The 2012 VW Beetle
The all-new Beetle is an affordable, reliably entertaining car that gets decent fuel economy and can accommodate the detritus of a young family’s weekend escape. Photo: Courtesy Volkswagen of America.
The 2012 Volkswagen Beetle does not have a bud vase. This is important, because when the New Beetle debuted in 1998, its dashboard featured a small vase for flowers. You could also get wheels shaped like flowers and stick-on eyelashes for the front end. That Beetle was a genuine hit, but how many male buyers did VW lose because of those chick-car connotations? While women will happily purchase a hairy-knuckled troglodyte of a truck, men are reluctant to breach the opposite divide. The moment an average guy sees two of any given car parked outside a Curves is the moment that car gets subconsciously crossed off the shopping list. VW has obviously contemplated this problem, because the 2012 Beetle attempts to drag VW’s retro hatchback toward the middle ground of unisex appeal.
Car companies are typically loath to admit flaws in any strategy they’ve ever pursued, but VW acknowledges that the 1998 Beetle courted women at the expense of men. Its challenge, designwise, was to inject some athleticism into a soft, rounded shape that’s always been essentially cuddly. Physically, that means a wider track and body, a longer hood, a rising shoulder line, and a lower roof. But can an infusion of design machismo reverse the image projected by the million New Beetles already on the road? And if it can’t, should that even matter?
Personally, I don’t believe in the concept of a chick car. But then, I’m a car guy, and car guys tend to view their driving choices through the prism of performance rather than public opinion. If you buy into the notion that cars hold any kind of gender identification, you might arbitrarily deny yourself a great car. I’d be happy to own a Mini Cooper S because it’s a riot to drive, a pint-size, turbocharged BMW. And the same goes for Mazda’s Miata, which has become Hollywood shorthand for a guy who is either effeminate or clueless or both. (See MacGruber.) I care about handling, fuel economy, the shape of the torque curve — not whether some segment of know-nothings on the street would presume I’m driving my wife’s car. Which brings me back to the 2012 Beetle. Although the New Beetle was about as feminized as mainstream cars get, 40 percent of its owners were men. The redesigned car won’t have to swing the pendulum far to accomplish its mission.
To form my own opinion of the bubbly Volkswagen’s gestalt, I packed my wife and offspring, three suitcases, and a stroller into a 2.5L Beetle and set out for the weekend. From behind the wheel, the Beetle feels a lot like a Golf or Jetta, which makes sense because beneath the skin it is a Golf or Jetta: All three cars use the same 170-horsepower 2.5-liter five-cylinder or 200-horsepower 2.0-liter turbo four. So the difference comes down to the styling, and how that styling makes you feel when you’re behind the wheel.
And what I felt was unapologetic. Stylistically, this Beetle tries hard to recall the original tin can while forgetting the more recent model. The 18-inch disc wheels are aluminum but look like steel hubcaps, and the Kaeferfach glove box is a nod to the upright one in the original Beetle. The Earth-friendly crowd who embraced the original Beetle will be excited to learn that the new car’s leather interior harmed no animals, for it is not actual leather — though it fooled me until I read the spec sheet.
The Beetle starts at less than 20 grand; with a navi system, automatic transmission, giant sunroof, and Fender sound system, you’re still under $26,000. That makes it a little more expensive than an equivalent Golf, but the Beetle is still an essentially pragmatic package: an affordable, reliably entertaining car that gets decent fuel economy and can accommodate the detritus of a young family’s weekend escape. Yet, with the roofline and fenders looking flatter and more purposeful, this Beetle has kind of a funhouse-Porsche thing going on; there’s a lot of visual pop for the price.
But will the upgraded styling convince more men to buy one? Perhaps, but you shouldn’t care either way. If your tastes run to five-cylinder motors and retro glove boxes, you should indulge those tastes without a moment’s consideration for the ignoramuses on the street. After all, the Beetle is a machine, not a person. It does not have a gender. Or a bud vase.
Posted by Dania
on 17:35. Filed under