Faults:
Well I have had this car for about five months, and wow I got it at the end of December 2007.
When I purchased the car the tan seats were an awful mess. Spent $100 for cleaning them. Then $80 for new seat covers & mats.
About a month and a half later (February) had to replace the struts, but got ripped off by Firestone (Boycott them), when they charged $400 to replace struts, but just replaced the strut mounts.
Then, in April the head gasket blew. Another $600.
Now in May, ball joints broke, new rotors front and back, brakes front and back, new collinder (I dunno the spelling, but something to do with the brakes), check engine light on, and the sensors are fogged. About $1,000 there.
The interior door handles peel. Hard to clean. Idles high. Not very much pick-up. Trunk hard to shut (have to try about 10 times). Have to hold button down forever to get trunk to open.
Interior door buttons for truck, etc. fell into the door. Sometimes the passenger side window is extremely slow to roll up.
Hard to tell if you need oil (dip stick is oddly made).
Too under the hood is compact and cannot find anything.
Alarm goes off if you don't start your car in like 1 minute.
General Comments:
One good thing about this car is I look cute driving it. LOL.
Seats fold down easily and can fit a 42' inch TV in it.
Good in the snow.
Large dash to put stuff on.
Fairly good on gas.
However, the back is cramped and not such a good idea when you have a 3 year old and the bulky car-seat. She can touch the back of my head.
The front is very roomy. I like the way the seats go down in order to get in the back seat.
Also, I like how the radio stays on after you take out the keys until you open the door.
23rd Jul 2025, 00:10
Contrary to what many say, the first generation of the New Beetle turned out to be quite good for me. Even more so were those that came with the 1.9 TDI, a great engine from the heyday of diesels (the late 1990s and early 2000s).
Aside from the fuel economy, they didn't have the problems that newer diesels had. In the US, they even outsold gasoline models. Besides being a legendary model, it was a commercial success in those years. I hope I can own one someday; I regret not having bought one at the time.