Beetle Mania!

It was the year 1934 when Adolf Hitler announced that a car shouldn't just be a privilege of the wealthy. That's when he summoned a young Austro-Hungarian engineer by name of Ferdinand Porsche to talk about his plans for a car. Hitler specified the car should be small, durable and air cooled. Hitler christened it Volkswagen which meant the people's car. And that's exactly when the Beetle came into existence. Since then the little VW became the first car in Europe to pass the million production mark in 1955. It also pretty soon adorned a cult status making it one of the most popular vehicles around

Over the years, the Beetle's design has kept evolving, but it wasn't until 1998 that the little car received a total makeover. Based on the Golf Mk4 platform, the new 'Bug' was an all new car although it borrowed heavily from its predecessor in terms of styling. There have been no major changes on the design front since. But that's because it did not need any. VW has brought in the coupe styled hatch back version for the Indian roads. The original VW Beetle was one of the most recognizable cars on the road and the modern day equivalent is a well-executed contemporary take on a classic which, ten years after its introduction, still looks fresh and eye-catching. Like the re-invented Mini and the Fiat 500, the VW Beetle is a stylish piece of retro-design which although harking back to its original form exudes a modern feel to it. The rainbow silhouette, the bulging fenders with the round headlights, in fact everything about the car emanates a charm like none other. When you stop in a parking lot, onlookers will swarm around, peek in the windows and bombard you with questions. If you love being the center of attention, Volkswagen's New Beetle is the car for you.

Get inside and you find that the driver and front seat passenger sit below the highest part of the curved roof with the windscreen a long way in front. The interiors as a result feel exceptionally roomy with lots of head room and lots of light. The three spoke steering wheel is nice and chunky to grip and shares an attractive and good-to-the-touch pixel trim with the gear knob, handbrake grip and parts of the dashboard. The information display is dominated by the large, circular speedo, which in line with other VW models is backlit blue at night to contrast with the red needles. To remind one of the flower power generation there is also flower vase making its presence felt in the driver's cockpit area. What however is not cool is the amount of black plastic you find plastered all over. Even the quality of the plastic bits is far from what you can expect from a 20 plus lakh rupee car. In fact the plastics on the door trim were already rattling with less than 500 km on the odo. Seats at the rear will barely manage to seat two adults with hardly any legroom. The sloping silhouette at the rear also means adults hunching forwards rather than leaning their heads on the glass. Kids however will find it pretty cozy at the back. Luggage space is nothing to write about either. With 214 litres to play with you can barely manage to stuff your shopping bags in there leave aside your travel baggage's.

But what the little bug can manage is fuss-free transportation thanks to the perky 2 litre petrol engine housed under that cute little bonnet. The 1984 cc engine pumps out 115 PS @ 5400 rpm and a maximum torque of 172 Nm @ 3200 rpm. While the specs might look good on paper but on the road performance is pretty mediocre. Slot the 6-speed auto-box into drive, floor the throttle and Beetle chugs off the line with a slight lag. The 100 km/h sprint is dispatched in an ordinary 14.4 seconds. Power delivery is pretty linear and smooth but when performance is really called for the 2 litre unit feels slightly lacking. What however is not is the ride and handling. The suspension setup is simply brilliant and manages to absorb the worst of roads with nary a thump entering the cabin. The low ground clearance can pose a problem with monster speed breakers though. Hit your favourite twisty's and the Beetle rewards you with a nice well weighted steering and more than ample grip thanks to the Pirelli shod rubber. The all round discs do a splendid job of shedding speed which further encourages enthusiastic driving. The 80-0 is dispatched in just 2.78 seconds over 31.78 metres. With a kerb weight of 1345 kg coupled with an auto-box, the Beetle managed 8.12 km/l around town and a slightly better 10.52 km/l on the highway giving it an overall consumption of 8.72 km/l. With a fuel tank capacity of 55 litres the Beetle will run for around 480 km before you have to visit the next petrol pump.

 A Rs 20.45 lakh price tag, ex-showroom Delhi makes it quite an expensive proposition compared to other retro-modern from Fiat, the 500. So why would one buy the Beetle? It's not the most practical, not the most well equipped nor supremely powerful or fuel efficient. In fact it's nothing that the original people's car was. But what it is, is a car that captures your heart more than the mind. And when that happens one tends to overlook all those flaws and just love it for what it really is. And that's just what the Beetle makes you do.

History of the Beetle The history of the Beetle really goes back to pre 2nd world war Germany when Ferdinand Porsche had a vision of a mass produced vehicle that was affordable to the average German, an idea that was shared with the young Adolf Hitler who himself could not drive, but was a car fanatic. In 1934 he stated that his government would support the development of a 'people's car'. Impressed by Porsche's design capabilities, Hitler delivered him the design brief of a car that could carry two adults and three children at a speed of 100km/h with at least 15 kmpl and cost almost as much as a motorcycle. In 1937, the coachbuilders Reutter, based in Stuttgart, were asked to make 30 vehicles which would eventually be shipped to various festivals and fairs to entice the German public to buy. There were Saloons, sunroofs and convertible models. Hitler also introduced a savings scheme where the public could collect stamps that would eventually pay for the car. On the 17th February, 1972, the Beetle finally overtook Fords model 'T' as the most popular car ever made, later disputed by Ford who found new production figures, the Beetle went on to make sure there was absolutely no doubt. The last Beetle to be made in Germany left the production line in January 1978, bringing the end of an era. This was not the end of the Beetle though, production continued in Puebla, Mexico and the 20,000,000th Beetle rolled off the Mexican production line in May 1981.