Zippy and Fun

I purchased the 2003 VW Beetle GLS Turbo. Very simply I LOVE IT. There is so much to say about this GREAT little car. First off you must understand that by purchasing one you become part of a cult. As you can tell by the look of it, it's not your ordinary looking car. But that is what is so great about it. Dare to be different. What's great about it is that it appeals to young and old alike.

I did quite a bit of research before making the purchase a read many reviews about it and cars in it's class. The three cars I looked at and was interested in purchasing was the VW Bettle, the Mini Cooper and the Acura RSX. I drove all three and below is why the Beetle is a better choice:

Beetle vs. RSX
Price range they are about the same, you get a little more for your money with the VW, like heated seats and leather interior. The Beetle offers much better head and leg room. German engineering just kills Japanese cars.

Beetle vs. Mini
Beetle offers much more room, the beetle is a much more solid car and better made. If you want the better Mini you are forced to drive a stick shift. The Mini drives just like a go-cart.

Lets face it, the Beetle is a very small car, and that is what is so great about it, it's a small car but when you are driving it feels like a much bigger car. The front seat leg room is the best I have ever had, the head room is unreal, I'm 5 11 and sitting in the drivers seat my arm has to be fully extended to just have my hand stick out the sun roof.

I did have a few problems when first purchasing the car, 1. The first week I kept getting headaches, the angle of the windsheild and the depth from the staring wheel to the windsheild takes a little getting use to. But after a week I was use to it, but now I have a major problem driving in cars like a Honda Civic or Acura RSX, they just seem unsafe and small.

The second problem was a major one. I was vacuming my back seat after a rain storm only to find a puddle in my back seat, it turns out that this is a common problem in the beetles design, the drain holes in the sunroof run under the carpet through the back seat. What happend was the drain clogged and the water backed up into the car. It took Gunther Volkswagon 6 times to finally fix the problem. Since then I have not had the problem.

One thing that people who sit in my back seat complain about is the noise the spoiler makes when it goes up and down, it goes up when the turbo kicks in at 45 miles per hour and goes down at 11 miles per hour. Because it sits right above the head of the back seat passenger they hear it load and clear , and I must say it is pretty load. But it is something you get use to. However it knows when it needs service, it needs to be greased every 10,000 miles and boy oh boy if you don't do it. It screatched like someone scratching a chaulk board. I just don't trust anyone to service it so I'm forced to take it to VW and their service packages are way to high, here is an example: 10,000 mile service includes oil change, tire rotation and greasing of the spoiler $100.00 "ouch". The 20,000 mile which I have not hit yet costs $250.00 it includes oil change, tire rotation, spoiler service nad then a bunch of checks that just don't justify the price, so I may try Don Olson tire.

All in all, I love the car it has a quick 150 hp turbo engine, 22 miles to the gallon, killer 6 speaker sub woofer sound system, great quality leather interior, big sun roof, cool flip up spoiler, nice 17 inch alloy wheels with low profile Michilin tires. As far as space goes you can't expect much but with the back seat down I was able to fit a 10 ft ladder and 10 8 ft. wall moldings in it back open of course, but if you flip the front seat up you can feet several 8 foot 2x4s in it with the back closed.

If you are thinking about getting one, go for it. After you test drive it you won't be able to get into another small car.