Classic VW Beetles

In my ongoing quest to find a cheap but fun car, that basically just has to be reliable enough to get me too work and back (13 miles) when not cycling and cheap to run, I've started to muse about these.. I do like the aesthetics of them, but tell me are they a nightmare to own and live with on a day to day basis? Would I regret getting one? I don't mind investing a little time and love, but I would like it to start when I turn the key!

Have a Toyata MPV for all the real transportation work (children, garden refuse etc), so practicality isn't really an issue.. also looking at MX5s/Eunos roadsters, but I know plenty about them.. somehow feel I'm missing out in having never owned a Beetle 🙂

PS I have NO interest in the re issue at all. Pure blind prejudice maybe, but I'm old enough to have earnt the right to this I think.

My wife has a '72 1300. I'd say 25 miles a day would be doable but you'd be looking at some fairly regular maintenance.

bought for £1k from ebay like this;

we spent another £1.5k getting it on the road and probably another £600 on parts etc over the past 18 months. She does about 4 miles to work and back 3 or 4 times a week.

tbh I'd be careful abotu relying on a 40 year old car for a daily driver without access to a ready backup (having said that, I ran a 45 year old car as a daily driver for 5 years…).

get a classic mini instead.

I love classic VW dubs and have had an 85 Passat (low ride 🙂 ) and a 66 Beetle but as much as I do think they're amazing I'd find it hard to recommend a bug as a reliable everyday driver.

Mine never let me down too severely but it was a consatnt money pit to keep it running. At one stage, once I had a company van, and other cars, I locked it away in the nice dry Silverfish warehouse, 200 dry miles and 12 months later I took it for an MOT and watched it fail!

I love em but I would go into with your eyes open.

Richie

p.s: I'm sure a lot of the work I had to have done on mine could've been done by a half competent home mechanic but I never gave it a crack.

Mrs SB had an M reg one for a while and she was doing a daily commute of about 30 miles each way.
Although they are not very comfortable or quiet, tend to rust quite a bit and are not the best economically it was an absolutely brilliant car…….. we loved it!

For 6 months I drove my sisters Beetle as a regular car. I would definitely not recommend owning one as 1st car. maybe if you are just using it as a back up for an occasional 13mile journey, but not if you intend to use it regularly, for longer journeys and in winter. My sisters Beetle was in good nick and looked nice, with all chrome etc, but no heating to speak of, wipers crap, windows constantly steamed up, fumes in car from engine, crap handling, noisey and worst of all, every other Beetle driver waves at you like they're your best mate and you have this bond, my reply was usually 2 fingers.

"my reply was usually 2 fingers."

youre not a closet roadie perhaps B.A.nana? 😆

but no heating to speak of

heater ducts rotten or just lsolated

, fumes in car from engin

rotten heat exchangers

crap handling, noise

normal

every other Beetle driver waves at you like they're your best mate and you have this bond, my reply was usually 2 fingers.

same with VW buses – my mum has a bus they are always wavng at other bus drivers……

I love the look of sorted ones (as I do old splitty vans) but as cars to own, they are cack.

Horribly slow, thirsty, no brakes and terrible if you crash (a mates mum crashed hers into a tree when I was about 7 – she died and definitely shouldn't have done) and need loads of looking after.

If I was looking for a old head turner, I'd get a mk1 Escort or a classic Mini (which are a hoot to drive).

And any surfer who can surf does NOT own one – they are hopeless as surf transport!

I knew someone with a LHD beetle.

he used to equip his passengers with a 'spare' steering wheel and encourage them to pull 'horrified' faces and wave it around in front of them whenever there was an oncoming car.

my how we laughed.

"my reply was usually 2 fingers."

youre not a closet roadie perhaps B.A.nana?

LOL
For reasons of balance, it's only fair to add, I had just lost a nice Company car thru redundancy. So, I wasn't in a place I wanted to be, people waving at me, like I was one of them, just made things worse.

I had one as a daily driver for a while. It was fun but the novelty does wear off, especially in the winter. It went wrong a fair bit but always easy to fix. The heater never worked, though. Great as a second car IMO

Good stuff, keep it coming.. not bothered about practicality as I said, and a lack of heating is no problem (had an Elise that was frozen bum crack every morning), but reliability does need to be at leasy in the high nineties, or the Eunos is a cheaper more reliable option I think

I love em but I would go into with your eyes open

Thank God for the STW masses, somebody knows something, usually lots about everything.

And any surfer who can surf does NOT own one – they are hopeless as surf transport!

I think living on the Hants/Wilts border there's not much danger of needing that, till the boys start pestering me for longboards 😀

Any websites you can recommend to have a little read up on? See if the remedial work is something I'm up for?

Mini is out, they just don't do much for me, I think a few near death experiences in a friends probably did that. A fettled MGB or MGC would be nice.. something with a bit of character after a couple of years in a 1.6 Almera which does 'functional' better than anything.

when i asked my mate whos into mk1 golfs about buying a golf – his reply was can you weld ……

Addis Ababa is rammed with old beetles- most of which are in really good condition…

No use to you, but I found it interesting.

I have owned a couple of aircooled VWs and I would love another one but only for sunny day driving when I have nowhere to get to in a hurry. If I was going to buy another older car as a daily I would have another MK2 Golf GTI.

when i asked my mate whos into mk1 golfs about buying a golf – his reply was can you weld ……

That's what I was hoping NOT to hear, don't have the time to learn, though I'd like too 🙁

working as daily drivers here..

How about something like a mk1 MR2, or an X1/9?

Had one for a short while 20 years ago – the heating wasn't much of a problem if you wanted either way too hot or off completely 🙂

Automatic choke on the other hand was a nightmare. Despite much tinkering it would only ever cut in after about 5 miles, by which time I was rolling through the gates at work. Developed a nice heel & toe method of using the pedals.

Had to get rid in the end, cost too much to keep running on an 18 years olds wages.

If I had the time, energy and spare cash, I'd consider another.

I had a 71 for about 15 years,to put it into context when I had finally had enough of it,I bought a VW Corrado…which was cheaper to run.The lack of heat will be an issue when you are scrapping the ice off the inside of your windscreen.If you can get a good one then great,but if they have had bodged repairs,and by now most have,then be prepared to spend a lot of time with a large collection of parts strewn over your garage.And you do not EVER want to hear the words "floor pan" and "welded" in the same sentence about your beetle.They can also be pretty frustrating when you have just forked out on new heat exchangers for no obvious difference!
I bought mine for about £1500 in the early 90's and it cost me about another £5k and 5 years to get it pretty much perfect.At the time you could get the new beetles with the 1.6 golf engine for £8k. If you watch if for about half an hour in winter, you WILL see something rot off it.Mind you….the full length sunroof open of a sunny day and the florida blue metallic paint shining…(shakes himself)

The only photo I have, from 14 years ago.

I think if I go 2 seater it'll almost certainly be Eunos (or better a GB spec one as the insurers are less weird about it and it's probably undersealed). Had one, took it apart a fair bit, ragged it around a lot and loved it. Just wrestling with the idea of something with a couple more seats might just be a step toward practicality that's required, as I sort out the MPV servicing and we live out in the sticks so the wife would be trapped with 3 under 5s when it was away.. if she could atleast load it up with child seats she could get into town for shopping/playgrounds/swimming even if it wasn't a 100% positive experience. That said, thats only been 1 day out of the last year so maybe it's a goer.

So brass, what's your shortlist? A Eunos is very different to a Beetle!

Mk1 Golf GTi with "proper" brakes would be great as would a mk2 Gti – both classics IMO and modern enough not to be dangerous.

Yes all very different but thats sort of the point, I like the collectives ideas… the GTi is an interesting idea I'll look into that, on old Quattro would have been good too but I bet they've gone through the roof price wise these days. Would have liked a VW combi van or camper but again I think anything half decent is in the 'real car' money category, which I can't afford for a year or two.

Thing is, it's an easy drive to spend a day in a secure indoor car park, so I was hoping I could pick up something fun or characterful to do it in, without breaking the bank and forming a close personal relationship with the local RAC call out center.

I also checked out Smart Roadsters, though they might have dipped under 2K by now. I was wrong. TR6? No chance. Spitfire? Possibly.. but that's probably another thread in itself. 2CV? Not sure I'd want to drive one in todays traffic.

It'll probably end up as another Almera anyway!

Buy a recentish Mexican Beetle?

Circa 5-10yrs old. 4k.

I used to have a '72 Bay window Bus. I loved that bus, it was brilliant, and I'd have another like a shot. Simply the best vehicle I''ve ever owned, the only real downside was the fuel 'economy' but they're very cheap to service, and if you lokk after them they're reliable enough.

awful awful things, but you can swap an engine on the hard shoulder within an hour with basic tools because i've done it, and an old beetle engine fits in the back of a 2.8 crapi no problems as i found out taking it to a mate who broke down on the motorway near bristol,
three lessons learned about old beetles from watching a friend own one are
1 get a spare engine BEFORE it blows up
2 get to know a local welder on intimate terms
3 buy something else
if i wanted a classic car id get an old alfa/lancia it will still be a pain in the a**e to maintain but when it works it wil be lovely not a rattley slow shed that makes you loose the will to live

khani you just reminded me about the 2 mint crapi 2.8s i saw coming down the a96 last week getting squirlly racing off the round abouts – mint red one without the laser kit and a grey one with it

i loved mine, wish i kept it now cos their fetching silly money
i had a 2.8i four speed, cammed up with a fancy exhaust and a lowering kit in candy apple red with silver sills and it was lovely (for a crapi)
still got the speedo on the mantlepiece

khani,

How did you manage to blow the engine?

😕

Get one!
Got a bus only ever let me down once (starter motor)
Last weekend on the Chase my kind of Park and ride!

Can't see a lancia outlasting a vw in the rust stakes to be honest!

Hmm, Spitfires though.. now you're talking.. the front end almost falls off, and theres a specialist not a million miles away for those 'You did what???' moments of shame in front of a proper mechanic.

Hora, where'd you see the Mexican ones advertised? They might side step a lot of the worst issues, and I might be able to get a decent enough drive to figure out if its for me or not.

That's a beauty Postierich, you must be very very proud! Cracking photo.

But as I said, decent examples are a bit out of my spending power for now, the bathroom needs doing this year!

chewkw – Member
khani,

How did you manage to blow the engine?

i didnt, i brought the other engine to fix it after it went
they were going to newquay from manchester and it just popped on the motorway

Don't confuse transport and toy's I did and ended up with an MG midget, love it to bits on a country b-road hillclimb, the track to the youth hostel on sunday was a cracking example, 2nd and 3rd gear the the whole way up, revs kept up to keep the engine on cam, back end squireling away, and uphill so no wories abotu the pathetic brakes.

But if you get an anoying/big mechanical its an absolute ball ache, I can build a bike from a pile of CRC boxes in 2 hours probably. Car jobs take a lot longer, involve lots more mess and a lot more stress.

If you enjoy spannering as much as you do driving, go for it, if the thought of spending 3 weeks solid with every evening spent under the car replacing the entire brake system becasue 1 hose failed fills you with dread then dont.

mk1 MR2

I have one for sale – great car, v reliable and fun to drive if a little under powered…

been lowered a bit since above to replace the original springs…

driven by my sis

I do like the aesthetics of them, but tell me are they a nightmare to own and live with on a day to day basis? Would I regret getting one?

Yes and Yes.

They're noisy, they're slow, the heaters either freeze or gas you if they're not working properly (which is most of the time), they go rusty, most of them have been owned by at least 5 dippy people with no idea how to run an old car. AND they have a carburettor, which is enemy number 1 of the bloke who doesn't want to spend time servicing his car. And they break down all the bloody time (and yes, there'll be someone who has one that doesn't, but chances are you'll have the one where some chump used silicone sealant instead of a new sump gasket, and you'll only find out when a lump of it blocks an oilway).

I love cars, but I'd own almost anything else instead of a beetle. The thing is, they just aren't very good even when they're perfect.

Seriously, you can run old cars for a giggle, but there are two things you need. Fuel injection and decent rustproofing.
Which takes you down the route of the MK2 Golf or an old sporty Merc / BMW from the 70s-80s, that was dinitroled / ziebarted back in the day.

MK1 MR2s that aren't rusty are beginning to fetch very good money.

If I had to drive a people carrier, I'd be making the second car the sportiest thing I could find.

TBH I'd stick to the MX5 idea.

If you had a bit more cash, the mk3 MR2 is a brilliant handler and really well made.

Christ! Don't buy an MR2! You'll have to grow a 'fashion mullet' and pretend to be a hair dresser stuck in the 80's!

Mate had an old beetle, driving in the winter with the windows down as the bloody thing tried to gas you was great.

Oh it also had a VNE of about 55mph (Velocity not to exceed)when it became even more terrifying. It was that bad I would rather have been in my other mates Metro that was a cut'n'shut and at the end of it's life had been written off 3 times (he used to take it to the very north west of Scotland to have it MOT'd as anywhere else would fail it!)

MX5/Eunos however are fantastic, rarely break and are fab to drive.

It's simples.