* Interior easily damaged (interior painted surfaces). Seems to be lined in cheap, thin plastic that is extraordinarily easy to chip.
* Seat heaters will only work when the temperature goes below 32 degrees F. VW refuses to acknowledge this as a problem. Previous car, Cabrio (97), had seat heaters that would heat on demand, regardless of outside temperature. Seat heaters are used to extend the range of temperatures passengers can comfortably ride with top down. They're useless in this car, especially down South.
* Ignition switch failing.
* Roof lining sagging on one side.
* Blocked/limited rear view at the expense of 'nostalgic look' (dangerous).
* No trunk space due to roof motor (Cabrio was manual with much more trunk space).
* Driver must crank up seat (10 manual cranks) to be able to see over folded down roof. Seat must also be moved forward when seat is cranked up because the seat slides back when cranked up. Too much adjusting must be done to seat just to be able to see over the folded roof. Bad engineering!!! This was not a problem with the Cabrio.
* Sound system (Monsoon) is worse than standard Cabrio sound system. Vibration in doors when bass is even slightly elevated very noticeable.
* 'Leather' seats turned out to be leather uppers and plastic surrounds, including shift boot. Cheap. Cabrio has all-leather seats AND leather door linings.
* Cost: $28,000 for Beetle Convertible, $22,000 for Cabrio Convertible. The Beetle is VERY overpriced compared to their previous convertible.
OK, if you really have that much of a problem with the New Beetle Cabriolet, and you claim that the predecessor VW Cabrio is a better car in many ways... why did you get rid of the Cabrio in the first place?
This survey entry is either a bogus one, or one that was filled out by a not-too-observant car buyer.
He bought the new one because he couldn't afford $70K worth of expensive parts to rebuild the old one.
Going on other surveys I have read about the new beetle I would tend to believe this one. Its funny how offended people get when they hear something about a car that they don't want to believe. Bogus survey- who would bother!
I dunno. If you want a reasonably quick 4 seat safe vertable the turbo the 04 is the way to go. Goodness cabrios just plain stunk. I paid 24,500 for mine this week so 28k means you have no clue about how to negotiate. That's OK, car dealers need people like you :) I have had 2 passat 1.8t's for my wife and have had no problems. I do short term leases on them knowing that they might just blow up. find a safer vertable that's good in the snow and I will eat my hat or someones hat. Oh yeah the monsoon 10 speaker MP3 player stinks too. I suggest you go down to your local mall and purchase a clue.
To the author of the 4th comment.
Cabrios do not stink, but your opinion sure does!
Yeah, and comment #4 author must be quite the sight riding to the mall in his Beetle convertible wearing his half-eaten hat!
Things that have gone wrong:
Driver side turn signal, release button on parking brake, both headlights, driver side seat cradle.
Things the dealership service department has done wrong:
Left cap off oil crankcase, left glow plug loose causing expressway breakdown.
All in all, I'm not in love with this car!
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