Pole: the wife's 'marmite' car

[HankScorpio]

I'm due to pay the final ever payment on the wife's car next week. Typically, it let us down for the first time at the weekend and was running on three cylinders. After a quick trip to a trusty mechanic, I'm waiting for a new set of HT leads.

While there, the car drew a few people around it, not for the first time, and the split was about 50/50 between 'like it' and 'hate it'. I would say that on average she gets a person a fortnight coming up to her to say how much they like it.

So I'm opening it up.... What do you think?

[green van man]

Sorry, the first beetle was a marmite car I never took to along with the moggi 1000. The reincarnated beetle was even worse than the original, and that was designed in the 1930s as a people's car, hence the name Volks vargen.

The Riley RM, the jaguar xk 120 etc citeron avant, beautiful cars with flowing lines, the beetle, a bubble on wheels.


Paul.

[gpl1968]

It's probably very nice (I have never been in one) as it is based on the Golf, but just like the BMW Mini and the modern Fiat 500, is just a pastiche of the car is was styled on. Also to insult the memory of the original "Beetle", VW named it after the nickname they never used for the original VW1300, VW1500, VW1302, VW1303 etc. They also put the engine at the wrong end!
I'm biased as I had a VW1500 in my youth and loved it. The fact that it couldn't reach 60mph was irrelevant as it was so cool. You got the "wave" from other VW drivers and people wanted to talk about it in car parks. It was very reliable as there wasn't much to go wrong although it did need plenty of welding on the underbody to pass the MOT every year.
Some say that you shouldn't try to relive your youth. Maybe the car manufacturers should follow that advice.
Apologies for the quality of the pic of my old VW. I took it using my grandmother's old Yashicamat twin lens reflex camera and hadn't mastered the manual (mechanical) controls and still haven't...

[HankScorpio]

I'm a big mini fan. I was never in love with beetles but I like them... I like anything with wheels and/or an engine. I never saw the BMW mini as a mini and I never saw this beetle as a beetle. That's just marketing, not engineering. Apples and oranges.

In true fashion with this car, voting is still 50/50

The main thing I like about this car is that we've owned it for six or seven years and she still doesn't want to get shot of it. She had a yaris before this and was very keen to see it gone after 6 months. The mechanic I took it to (vw specialist) said they're pretty reliable little things and this one is in great shape (with exception of the ht leads).

EDIT: I should also point out that I'm 6'2" and rugger player sized, usually with a big beard. I look funny driving this about.

[phil1968]

I actually don't mind it, it's quite understated compared to some of the re-incarnated Beetles I've seen & I like the wheels, they suit it. I'm quite surprised it needs HT leads though, I thought modern cars had done away with those?

[classicswede]

Not a fan of the new Mini, New Beetle is even worse but both fail in so many ways.

Not driven the new Fiat 500 but suspect that it will fail to have any of the original character.

[Harvey1512]

I like the Beetle, am generally happy with the new incarnations of old classics. The killer for me was the colour. Sorry, but brown 🤔🤢.

My wife had a fiat 500 for a couple of years and had similar responses. People would stop her in car parks etc to look at the car. I thought it looked great but the engine was utter rubbish. I've never driven a more gutless car.

[phil1968]

Originally Posted by Harvey1512

My wife had a fiat 500 for a couple of years and had similar responses. People would stop her in car parks etc to look at the car. I thought it looked great but the engine was utter rubbish. I've never driven a more gutless car.

Was it the 1200? Me & my girlfriend hired one in Sicily about 5 years ago & hill starts were all but impossible, it was that bad. Then some time later there was a report on BBC's Watchdog about it, due to the engine mapping for emissions apparently

[HankScorpio]

Okey dokey, let's answer these ones, one at a time.

Phil - Yup, still got ht leads. Single coil pack for spark, ht leads to spark plugs which are a bugger to get out when the engine is warm as you need to negotiate the turbo cooling pipes. In all honesty, it is understated and the photo doesn't do it justice as the colour flip (light and dark brown) is quite noticeable when you're moving around.

Classicswede - as far as cars go, it's actually pretty good. But saying that, I once let her buy the tent and ended up with attached. As far as tents go it's pretty good, but you still wouldn't want to be seen in it.

Harvey - yes, it reminds me of the often used work phrase 'you can't polish a turd... But you can roll it in glitter'. We had a white one as a hire car once and with a lot of the interior being body coloured, it was awful. It is better in the flesh, but it's still brown. She loves it though and you can't put a price on that.... And yes, fiat 500s are ****e whichever way you look at it.

Phil (again) - yup 1.2 TSI. never had an issue with power. Its got 100ish bhp so isn't fast but nippy enough. Bit thursty at 80 on the motorway, but good for the cross country commute and around town. Maybe you had it as a hire car after me which would explain why it didn't work anymore. Was it white?

Only 1 vote in it, but I'm not saying in which direction.

[HankScorpio]

Forgot to add the picture of the tent... Or the camp-camp is it was less than affectionately called.