2012 Beetle Turbo 3 weeks in.

[Stew]

As you all know I recently purchased a 2012 Beetle Turbo.   The reasons i went with the Beetle is because I needed something with decent fuel mileage and got a great deal.  It helps that it is somewhat unique and is a really good driver.

 

Basics:

2012 Beetle Turbo

2.0T/6 speed manual

Base turbo (18 inch instead of 19 inch rims, no fender audio or sunroof, etc, etc)

53k miles when purchased, now a little over 55k

Dealership had to replace all brake rotors and pads because they were shot

Price $10,900

Exterior:

It is a Beetle and unabashedly so.  I really like this generation.  I was never a big fan of the New Beetle, but I love the changes they made here rom the details to the less "bubbly" roof.  I like the additional touches on the turbo such as the spoiler which is blacked out on top and body color on the bottom.  IMHO, the standard 18 inch rims look better than the optional 19s, especially against the platinum gray paint. 

Interior:

The styling inside is fantastic.  Inspired by the original Beetle interior, they really knocked it out of ballpark.  It has lots of gimmicks, which I actually like.  The plastics are hard on the dash and dorr panels, but the arm rests on the door is soft.  All the switch-gear feels good and is easy to use.  I love the bluetooth because of it's simplicity.  I had no issue syncing my phone and the calling and audio streaming work great.  This is the base audio system though, so there is no touchscreen.  It is surprisingly roomy thanks to the tall roof and airy cabin.  This shape also allows great sight-lines.  I also like the fact that the mirrors are actually large enough to be usable.  I love the interior ambient lighting in the upper doors and around the speakers which can be lit in one of 3 different colors.  I also love the feel of the thick flat-bottom steering wheel.

It isn't all peachy though.  i have yet to find the perfect comfort position in the seat.  I wish it had a power seat because I think hat would make it a lot easier and would allow additional adjustments.  There are no USB ports for phone charging, but there is a nice cubby in the center stack with a standard power outlet that works well and keeps the cord out of the way.  NO ARMREST?!?!  I believe hs was an option, but why?  Kind of ticks me off, but I have adjusted.  I also believe a 2012 VW should have standard stereo controls (at least) on the steering wheel.  I had them in my 2000 Grand Prix after all. 

The Drive:

I find this car overall a very enjoyable drive.  Yes, there is some body roll, but overall it is very controlled.  It takes into corners very well and has enough stick to out-stick me.  The engine has a bit of turbo lag, but when it hits it feels very good and has no problem moving this 3100 pound car with aplomb and plent of juice to be entertaining.  The engine is normally very smooth, though i am noticing some intermittent surging, ma just need a good tune-up.  THe six speed is pretty slick, though the throws aren't the shortest ever.  The clutch required a learning curve as i was used to the stiff clutch in m truck and the VW clutch is very easy to move through it range with far less resistance.  The MPG has been fantastic.  Doing roughly 70-80% highway i am averaging 32-34 MPG.  THe car is highway rated by the EPA for 30, so i am very pleased there. 

 

Overall I am really enjoying this car as my daily driver.  It isn't perfect by any means, but it is fun, rides well, and gets great FE.  It also gets lots of attention, so far all of it is positive.  I do worry about reliability and have no issue admitting this purchase was probably more from the heart than the brain, but we will see what happens. 

[Frisky Dingo]

Aligns pretty closely with my thoughts on the car. It's not a perfect, nor entirely practical, package, but it's unique, fun, and more practical than it needs to be. The 2.0T is a gem, and very tunable. When you take into account how crazy cheap you can buy these things, they really do make for fun, enticing options as daily drivers. I love them with a drop and some wheels. The shape lets you go all out retro-

 

or contemporary-

 

Here's a RWB Beetle-

 

 

 

 

 

[Stew]

Agreed.  It has a lot of personality and possibilities and is just a generally fun little car. 

[David]

This new Manly Beetle is far better than the New Beetle. Yet with that said, while the wife loves the beetle, it would never get into our household due to it not being an american auto company and interior size. Does not fit my large frame. Plus I just love my raised sitting high SUV's

Over all, a great road rally car I think with as others have said, plenty of fun personality to make it quirky fun!

[Stew]

Completely understandable.  Was originally looking for a couple CUVs, but because of price and need changed my mind.  I really like the Beetle though, very fun car. 

[A Horse With No Name]

20 minutes ago, dfelt said:

This new Manly Beetle is far better than the New Beetle. Yet with that said, while the wife loves the beetle, it would never get into our household due to it not being an american auto company and interior size. Does not fit my large frame. Plus I just love my raised sitting high SUV's

Over all, a great road rally car I think with as others have said, plenty of fun personality to make it quirky fun!

Yes it is...for what he paid for it, should be a reliable car for many years to come. color, condition, manual six speed....I like it!

12 minutes ago, Stew said:

Completely understandable.  Was originally looking for a couple CUVs, but because of price and need changed my mind.  I really like the Beetle though, very fun car. 

I can see why you like it.

[Stew]

Thank you sir!

[A Horse With No Name]

51 minutes ago, Stew said:

Thank you sir!

I am impressed honestly with how well you spent your money. This encourages me to shop a little harder for my next car...

[Stew]

Funny thing is I literally watched this Beetle on their website for months as they dropped their price a little at a time haha.  The good thing about wanting the manual is that you are one of the few people that do anymore. 

[ocnblu]

I am currently spellbound by the new Bottle Green color on the 2017 Beetle, after having seent it on VWVortex a few munts ago... but when I go to Build & Price over at VW's site... no manual transmission!  To that I say... POPPYCOCK!

[Stew]

Had to Google it, that colors does look pretty nice, and boo on no manual.

[A Horse With No Name]

12 hours ago, ocnblu said:

I am currently spellbound by the new Bottle Green color on the 2017 Beetle, after having seent it on VWVortex a few munts ago... but when I go to Build & Price over at VW's site... no manual transmission!  To that I say... POPPYCOCK!

I will have to check that out.  Manuals are rapidly going the way of the DODO Bird.  Local VW dealer I bought the TDI from had one manual GTI on the lot last I checked, local Chevy dealer had one manual Vette, everything else was auto, MINI dealer has two or three manuals last I checked, Subie dealer has zero manuals other than a couple of WRX/STI, Dodge dealer had one Abarth Manual....

...and I would be wary of buying any Vw product new at the moment, resale on them has tanked with the Diesel scandal.  Might work if you were going to keep one for a very long time....

That being said, both the Habanero orange and the Bottle green are nicer than the Silk Blue on the Beetle, which is drop dead gorgeous.

[Stew]

55 minutes ago, A Horse With No Name said:

I will have to check that out.  Manuals are rapidly going the way of the DODO Bird.  Local VW dealer I bought the TDI from had one manual GTI on the lot last I checked, local Chevy dealer had one manual Vette, everything else was auto, MINI dealer has two or three manuals last I checked, Subie dealer has zero manuals other than a couple of WRX/STI, Dodge dealer had one Abarth Manual....

...and I would be wary of buying any Vw product new at the moment, resale on them has tanked with the Diesel scandal.  Might work if you were going to keep one for a very long time....

That being said, both the Habanero orange and the Bottle green are nicer than the Silk Blue on the Beetle, which is drop dead gorgeous.

So very true, but the good news in for people buying used ou should be able to get a lot of car for the money.  I wonder what will happen to all the buybacks?  Will they be stored until a fix is found and they sent to the used market?

[ccap41]

1 hour ago, A Horse With No Name said:

the Habanero orange and the Bottle green

Wow, I just looked those colors up and they are awesome. Especially that shade of green. I'd love to have something in that color. The orange is awesome, like super awesome, I just think I would get sick of it much quicker.

[A Horse With No Name]

31 minutes ago, Stew said:

So very true, but the good news in for people buying used ou should be able to get a lot of car for the money.  I wonder what will happen to all the buybacks?  Will they be stored until a fix is found and they sent to the used market?

Probably a good many of them will be sadly crushed-the gen 1 cars (2009-2014, everything other than Passat) do not have the Ad Blue/urea and will require extensive modifications to comply. Plus VW needs to warranty the repairs for a set period of time, several years and something like 48,000 miles.  So it may well be more economically viable to crush these rather than repair them.

At a bare minimum, VW has to cut the unibody below the doors and put a three inch hole in the engine block, they must also certify that the ECU and emissions components have been destroyed. Export is not allowed unless cars have been repaired to spec, and even then VW is required by law to warranty the cars.

The crash market for 2012 Jettas parts, or (pick your model) is small enough that I wonder if it won't be more economically viable just to crush intact the majority of cars that come in. Toyota did this with the Tacoma Frame recall. I was working as an electrician and we were building a car wash across from the local Toyota dealer when the Frame buy back was going on.  One day I saw five loaded car carriers of Tacomas being hauled out of there. And there were other shipments as well.

Interestingly enough, multiple hundreds of cars were also hauled out of there to be crushed during the cash for clunkers thing....

Kind of sad to be crushing decent usable vehicles in any case.

12 hours ago, Stew said:

Had to Google it, that colors does look pretty nice, and boo on no manual.

Ohh it is gorgeous. MINI needs to follow VW's lead and come up with some new colors.

3 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Wow, I just looked those colors up and they are awesome. Especially that shade of green. I'd love to have something in that color. The orange is awesome, like super awesome, I just think I would get sick of it much quicker.

Our 03 Cooper is is Red, thought I would get tired of it, over the years I have quite grown to like it. Would love to get a Fiesta St in the bright green they had....

[Stew]

With the exception of the Beetle, the Silverado, a black Fteetwood, blue Grand Cherokee, and green Cherokee and a Green SHO I had for rough 6 hours, every other vehicle i have had has been red or white.  Of course most of the time when you are buying used you don't get a color choice, of course my only new vehicle, the Patriot, was Inferno red haha. 

 

White:  93 Thunderbird 5.0 LX, 87 S-10 355 swap, 93 Talon TSI AWD, 91 Talon TSI AWD, 97 F-150 4x4, 92 lumina, 97 Crown Vic PI, 96 Caprice B4U LT1, 96 Roadmaster Limited, 86 Mazda 626,

 

Red:  91 Thunderbird 3.8 base, 84 S-10 355 swap, 91 Talon TSi AWD, 01 Dakota MotorSports, 04 Dakota 4x4, 2000 Grand Prix GTP, 07 Jeep Patriot Sport, 11 Camry

Ever sadder looking at this I have had 24 cars in 20 years of driving, most of them in my first 10 years of driving haha.  Well, about 3 or 4 were drivers for family that happened to be in my name, and a couple the better half's, so lets say I have had 18 in 20 years of driving haha. 

[A Horse With No Name]

1 hour ago, Stew said:

With the exception of the Beetle, the Silverado, a black Fteetwood, blue Grand Cherokee, and green Cherokee and a Green SHO I had for rough 6 hours, every other vehicle i have had has been red or white.  Of course most of the time when you are buying used you don't get a color choice, of course my only new vehicle, the Patriot, was Inferno red haha. 

 

White:  93 Thunderbird 5.0 LX, 87 S-10 355 swap, 93 Talon TSI AWD, 91 Talon TSI AWD, 97 F-150 4x4, 92 lumina, 97 Crown Vic PI, 96 Caprice B4U LT1, 96 Roadmaster Limited, 86 Mazda 626,

 

Red:  91 Thunderbird 3.8 base, 84 S-10 355 swap, 91 Talon TSi AWD, 01 Dakota MotorSports, 04 Dakota 4x4, 2000 Grand Prix GTP, 07 Jeep Patriot Sport, 11 Camry

Ever sadder looking at this I have had 24 cars in 20 years of driving, most of them in my first 10 years of driving haha.  Well, about 3 or 4 were drivers for family that happened to be in my name, and a couple the better half's, so lets say I have had 18 in 20 years of driving haha. 

A lot of us have owned quite a few vehicles.

[Frisky Dingo]

That Bottle Green is a lovely color, indeed. 

 

Going back to the pricing talk, used Beetles are outrageous values. Not much money gets you a lot of car.

[Stew]

Local dealerships have been getting a lot 2015 1.8T classics in running 12900 to around 14900, definitely a heck of a deal on those.  they must be getting them from some fleet though. 

[A Horse With No Name]

3 minutes ago, Stew said:

Local dealerships have been getting a lot 2015 1.8T classics in running 12900 to around 14900, definitely a heck of a deal on those.  they must be getting them from some fleet though. 

Possibly.  It's also the easiest way to get into an Older TDI New Beetle-much more affordable than a Golf or Jetta.

24 minutes ago, Frisky Dingo said:

That Bottle Green is a lovely color, indeed. 

 

Going back to the pricing talk, used Beetles are outrageous values. Not much money gets you a lot of car.

And fairly decent a reliable as cars go....

[Stew]

Did a manual hand calculation on FE, because of my um, led foot over the last 4 or 5 days I figured it would be in the 20s, but was around 31!  The computer was showing 29.8. 

[A Horse With No Name]

2 hours ago, Stew said:

Did a manual hand calculation on FE, because of my um, led foot over the last 4 or 5 days I figured it would be in the 20s, but was around 31!  The computer was showing 29.8. 

Volkswagen motors are often under rated in terms of both power and fuel efficiency.  I once got over 60 miles to the gallon in the diesel Jetta, regularly get over fifty.

And then there is that pesky bit about what tunes like APR do to VW motors in terms of performance...

[Stew]

A tune is very tempting.  Possibly once the powertrain warranty is out .  As much fun as it used to be punking people at the track in a 13 second Grand Prix, imagine how shocked they would be at a 13 second Beetle