We welcome an icon to the Management Fleet. Now, if we only knew what to do with it…
[Not a valid template]| Driver's Log | |
|---|---|
| Date acquired: | October 2014 |
| Total kilometres: | 1531 |
| Kilometres this month: | N/A |
| Costs this month: | $0 |
| L/100km this month: | N/A |
Regular readers will know that our long term fleet can vary. Robust and roomy vehicles are often required to lug around the ‘bread and butter bringing-in’ laptops? and camera equipment for those weekly photoshoots, as well as the hairy arses of crankandpiston’s editorial team, hence our time with the Lexus LX 570 for instance. Other times a particularly popular model in the showroom raises questions that cannot be answered with a two or three day test drive, requiring a couple of months for a closer look, a la our Toyota Land Cruiser. Then we have examples from the more luxurious end of the automotive spectrum?– the likes of which our modest budget would barely make a dent? in – for those months we just feel like spoiling ourselves (step forward the Bentley Continental Flying Spur), not to mention the more mainstream models that don’t need 500bhp and Sport Plus to remind us what the thrill of driving is about, much like the Volkswagen Golf GTI.
And then there’s the new VW Beetle, which doesn’t really fall into any of these categories. Fitting crankandpiston’s entire editorial team into the cabin is an activity best left to the imagination, life on the ragged ?edge will be difficult to test with a turbocharged four-cylinder, and? the very fact that this is a Beetle – whose lineage dates back to 1938?– means we don’t have to wonder too long why this model will fly out the showroom. So what, you may be asking, have we got one for?
Simple. Curiosity
When we took the brand new VW Beetle out for a spin back in September, we liked the new looks, its renewed sense of joie de vivre and the way it handled. Problem was, the new ‘sporty’ Beetle immediately drew parallels with the Golf and Scirocco, and it did make us wonder what the Beetle brought to the table that the other two did not. Retro styling certainly, but we wonder if there’s a little more to it than that.
We’re hoping three months with the new third generation model will answer a few questions.
– FULL GALLERY OF SHOTS AVAILABLE HERE – CLICK –
| Volkswagen | Beetle (2015) |
|---|---|
| Engine: | Inline 4cyl / turbocharged intercooled TSI / 1984cc |
| Power: | 207bhp @ 5300rpm |
| Torque: | 206lb ft @ 1700rpm |
| Transmission: | Seven-speed DSG gearbox / front-wheel drive |
| Front suspension: | Strut-type with lower control arms / coil springs / telescopic dampers / 23mm diameter anti-roll bar |
| Rear suspension: | Multilink / coil springs / telescopic dampers / 18mm diameter anti-roll bar |
| Brakes: | Power assisted dual circuit / 12.3 x 1.0in vented (front) / 10.7 x 0.4in solid (rear) / standard all four wheels ABS (three-channel with electronic brake pressure distribution) / ESC |
| Wheels: | 19in x 8J aluminum alloy wheels front and rear |
| Tyres: | 235/40 R19 H all-season front and rear |
| Weight (dry) | 1408kg |
| 0-100kph: | 7.3sec |
| Top speed: | 227kph |
| Price: | $27,200 |
