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Posted by: messix Nov 29 2008, 07:34 PM

my niece is gonna be 16 come march and my sister is asked me what i know about the new beatles, well i told her that as far as i knew they were reliable and a also safe car . further more they'll be getting a new one [i know why buy new, but that is just them] and my niece wants it to be pink...... , any ways i told her that she should check to see if it could be ordered from the factory in the special color.
so what issues do they have and, what do you repair shop guys think?

Posted by: messix Nov 30 2008, 06:26 PM

Posted by: r_towle Nov 30 2008, 06:30 PM

Its a rabbit.
Same interior crap as always...knobs and switches suck.

Front end if typical cheap VW...it good for about 60k then all of it starts to get loose.

Motor is VW...150k is time to sell.

Rich

Posted by: ws91420 Nov 30 2008, 06:45 PM

Have heard that battery changes can be a b**ch. If not done by a dealer you may have to get the ecu reflashed and then the ecu can only be reflashed 3 times. Not sure how much of that is truth and how much is rumour.

Posted by: Vacca Rabite Nov 30 2008, 06:46 PM

If it is a new one, it should be okay. The Mk4 VWs should be avoided like the plague, but the Mk5 line seems to have fixed many of the previous generations problems.

It is a very safe car. In my experience, the VW manuals are better then the VW automatics, but I don't know what your niece wants.

Zach

Posted by: ws91420 Nov 30 2008, 06:48 PM

Also the diesel can be a pain when you change a fuel filter the shop I was at I think didn't prime the fiter by filling it so made for a hard time starting it.

Posted by: Ferg Nov 30 2008, 06:50 PM

My suggestion regarding the Pink is get a black or white one and have it wrapped in pink. (like they do racecars, advertising ect) so that way when the 16 year old mind realizes pink was not the best choice, they have something of value.

Ferg

Posted by: messix Nov 30 2008, 07:59 PM

ahh! very good idea,her dads business uses a wrap company to wrap thier marketing hummers.

Posted by: james2 Nov 30 2008, 08:16 PM

Have you owned one? I know of one with 400k on it.

Posted by: Cap'n Krusty Nov 30 2008, 08:35 PM

Gezzzzzzzz, I own 2 Jetta 4s and I'd recommend them to anyone. I also have about 50 customers with New Beetles and Golf/Jetta 4s that have proven to be really good cars. EXCEPT for the auto transmissions, they're great. That problem goes waaaay back, and I'm not convinced they're ever fixed it. My 2 TDIs have well over 100K on them, and the problems are much like those of any other modern car. I have yet to see ANY suspension or brake problems on any of the ones I work on, and the engines appear to be bulletproof, assuming they're maintained properly. Water pumps and timing belts at 80K, services by the book, leaks promptly attended to as needed.

The Cap'n

Posted by: sendjonathanmail Nov 30 2008, 09:09 PM

A friend of mine has an '00 beetle with 230k on the motor, no problems thus far.

Posted by: jd74914 Nov 30 2008, 09:13 PM

Til tomorrow...

That constructive bit out of the way, alot of my friends drive VWs and it seems like about 1/2 of them have had no problems. The other 1/2 complain about the cars being crap. I would tend to agree with the Capt'n because I know the ones with problems don't really understand the concept of PM. They guys who actually change their oil regularly have replaced timing belts at the right intervals, etc have had no problems. The mk4 guys have been pretty happy. I don't know anyone with an mk5 though.

Posted by: biggy72 Dec 1 2008, 12:45 AM

My parents used to have an 03 TDI. The intake carboned up about every 60,000 miles or so and then it had to be pulled off and cleaned out.

Also I know that changing a tail light bulb is a pita... having to pull the inner fender out and then reach shoulder length up under the fender was not fun for something that should be an easy job.

Posted by: james2 Dec 1 2008, 08:13 AM

There is a fix for the intake carboning up, you can go into the ECU and disable the the EGR valve.

Anybody with a TDi should spend some time at TDIclub.com, lots of good info over there.

Posted by: DNHunt Dec 1 2008, 08:32 AM

Just bought an '00 for the kids to drive. Well maintained and documented and runs like a top. Went through it and changed fluids and plugs, checked stuff. Typical German engineering, they put three hoses below the oil filter so you get to dump a bunch of oil on yourself.

Front suspension bushings are shot, so new ball joints and bushings are on order. The hardware is single use. The rear bushings are slotted to soften road feedback and the webbing is breaking. Audi TT front bushings are a direct replacement and much firmer.

So far, I like it but, there sure is some tough stuff to get at. I think German designers just like to have people say "What the F*ck were they thinking?"

Dave

Posted by: Root_Werks Dec 1 2008, 08:43 AM

My Wife and I have a 99' GLS Auto trans. Little troubles with it, but nothing that most other cars that get driven wouldn't have. Great car, very safe, LOTS of room for 4 adults. 2.0 has tons of torque, easy to drive and comfy for long trips. We average just over 30mpg each fill up. Usually 32mpg or so.

We did have to replace the trans brain with another used on off eBay for $135. I've heard it's a common issue with the 98-2004ish VW's. Bug would start out in 3rd and never shift. I guess that was its limp mode? Cars been cool since.

Posted by: Mountain914 Dec 1 2008, 05:18 PM

I have an 06 new beetle TDI (46+MPG) and have to say it has pleny of pep (170 ft pds torque) for the mountains. I haven't driven a regular turbo though.
It's a bit noisey (rattles), but I just turn up the stereo. I like the "package 2" options, it looks OK (not too much a girly car until you paint it pink that is) And get this, my girlfriends mom does own an older pink one (she had it painted).
She nor I have had any bad experiences with the new beetles.
I've *heard* that they don't do well in head-on collisions (a-la tow truck driver) but can't speak to it one way or the other. My personal preference would be a 2 door golf, but this beetle was about the only thing I could find (2 door) in a TDI (which I know wasn't your concern, just throwing in why I own a bug!).
My past cars have consisted of sciroccos, GTI's, R32's. I love most things VW.

My Salsa Red TDI:


And the lady's Mom's Pink New Beetle:

Posted by: highways Dec 1 2008, 06:11 PM

Oh my god that poor dog must be so traumatized!

Posted by: carr914 Dec 1 2008, 06:53 PM

I was team leader for the company that did all the testing and developement work on the New Beetle before they came out. They called me the Bug Killer. I think I personally destroyed 6 or 7 Auto trannies. We never had a car go over 100,000 miles, but we (me) were beating the living crap out of them. My personal favorite was the TDI with manual tranny - lots of torque as long as you kept the car in the powerband with the tranny.

I was amazed when the crash test data came out, as I saw the aftermath of one of my drivers wrecks. But then again we were dealing with hand-built prototypes.

My opinion - not a bad car for the price.

T.C.

I even made it into AutoWeek

Posted by: messix Dec 1 2008, 07:39 PM

thanks guys

i don't know of many vehicles that can take being abused for all of the 100k miles and still run.

i have heard about the front end wearing the bushings out on passat's and this sounds like a across the board vw thing then?.

they will be buying brand spankin' new so it looks like the auto tranny is the six speed auto, any other model use this and how's done in that car?

and i wouldn't give the girl any crap for driving a pink car.... she'd likely pull out a volley ball and serve it into yer head at a high velocity

Posted by: SGB Dec 1 2008, 07:50 PM

Just make sure the color is an easy match for the first body work...

Posted by: scotty b Dec 1 2008, 07:56 PM

Avoid the " special " colors they used for a few years, and the color change ( flip flop) ones. I haven't had to do one yet but I have been told they suck to match by the guys at the paint shop we buy from.

Posted by: messix Dec 1 2008, 08:03 PM

my sister like the wrap idea that our q-tip wielding friend from Colorado came up with.

Posted by: McMark Dec 1 2008, 08:06 PM

I don't have any experience with a Beetle, but I love my Rabbit. Powerful, comfortable, and very economical.

Posted by: Ferg Dec 1 2008, 08:57 PM

[quote name='messix' date='Dec 1 2008, 07:03 PM' post='1107382']
--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(scotty b @ Dec 1 2008, 05:56 PM) </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
[quote name='SGB' post='1107371' date='Dec 1 2008, 05:50 PM']
Just make sure the color is an easy match for the first body work...
[/quote]


Avoid the " special " colors they used for a few years, and the color change ( flip flop) ones. I haven't had to do one yet but I have been told they suck to match by the guys at the paint shop we buy from.
[/quote]
my sister like the wrap idea that our q-tip wielding friend from Colorado came up with.
[/quote]


I would have to imagine the money spent on the wrap, would be recovered years from now on the resale side.

Now if she wanted Brown that's a different story.
Ferg

Posted by: messix Dec 1 2008, 09:47 PM

[quote name='Ferg' date='Dec 1 2008, 06:57 PM' post='1107410']
[quote name='messix' date='Dec 1 2008, 07:03 PM' post='1107382']
--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(scotty b @ Dec 1 2008, 05:56 PM) </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
[quote name='SGB' post='1107371' date='Dec 1 2008, 05:50 PM']
Just make sure the color is an easy match for the first body work...
[/quote]


Avoid the " special " colors they used for a few years, and the color change ( flip flop) ones. I haven't had to do one yet but I have been told they suck to match by the guys at the paint shop we buy from.
[/quote]
my sister like the wrap idea that our q-tip wielding friend from Colorado came up with.
[/quote]


I would have to imagine the money spent on the wrap, would be recovered years from now on the resale side.

Now if she wanted Brown that's a different story.
Ferg
[/quote]
we talked about how it would prolly save the paint from chips and minor scratches and scuffs and that resale would be very much improved over painting pink!

and dad would most likely sneak in a product brand name to get a write off!

Posted by: effutuo101 Dec 1 2008, 10:41 PM

I agree with the Captn on this one. Stay away from automatics. I went through 5 transmissions on my Jetta VR6 in 120,000 and blew the motor. I maintained per the Mfg. spec's but found out that the oil pick up was too close to the pan. My Passat was a stick and I had 0 problems in 100,000 miles with that car. Go with the Beatle and a stick you should be all set. Go with white as most of the rest of the colors are "tri colors" and body shops will not put in the work to make them correct.

Posted by: Cap'n Krusty Dec 1 2008, 11:00 PM

That's NOT how you do it. While it's difficult because the assembly sticks to the fender, it's really about a "3-" on the difficulty chart, mostly because big hands and klutzy hand/eye coordination make for problems getting the nut off the single bolt. The Cap'n.

Posted by: biggy72 Dec 1 2008, 11:41 PM

Should changing a tail light bulb be a 3??