1965 Volkswagen Beetle from North America - Comments

I purchased a 1966 Beetle new in January 1966. To date (2003), that car still rates in the top 3 WORST cars I have ever owned.

I purchased the car at the time I was first married, for economy purposes. My Beetle never got more than 17mpg, and that was immediately after the dealer typical service (points, plugs, etc), which seemed to be required about every 5,000 miles.

At 12,000 miles the third clutch was installed (dealer). It still was on the third clutch when I dumped it at 14,000 miles.

While in use, the windshield wiper arms would fall out on the hood regularly. The mounting was a ball type (engineering?) which could not be tightened sufficiently. I eventually drilled a hole through the whole thing and bolted it.

The heater control functionally had two positions, OFF and HOT, nothing in between.

When I traded the vehicle in 1967, the right rear axle seal was leaking.

I submit this antiquated review to rebut a glowing current review of this particular car. I never again considered buying a Volkswagen.

"My Beetle never got more than 17mpg,"

Did you ever shift out of 2md gear?? Seriously. I had a '65 with a 1200cc (purchased in 1971) and regularly got 40mpg on the interstate with the pedal to the floor most of the way. After college I bought a new '74 Super Beetle and got 35mpg. If you only got 17 something was OBVIOUSLY not adjusted correctly.

And the heater controls weren't "on or off"... if you moved the levers it worked just fine.