2012 Volkswagen Beetle 20t Review Years Later Forums
l% off Breakdown Cover Sale
Go covered in our one-half price Breakdown Embrace sale from only £7 a calendar month.* Join the Great britain's all-time breakdown provider every bit voted by Machine Express drivers.
Past Jonathan Crouch
Introduction
Let's face it, you don't buy a used Volkswagen Beetle if practicality is at the elevation of your agenda, so why not go the whole pig and opt for a soft peak? The 3rd generation Beetle Cabriolet is strong on style and looks a really slap-up buying proposition. Information technology's everything its predecessor needed to be.
Models
2dr Convertible
History
Oscar Wilde tells u.s. that the but mode to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. And if yous're amongst those who've e'er promised themselves a modern, affordable nevertheless nostalgically styled convertible, then what you might well be thinking of yielding to is something like this, the third generation Beetle Cabriolet.
This of course is the soft top version of i of the virtually iconic cars e'er congenital, beginning introduced back in 1949 and still in production over half a century subsequently, past which time over 330,000 open up-topped Beetles had been sold. In 2002, the same Mexican factory that had made the concluding classic models began producing a 'New Beetle' Cabriolet and nearly a quarter of a meg of these were fabricated before the production run ended in 2010 to brand style for the car we have hither.
Bigger, better equipped, with superior engineware and much-improved quality, this newer cabriolet arrived in the Spring of 2013 and proved to be a definite footstep upmarket, even though information technology still remained the nigh affordable road into Volkswagen soft-top buying. It was also rather unique in the affordable drop-summit segment, offer the kind of graphic symbol buyers only couldn't get in soft-peak versions of ordinary family unit hatchbacks, the kind of rear seat infinite they'd never find in a convertible MINI and the sort of proper 'air current-in-the-hair' experience that couldn't exist fully replicated by open up-topped cars of the period like the Fiat 500C and the Citroen DS3 Cabrio that weren't really fully-fledged convertibles. This model got a mid-term facelift in 2015, at which bespeak a trendy 'Dune' version was added to the range. Production concluded in 2019.
What You Get
A 'new original'. Is that what this is? Volkswagen reckoned so and you can run across why. As with the fixed-top 'Coupe' version, the aesthetics of this design take far more than in common with the classic post-state of war original than was the case with the 2002 'New Beetle' Cabriolet, that car's semi-round wings defining jokey drawing strip looks. Here, the styling is bolder, more than dynamic and more masculine, incorporating much more of the feel of Dr Ferdinand Porsche's early on 'Peoples' Machine', nigh notably in the big wheels plumply positioned beneath flared flowing arches.
So there's something of the past, artfully mixed with a sporty vision of the future in a car that'due south longer, lower and wider than its predecessor, with a longer wheelbase. It's also an atrocious lot stiffer, thanks to copious body strengthening beyond the floor and thicker A-pillars, which is why information technology won't judder about so much over the bumps. Almost minor soft-tops need vibration dampers to try and have care of that but this Beetle doesn't need them.
Onto the electrically-folding roof which incorporates a proper heated drinking glass rear window and powers dorsum in simply ix.5s to sit in typical pram-like manner over the kick and block your view rearwards. Don't fifty-fifty think most buying a version of this car without the rear parking sensors that were only optional on base models. That apart, at that place's petty to complain about, unless yous object to having to fiddle about plumbing equipment the tonneau cover that comes with the automobile, at that place to smarten upwardly the folded sandwich of material. We're guessing that well-nigh of the fourth dimension, if you owned this car, you probably wouldn't bother.
Diehard cabrio drivers who insist on standing on top-downwards in the rain will discover that the furled hood catches office of the water, then drops it on your passengers' heads when yous put the roof upward, a process that occupies 11s. Only we're nit-picking here: this is at to the lowest degree a proper, fully-fledged convertible (dissimilar the giant material folding sunroof yous become on rival soft-summit Fiat 500s and Citroen DS3s from this menstruation). And impressively, the electric roof performance is almost silent, in contrast to the asthmatic creaks and groans you arrive a convertible MINI from this time.
I of the advantages of the way the roof sits proud of the passenger compartment just above the integral rear spoiler is that information technology doesn't take upward bootspace, which is pretty reasonable for this class of car at 225-litres, 24-litres more than than the previous model, enough (if you lot can negotiate the narrow loading bay) for a couple of small suitcases and about double what you'd go in a comparable open-top Fiat 500 or MINI. If that's not enough, you can fold downwardly the rear seatbacks using the provided not bad levers, freeing up a lot more than infinite.
That's assuming you're not using the dorsum seats of grade. Unlike many of its rivals in the small convertible sector, this car has a big plenty cabin to comfortably accept four adults - for brusque to medium journeys anyway, provided the occupants aren't excessively tall. Those that are volition appreciate a blueprint that's freed upward 12mm more than headroom than was offered in this car'southward predecessor. When these chairs aren't in apply, we'd propose that you try and use the removable air current blocker whenever possible. Information technology makes a big difference to the cabin turbulence and stows away in a special slot in the top of the boot when not needed.
And up front? Well, as promised, the interior does indeed feel more than akin to that of the original mail-war Beetle, in the unlikely outcome that you recall i of those, with the slab-sided dash the same colour as the paintwork in near models, fifty-fifty if information technology'south no longer fashioned from crudely painted steel. The twin gloveboxes are a nod to the early car too (which is nice) only just as tiny (which isn't). In real time apply, the rubberband straps over the door bins (supposed to be able to agree a i.5-litre canteen) aren't very practical either. There's more utilise of difficult plastics in this Mexican-built model than you'd find in a High german-made Golf, but they all seem tough and potentially long-lasting.
Yous sit much further forward than you did in the previous generation version of this car, closer to the swept-dorsum front windscreen, viewing a big primal speedo flanked with rev counter and ancillary gauges through a sporty 3-spoke thin-rimmed wheel. You'll look in vain for the MK2 Protrude'southward nuance-mounted flower vase though. Good. Height models also get a triumvirate of additional nuance-top dials as standard - turbo pressure, stopwatch and oil pressure - which seem every bit if they'd exist a bit superfluous to the probable needs of typical cabriolet customers.
What You Pay
Please contact the states for an exact upwardly-to-appointment valuation.
What to Look For
Most owners of this 2013-2019-era 'A5'-series MK3 Beetle Cabriolet model we surveyed were very happy with their cars, but inevitably, there have been those who take had problems you'll desire to expect out for. 1 owner had two rear arm bushes, a forepart coil and whole new ignition barrel and steering lock go in a year, plus a brake fault and an electrical fault. That was the exception though. By and large, this especially Beetle seems pretty stoutly built. Parking sensors weren't standard on entry-level models, and so look out for scrapes and dents on cheaper-spec cars. Many variants used lite-coloured materials that can look grubby if not looked after. In that location were three product recalls for this design in its product life. The starting time was in 2011 for starter motors on diesel models which may overheat. The 2nd related to a potential loss of steering stability due to a deformed rear axle on models produced between 2011 and 2013. Lastly, there is a possible burn run a risk on models made between April and Baronial 2014 because of a duel leak. With variants afflicted, check that the necessary dealer visits take been made. We haven't come up across any complaints nigh the powered hood but brand sure that its functionality is up to scratch. Make certain that the tonneau encompass hasn't been mislaid.
Replacement Parts
[based on a 2015 model Beetle Cabriolet 1.four TSI ex VAT] An air filter will be priced in the £10 to £18 bracket, an oil filter will sit down in the £6 to £12 bracket. A radiator will likely cost around £98. The front restriction discs we came across commonly sat in the £50 to £70 bracket, with pricier-branded discs costing betwixt £120 and £250. The rear brake discs we came across commonly sat in the £45 to £82 bracket, with pricier-branded discs costing upwards to around £160. Rear discs sit down in the £27-£fourscore bracket. Front restriction pads are in the £17 to £44 bracket. Rear pads cost in the £13-£32 bracket. A headlamp is around £163. A water pump is around £97-£146. A radiator is around £98. Wiper blades cost around £three-£thirteen.
On the Road
The old mail service-Millenium 2002-2010-era Beetle Cabriolet was a boulevardier motorcar, happily transporting ladies who lunched from treadmill to tanning salon equally they wiled away their empty days. Questions of ride and treatment but weren't asked by likely owners, which was just as well because past and large, the chassis wasn't upward to answering them. Those looking for that could go off and buy a convertible MINI - and increasingly, many did. All of which earned this replacement third generation soft-top Beetle a pre-conceived reputation information technology didn't really deserve.
It did, subsequently all, share most nothing with its predecessor. As a driver, you're sat properly forward rather than somewhere vaguely nigh the middle of the thing. Over bumps the auto doesn't shake and rattle about as if information technology's nigh to fall to pieces. Put your foot down and you really make meaningful progress forrad. And there'due south no ridiculous bud vase in the centre of the dash to brand the whole design so annoyingly gender-specific.
Nosotros musn't become carried away of course. Despite a xx% improvement in body stiffness, there'south none of the get kart eagerness of a MINI Convertible - but and then in this Volkswagen, you lot likewise do without the MINI's awful ride, wobbly torso and cramped cabin. That'southward a trade we call up almost will be quite happy to make. Especially given that this post-2013 Beetle design is then much more dynamically expert - and so impressively refined roof-upwards. The steering's all the same a bit vaguer than we would like, but at least in this form, the car feels more willing to change direction when you ask it to, especially in the pokier petrol guises that get the XDS electronic differential lock system that was developed for the Golf GTI. This lightly brakes the inside front bicycle through tight bends, sharpening plow-in and ensuring that all the ability gets onto the tarmac. Information technology's rather surreal to feel all this working beneath yous in a automobile that, every bit an enthusiast, you approach with such low expectations.
Without this trickery, lower order Beetle Cabrios are less able on the twisty stuff, but so potential owners of these models won't be looking to throw their cars around. What they're more likely to discover is an accomplishment that almost meaty convertibles really struggle with: truly excellent standards of ride thanks to a howdy-tech multi-link rear suspension set-upwards that isn't fitted to most can-top Beetles and can't exist establish on lower-order Golfs of this period either. As a consequence, though you feel really poor surfaces, y'all do so far more remotely than would be the case in most other small soft-tops.
On to the roof, a beautifully tailored multi-layered slice of heavy duty fabric that at the printing of a button rises upwardly in 11 seconds, folds abroad in 9.5s and is operable at speeds of upward to 31mph. That's in contrast to the similar soft-top fitted to the Golf Cabriolet from this era that requires you to tiresome right downward to 18mph before the electrics volition piece of work. You'd exist amazed by how much difference that extra 13mph makes in 24-hour interval-to-day usability. Similar all proper convertibles, you lot'll observe it a bit blustery when driving al fresco unless you put the windows up, but with the optional wind deflector in place across the rear seats, things improve considerably.
Every bit for engines, well they're all borrowed from the older MK6 model Golf - so in other words, a couple of generations more mod than those supplied in the previous generation version of this auto. There'southward decent power on offer for those who really want it - a 200PS ii.0-litre TSI petrol unit from the former Golf game GTI that makes 62mph in vii.6s on the way to 139mph. Or y'all could go for a 140PS 2.0TDI diesel that manages 9.9s and 122mph. We're not certain though, that we'd carp with either: this isn't the kind of car that's actually at its best driving at those kinds of speeds.
Which leaves us with the variants that deemed for virtually all original U.k. sales. The 2 main versions - an eager 1.two-litre TSI petrol and a 1.6-litre TDI diesel - both develop 105PS and make 62mph in around 12s en road to 111mph. If you've a little more in the budget though and wouldn't mind a little extra punch, so don't ignore the 160PS 1.four-litre TSI petrol unit, which manages viii.6s and 128mph and could very well be the prime option in the range. Urban folk who don't desire the slick 6-speed manual gearbox besides get DSG auto manual options at the tiptop and bottom of the line-upwardly, with an older half dozen-speeder available on the 2.0 TDI and a more efficient seven-speeder bachelor on the base of operations 1.two TSI.
Overall
Like the idea of a used Beetle Cabriolet? And so yous'll like this 1 very much indeed. If you don't, then nothing whatsoever seller of this car will say most the more efficient engines, the better driving experience and the extra boot space is likely to convince you. Retro pattern is like that - which is why when this machine was new, Volkswagen also offered soft-height Golf game and folding hard-top Eos cabriolet models for those who couldn't really see the point. Those convertible designs arguably stand for a more sensible choice, merely and so who ever bought a small convertible for sensible reasons?
A car like this is - and should be - an indulgence, a bit of fun. Exactly like soft-top Beetles always have been. And, after years of being viewed as a novelty car whose appeal had long worn off, this Volkswagen was, in this post-2013 course, rejuvenated every bit a hot ticket in this segment. Information technology's also stoutly built, generally reliable and charismatic. We can run across why a certain kind of heir-apparent might really want one.
Source: https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/car-reviews/volkswagen/beetle/beetle-cabriolet-2012-2019/
0 Response to "2012 Volkswagen Beetle 20t Review Years Later Forums"
Post a Comment