11th Jan 2009, 14:51
Nice chose in cars. I love the super beetle. For 1973 the windshield was deeply curved and not flat as in the previous two years. Also the seats were slightly different, made with foam instead of horse hair. You may or may not care about the windshield, but with the curved window the interior is supposed to look bigger and more modern, according to VW. Good luck with your new car!
7th Aug 2009, 03:43
Something that no one mentioned that is a problem with the Super Beetles, are the air vents behind the rear side windows. The moon-shaped vents unique to the Super Beetles, after years of exposure to weathering, cause the body to rust, causing an ugly, bubbly-looking mess at the back to both sides of the rear-window. Unless the person restoring the car cared about his/her work, the car would rust through a cover-up paint job in less than a year. Be careful!! The main body of the car cannot be changed! Either buy a good specimen, or be prepared to fix a rusty body.
7th Aug 2009, 20:02
I had these when I was a young driver.
The plain 73-74 beetles handled better. The longer wheel base on the Super also cost more for front end work.
The Super Beetle blower for the heater was a big plus... the plain beetle lacked that. It took a while to heat, and I remember stomping my feet, waiting to have the forced air heater to make enough heat.
We had them new. The 73-74 had more hp than earlier models also. The 73 had the smaller bumpers and the 74 larger. I really liked the big tailights and new it was actually kind of an incentive to buy just over the modern lights. The bigger motor too.
Given a preference, I always liked driving the plain model not the Super. I had them, my dad had Supers all new. I also had older bugs starting with a 63 30 HP; a slug but cute; liked the ivory knobs, then a 69 plain Beetle. Stay away from the Auto Stick Shift.
I also bought a used 75 Bug; pretty body and paint, but it was truly horrible; replaced the motor, gas tank, electrical gremlins, but then it was 16 years old at the time. Wave of nostalgia I guess also for our son. Never could get it to pass inspection over electrical issues. We had an expert VW mechanic would fix and then reoccur. The pretty paint along the road and my new teen driver wanted it. We sold it quick; it was a real hassle and bought a used Mustang GT 5.0, which was the best bang for buck we ever had used, and troublefree for our teen.
12th May 2010, 23:12
I have a 74 standard Bug autostick. Does anyone know about how many mpg I should be getting?
4th Sep 2008, 20:15
Thank you for your comment.
I come from Australia, and petrol costs like a 1.50 a litre.
What I was trying to get at was I've found that there's like a thousand dollar difference in prices, between 1302 1303 models Aus for good Beetles. Am I going to notice that much difference to justify the price difference, like is the handling of the two models that different?
I know they upgraded the heating in 1303. Is it still going to be freezing?
I know they upgraded the suspension on paper.
To the average person, will they notice the upgrades?
Thank you to the poster of the second comment.