Forget what the TV commercials say about the inherent strength of the arch. The radically curvilinear roofline of Volkswagen's New Beetle didn't make any particular sense when it was introduced in 1998, and it still doesn't, beyond the fact that, stylistically, it tracks the original Beetle while providing all the front-seat headroom a couple of pituitary giants partial to top hats could ever ask for. So less is the pity that VW takes the New Beetle roof and hacks it off to make the 2003 New Beetle convertible. With roof up, its shape closely reflects the classic Beetle form. Top down, it looks even better--as handsome, competent, and well finished a four-seat convertible as we can think of at the price, a comparatively modest $20,450. Thanks to clever German engineering, it's a perfectly acceptable daily-driving substitute for a hardtop.
Surprisingly, given the anticipation awaiting the New Beetle convertible, VW only ever sold 331,000 of its original Beetle convertibles between 1949 and 1980, a minute fraction of total old Beetle production (closing in on 22 million) and half as many as the lately departed Golf Cabrio notched in fewer years. But the Beetle convertible has a special emotional resonance to anyone older than thirty. And the New Beetle convertible, late to market though it may seem, turns out, like its metal-roofed relation, to be quite a good car. Which is why VW says it hopes to sell 30,000 in the United States alone this year. (That's a 50 percent spike in New Beetle sales.)
Performance? First, the good news: The New Beetle has good throttle tip-in. Setting off from traffic lights, it feels quick. Now the bad news: It isn't. Available initially only with VW's long-serving 2.0-liter four and its humble allotment of 115 horsepower, it runs out of huff well before it reaches its 6000 rpm limit, whether the five-speed manual or a new six-speed automatic is specified.... Read full article