VWwA Used Car Guides (Type 1C/9C) New Beetle 1.6L, 2.0L, 1.8L Turbo & Cabriolet

[phaeton]

2000-2011 (Type 1Y/9C) New Beetle 1.6L (Ikon), 1.9TDI (Miami), 2.0L(Ikon. BlackOrange), 1.8L Turbo & Cabriolet (BlackOrange)

If you have owned or own one of the models above please state your experience with the New Beetle or New Beetle Cabriolet negatives and positives .

Also fill in the below blanks


example
Model: New Beetle
Engine: 1.9 TDI with 77kW
Year: 2006
Any Problems ?: tyres fell off

[jamesatfish]

If you have owned or own one of the models above please state your experience with the New Beetle or New Beetle Cabriolet negatives and positives .

I'll start...

Model: New Beetle Cabriolet
Engine: 2.0 Petrol
Year: 2003
Any Problems: I pre-ordered the Beetle after it was announced at the Melbourne Motor Show in April 2003, and when delivered it was one of the first 25 cabrios in the country. As a result, the roof system was useless and kept breaking, particularly the side covers which were supposed to glide open to help the roof fold smoothly but instead would be launched from the car and fly down onto the road.

VWA replaced the roof completely under warranty in 2004 with a revised design, and the car was perfect after that.

Pros: Brilliant fun to drive with the roof down, even in winter with the heated seats turned on. 6 Speed 'Tiptronic' style automatic was a huge improvement over the standard 4 Speed Auto in Coupe models of the same year. Biggest chick magnet I've ever driven - honestly the only car where I've parked on the side of the road and had women of all ages come to talk to me about it.

Cons: Roof and service issues, especially as none of the VW Dealers had actually worked on the Cabrio roof before so my car was constantly used as a 'training exercise' for the dealership apprentices. 2.0 engine was an absolute slug - why they didn't offer the Cabrio here with the 1.8T as they did in other markets I will never understand.

[007]

Okay, my 2c worth. I've only had it since May but happy to keep updating as it goes along.

Model NewBeetle Hatch
Engine 1.8T Manual
Year 2002
Any Problems Replaced the dipstick and tube, seal around the bee sting aerial and armrest latch. Door lock mechanism is going bad on the drivers side and I have the replacement part ready to fit when it finally goes, or when I get spare time to change it.
Pros: It's powerful, fast and fun to drive. Best brakes I've had on any car and it handles well. Huge windscreen gives a very panoramic view and feel. Sunroof is bigger and quieter when open at speed than either the skoda or the passat I had before. It's very smooth to drive and the interior is well appointed with leather and heated seats.
Cons Difficult to work on (cramped engine bay and it's low so getting a trolley jack under it can be a challenge). No temperature gauge. Large blindspots on the A pillars. Not a lot of cargo space. Cup holders are only good for coffee, drink bottles won't fit. 16 inch wheels standard where it really needs 17's at least to fill up the wheel wells.

[ohhbugger]

i might as well jump in too

Model New beetle hatch
Engine 2.0L Manual with pod filter upgrade
Year 2000
Any problems we owned this car for two years and we loved it to death it wasn't fast but this particular one was black with tinted windows lowered on elbash springs on 17" vw alloys and it handled great, but as it got closer to 100'000kms it was starting to burn oil between services, also we had a problem in the canbus wiring where the dealer couldn't communicate with their scantool (which highlighted how dumb the local dealers were during that repair) they were replacing all sorts of things and even the battery "swapnostics" i call it.
in the end they replaced the canbus wire from the ODB2 connector to the cluster and that fixed it, but upon inspection after recieving the car it looked like it had been soldered by a 2yr old!!
after that then we had a random engine light coming on which was due to a "checksum error" in the ecm which had the dealer doumbfounded again, they quoted me a few thousand to replace, so i got another from the wreckers and went to another VW workshop and got the VIN re coded to the new ecm and used that, all good, then we had a random airbag light come on which was due to do with the drivers side seat airbag, so we sold it
Pros: it was a sexy looking car, and for a bloke i didn't mind driving it, all the other beetles IMO looked too girly
Cons: the car played up worse than the local footy team on a night out in town, it was an electrical nightmare, with me being a mechanic and not having the scantools i had to rely on monkeys that were clueless past changing the engine oil.

the scary thing is i'm about to buy another new one, i must be a sucker for punishment

[mikk]

I've had several of these and they are good little car.

Model: New Beetle, New Beetle Turbo
Engine: 2.0, 1.8T
Year: 2000-2002
Any Problems: Here's what can go wrong. Mostly cosmetic.
First thing is that most of the problems will come from parking outside. These cars don't do too well cosmetically if parked in the sun every day for several years. Unfortunately many of them have spent their time outside used as promo cars.

• Badges on front and back on the older ones (in Australia and Europe) have paint with a clear plastic cover. These deteriorate over time. Buy new ones on eBay. I prefer the US one, which is a 3D chrome emblem with black background similar to most other VWs.
• Arm rest lid latch snaps. Get another one off eBay for $3. Same as Golf one too.
• Arm rest lid hinges snap if you elbow it hard while it's open. Not really a problem but I guess they could have planned for this. Buy a new one for $20 on eBay and don't break it again.
• The plastics inside are coated with some kind of horrible rubber coating which is great when new but quickly scratches and deteriorates in the sun. It's horrible stuff to clean up. Only solution is to remove it once it gets too ugly/sticky and repaint the pieces. If yours is still good then don't park in the sun too much, use a sun shade, tint your windows and don't casually throw things on the dash.
• Silver painted steering wheel spokes will wear through to the black plastic. Pop them off and paint them again or cover with vinyl stickers for a few dollars. Later models actually came new as plain black.
• Radio we got on Australian models was some kind of Eurovox rubbish. The rotary encoder volume knob will stop working properly and the CD player laser dies fairly quickly. Replace it, but you'll need to get a $30 fitting kit off ebay because of the shape of the face of the deck.
• Front speaker surrounds are foam which tears over time if you listen to bassy music. It will then sound very distorted when you turn it up or have bass. Rubber replacement surrounds can be glued on. Cost is around $7 from eBay. The stock speakers are actually quite satisfactory once fixed up.
• Rear antenna and rubber seal deteriorate. The stock antenna has an amplifier in the base. If you're using an aftermarket radio you'll get better quality without the stock antenna amplifier base. The whole thing can be replaced with a $7 one from eBay including a new seal. Or just get a seal for $3. There are cars from Toyota, Mazda, Holden and plenty of others that have the same size antenna.
• Door lock/unlock buttons crack apart after too much sun. Since no other VW uses the same switch these usually cost $40-$80 each.
• Starter motor clutch can get noisy when disengaging when it gets dusty inside. Take it off and clean it or buy revised one or ignore the noise. I actually only experienced this on the Turbo model but others have claimed that it's possible on the 2.0.
• Like many VWs from this era the microswitches/circuit boards in the door latches go bad and the car is unable to tell that a door is open (interior lights won't work automatically). Remove the mechanism and resolder/clean it or buy a whole new one for $30. New door lock mechanisms are quieter than the old ones, so replace them to get rid of the deafening lock sound.
• Window mechanism stuffs up. Plastic clips that hold the glass break. Revised part is metal, or buy replacements for $5 from eBay. The cables can snap too, which is rarer and is about $40 and a bit trickier to do.
• Interior door handles break if the previous owner was not gentle. There's a company in the US that makes a cheap fix to fit under the stock door handle trim, or a whole new metal replacement handle if you want to spend big $ for solid metal handles.
• Material can come off door handle when foam backing deteriorates. This is a pain to clean up and reglue. This especially affects leather trimmed cars because the door trim is under a lot of strain to fit the curves of the handle.

Pros:

• The look. It's unique.
• Good paint.
• It has a flower vase.
• Turbo model is very inconspicuous. Nobody expects your Beetle to be fast so they make a good sleeper.
• Excellent brakes, especially if you upgrade the stock pads to something with more bite.
• 2.0 model is equivalent mechanically to a Mark IV golf 2.0 sport. So chassis and suspension are actually quite pleasing.
• Leather seats are quite tough and the seat warmers work well
• Shares the vast majority of parts with Mark IV Golf so there's no shortage of parts. Most things that commonly break are available very cheaply on eBay.
• Can fit some very big wheels on it if you like that sort of thing.

Cons:

• The cup holders are rubbish. 2001/2002 got a front cup holder upgrade, which is slightly better but still rubbish. Australia appears to have missed out on the 2005/2006 cup holder upgrade which is superior to the previous 2 designs. If you're desperate for it then get one from ECS or a wrecker in the U.S.
• Interior lighting is a bit dull. Get some slightly brighter LED bulbs. If you have the alarm proximity sensors then I advise pulling the rear light/sensors apart and soldering in some little LED panels from eBay.
• It's a little low so you may end up denting the sills on the side. Just don't drive over big gutters etc.
• 2.0 engine has more torque at the low end near idle than the 1.8T but apart from that it's slower everywhere else.
• Stock wheels look a little too small. 17" looks more modern. 225/235 will fill out the wheel wells a bit better and reduce wheelspin.
• Rear headroom lacking for tall people (what did you expect with that sloped roof)