Beetle Mania!

Abhishek Nigam      18 Jan 2010

Test Drive Volkswagen Beetle

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.

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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.