VW Beetle goes under the Hammond

In today’s Daily Mirror, Richard Hammond takes the new VW Beetle out for a spin. However, if you’re looking a used VW Beetle, VCARS have swarms!

New VW Beetle

New VW Beetle

Hammond says he like the ‘colourful red inserts on the dashboard’ that look very similar to the old air-cooled VW Beetle’s simple metal dashboard before likening the design to the Fiat 500.

In fact, Hammond focusses very much on the style of the 1.4 VW Beetle: “These body-coloured parts – the steering wheel and door cappings are coloured, too – transform the inside of the car, turning it from worthy but dull to somewhere that you’d like to sit. The steering wheel is wrapped in leather with a nice slim-rim and there’s a double glove box just as there was on the original Beetle.”

Away from the colourways, Hammond like the change in dimensions Volkswagen have implemented: “The new design is wider, longer and lower, the 1998 Volkswagen Beetle was based on the MkIV VW Golf and this new car is a bit of a mixture of VW bits and bobs.”

Hammond has mixed thoughts on the new VW Beetle’s performance and practicality “You could go drag racing with a 158bhp air-cooled Beetle but in this heavier 2012 Beetle almost 160bhp only propels you to 62mph in 8.3sec. The Beetle is not ­particularly practical. There’s a square-shaped boot that holds 310 litres of kit and two rear seats that can be split 50/50 and folded down.”

The Volkswagen Beetle 1.4 TSI is a three-door hatch, not cheap at £19,470, with a 1.4-litre four-cylinder, 158bhp, 0-62mph: 8.3sec and runs at 42.8mpg.

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