Tuesday, October 12, 2010

VW New Beetle



"timeless..."

The cute car that started the retro-futurist design craze that struck a chord with consumers who had grown tired of standard conservative designs and had fond memories of the legendary "Bugs" from their youth. The front-wheel-drive Volkswagen New Beetle is available in two-door hatchback or a two-door convertible. But since we're in a tropical country with lots of humid heat and polluted crowded street the prior is more relevant!

Undeniably cute but the coupe can never hide its cramped passenger and cargo room. Front seats are actually roomy, but the same can hardly be said of the back seats. The interior is savvy with heatable front seats for cool nights and freezing mornings. It is also equipped with six speakers plus it comes with ipod jack and in-dash mp3 cd player. Now that's a bang for a cramped space! What's unique is the deformable steering column that is designed to actually collapse upon impact to prevent injuries from the driver. Think pirate's spyglass! Standard safety and security features also include antilock brakes, electronic stability control, active front head restraints, standard airbags, and the "immobilizer system" that will only allow the vehicle to start when the appropriate digital coding is inserted into the ignition otherwise the beetle will never wake up!LOL.


The bug's power comes from a 2.5-liter five-cylinder engine that makes 170 horsepower. Transmission choices are a standard five-speed manual or an optional six-speed automatic. Fuel economy for an automatic transmission since I'm using one is not so friendly running at 6km/L for city driving and 8km/L for rural driving. The engine revs smoothly and pulls well especially when speeding up in long roads, though it's hardly sporty enough for me. Nonetheless, suspension tuning is on the soft side while driving balance is really good.

Exterior for my opinion is undeniably timeless! Its iconic round shape doesn't just give it a spacious feeling but actually add strength and rigidity for safety. And just like a concert hall, it makes fantastic sounds!

Would like to thank my models Alandia, Milezy, and Betsy Beetle! you gurls are so cute and amazing!