It’s a good question. Which Volkswagen Beetle is better: petrol or diesel? The answer, in a South African nutshell, is that diesel Beetles were never available for sale here. And that’s a pity, because if ever a car suited a diesel engine installation, it was the so-called “New Beetle”, launched here in early 2000.
In Europe and elsewhere, diesel-engined Beetles were available
In Europe, and later elsewhere, diesel-engined Beetles of the new generation were available from the get-go. If you research the model built between 1998 and 2013, you will note that there were a whole range of diesel engines fitted to the new Beetle, which had its engine mounted in the front. These ranged from a 66 kW turbo-diesel to much more powerful diesels over the years. And of course there were petrol versions available world-wide.
Why was a diesel well-suited to the New Beetle?
The new Beetle was designed as a modern rendition of the original rear-engined Beetle, which was launched in 1939, and designed by Ferdinand Porsche. Just a handful were produced before the outbreak of World War 2, but after the war, the bombed-out Volkswagen factory was resurrected by British occupying troops, and by 1948 the Beetle was fully on song to become the world’s best-selling car. Nearly 22-million of the “bugs” were produced until production of the original model ceased in Mexico in 2003.
That original petrol-fueled Beetle had very diesel-like engine characteristics. It could only rev smoothly to about 4 500 rpm (just like a modern diesel), lots of low-rev torque, and it had a rather rough engine note, also like a diesel. It was also noted for its reliability. If VW wanted to re-enact the spirit of a Beetle for the 21st century, a diesel made lots of sense.
The Beetle in South Africa
The original Beetle was produced in Uitenhage, just outside Port Elizabeth, from 1951 to January 1979. But a few Beetles were imported before that date, and the oldest surviving car here is noted as a 1949 model. The original Beetle topped the South African sales charts on a number of occasions during its long lifespan, and rear-engined Beetles are still a fairly common sight on our roads today.
The New Beetle launched with a 2,0-litre petrol engine here
Despite diesels being available overseas, VWSA decided to launch the new Beetle here only with one engine, a 2,0-litre non-turbo petrol engine developing 85 kW. We think VW missed a trick here, as a low-cost diesel variant would have been much closer to the original “vibe” of the old, much-loved, rear-engined Beetle.
Sales never really took off
As it turned out, South Africans battled to place the new Beetle into any sort of context. It was seen as far too sophisticated to be a replacement for the much-loved, bare-bones-basic original, and it wasn’t nearly as practical as a Golf or a (much cheaper) Citi Golf or Polo. Thus only about 2 600 South Africans bought that first series of the New Beetle from 2 000 to 2012. This was despite VWSA later introducing a cabriolet version and a 110 kW 1,8-lite turbocharged version, known as the 1,8 T.
Although not ultra-popular as a new car, the front-engined Beetle makes for a good useable, fun-filled pre-owed car. AutoTrader currently lists 31 Used Volkswagen Beetles for sale.
The second “new” Beetle
Volkswagen AG redesigned the second-generation of the 21st-century Beetle substantially. The proportions of the car, launched here in late 2012, were far more conventional, and the car was more user-friendly too. VWSA marketed the car as a style-cum-performance model and the top version had a 118 kW 1,4 TSI engine that was both turbocharged and supercharged. This car had a 0-100 km/h time of well under 10 seconds and a top speed of 208 km/h.
You could also buy a less-expensive 1,2-litre TSI model, which was some R60 000 cheaper than the 1.4 TSI Sport. And this was also available in a special “Club” edition, with stylish seats and wheels. A rather rare oddball edition was the Dune, introduced here in June 2016, as a sort of modern-day, semi-off-road version of what was once known in South Africa as the “BajaBug”. This model had a wider body and raised suspension.
The final model was the R-Line
Late in the second-gen Beetle’s life, it was only sold as a performance-orientated R-Line model, with a 110 kW 1,4-litre turbo four-cylinder and a 0-100 km/h sprint of 8,7 seconds. We don’t have official sales figures for the second-gen “new” Beetle, but this model was even more of a marginal seller during its 5-year lifespan here, and we would estimate there are less than 1 000 examples on our roads.
Is the Beetle dead and buried?
We will have to see whether Volkswagen AG ever decides to resurrect the famous Beetle nameplate in the future. Maybe an electric version makes sense?
It was a pity the New Beetle never really gained the kind of traction here that it possibly deserved. Its great rival, the Mini, was a similar resurrection of an icon by BMW that launched at about the same time, and the MINI (BMW insists on using capital letters to denote the modern version) remains popular today.
This is probably because the Mini had a great motorsport heritage to build on that the Beetle never really enjoyed. Modern MINIs are noted for their impressive hot-hatch performance and amazing road holding, as well as seemingly endless tributes to the Monte Carlo Rally success story that the Mini Cooper S wrote in the 1960s.
The Beetle, by contrast, is pretty much seen as a sort of automotive trinket, much admired by young hipsters, nostalgia buffs and ageing hippies, but not "real" car people! That doesn’t make it a bad car, just one that doesn’t enjoy a broad sales appeal.
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