cars in your blind spot whenever you turn your head to check.

There's always a roar from the back end of the machine every time you go near the accelerator pedal, but other than that the cabin's a pretty quiet place to spend time and the sound system is terrific.

The engine's tremendously strong in the mid-range (as it is on the Golf), the cabin's  surprisingly spacious (as it is on the Golf) and the increased luggage space is actually pretty useful now. Almost as useful as it is in the Golf…

And that's the new Beetle in a nutshell. Much better than the old one but not quite as good as a Golf.

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