1999 Volkswagen Beetle GLS review from North America

The New Beetle was nice for the first year that I had it, then it started having problems for the following 2 years until it got wrecked. It was a very safe car though!!!

Had the car for 3 years and 46,000 miles and went through 3 sets of tires. Aligned a few times, but never figured out what was causing the tire wear.

The EVAP canister needed to be replaced after only one year and 10,000 miles. Would have normally been covered under warranty, however dealer would not cover it. Since the car had a couple scratches on the rear fender (from a parking incident) the dealer claimed it was damaged by the "accident". Filed claim with VW, but they refused to cover the repair, cost me over $500 to fix.

At 34,000 miles the speedometer would stop responding now and then, never was able to figure that one out.

At 40,000 miles, car would hesitate and/or stall under anything more than very light acceleration. In the shop 4 times, but dealer new figured it out before the car was totalled. I assumed it was something to do with the distributor/ignition system.

When it first came out it was more of a spectacle than anything else. Felt very solid and quiet, but the interior looked cheap.

Fairly comfortable in the front, but very cramped in the back. Lackluster performance, mainly because it is quite heavy for a 4-cylinder car. Decent low-end torque, but no real power. Got around 30mpg most of the time, and has a 14 gallon fuel tank. It's a decent around-the-town car, but not great on long trips.

Handles OK in bad weather, but not as well as the Jetta or Golf. Brakes work nicely, but ABS is quite intrusive. Lots of body roll in turns, but still grips the road well.