Reviewing 07 Beetle I traded

I traded in my 07 Beetle and I wanted to comment on it as advice for anyone interested in a future purchase. 2.5L 5spd manual blue with light gray interior. First, I'm 6' tall and I could never get my knees in a comfortable position. Every rock chip in the front bumper would lead to a 6" or larger area of the paint to peel. No problems with the chips on the hood. Got the code for the air-pump problem. For some reason the air-pump is put together with rivets that like to loosen and open up the pump. It has to be pulled and screws used to replace the rivets. My daughter pushed the passenger seat down onto an empty water bottle and it didn't latch down all the way. With her weight in the seat after we started going, two air bag lights came on. I stopped the car, removed the water bottle so that the seat latched, turned the car off and on and one of the lights went out. The other never did. Some other forum I went to said that light doesn't auto reset, you have to pay someone to hook up a computer to do it. I tried 6 different brands/types/prices of headlights, but could never get more than 20,000 miles out of them. What bothered me most was the gearing. At 70 mph (expressway speed limit near me) my Expedition, Escape and Sable all tach @ 2,000 rpms. That thing was up at 3,100 rpm. It drove me crazy thinking of how much better gas mileage I could have gotten. My 98 Sable with the 3.0L Duratec V6 was getting 30 mpg. Using every trick in the book, I could never get more than 32 out of the beetle. I'm guessing they thought it should be designed for outside the U.S. in places where people don't go over 45 mph. There were more than a few occasions where it needed to carry 5 people, put another seatbelt in for those skinny people, comfort isn't always necessary. I bought it on the spur of the moment with no research out of nostaglia, the Mustang I was going to get was already sold. When I was in the Marine Corps, one of our Top Sergeants daughter was away at school and he let us use her 68 Beetle all the time. Great memories where created because of that old bug. If I get another, it will probably be for my daughter, be a convertible and have a proper transmission. I'm already an expert at changing the headlight bulbs.

I understand your frustration with the New Beetle. It is a quirky vehicle and not as straight forward as most on the road. I have a 2000 GLS 2.0 5-speed that I've had since new and have had many ups and downs. Luckily I'm mechanically inclined and can fix just about anything(It's a curse). With 93,000 on the clock we still are attached at the hip and moving forward. New Beetles or VW's for that matter are not for everyone. If you want a simple, understandable vehicle it's not here. Buy GM or Ford vehicles. They are simple.
Franco

Another quirky thing that "bug"ged me was the radio. I'd be listening to AM for traffic and when I switch to FM the volume would blast away. Turn it down and later go back to AM and couldn't hear it. Definitely got in the habit of turning it down before switching to FM. If you don't complain, no one will make any changes. I think I'll send this all to VW, just to see if I get a response.