wanting a new beetle

hello! I'm strongly looking at buying a new beetle as my next vehicle. Could anybody give me a heads up on any problems I should know about and/or what year is most reliable, if possible? Probably aim for 00-02 thanks so much.

by what most sites and thing that do compareison the 02 is the most between those

We have a 2001 1.8L turbo with 66k on the odo. Great little car. The King Ranch Super Crew (large, large truck) sat in the drive way this last week as I had stollen the VW to go on a business trip for over 800 miles, most of it at 80mph. So, I stop and fuel up and was getting 27.8mph at that speed! The Ford sure would not do it. Front seat room is great (I'm 6'2" and 270lb - corn-fed white boy). I've even sat in the rear seat to go a few miles. The trunk is fine and the rear seats fold down. The 1.8t is really a strong motor making this little car quick. Sunvisors suck! About the only thing on this car. The car is my wife and daughters "go around town" car - they leave the Grand Cherokee in the garage. Hope this helps, e-mail me if you want other information.

2001 1.8t, heated seats, sunroof, aftermarket stereo.

Thanks for the information. I've checked a few sites (i.e. autotrader.com) and seems like I might have to find a dealer that can find the type I want. Do they make the turbo in automatic, with leather, sunroof and CD? They almost all seem to be manual these days. And the automatics are lacking some features I want.

DON'T DO IT! i HAVE HAD NOTHING BUT TROUBLES WITH MY 98 BEETLE. rECALLS AND SUCH.

Kyach certainly had hassles with his Beetle - maybe it was a "Monday" car. Under the plastic and steel retro body is a VW Golf and they have a reasonable name for reliability. If I were buying one I'd buy it privately from the original owner who is selling the car for genuine reasons. They would have to provide proof of mileage and servicing plus I'd also eyeball the surroundings in which the car was kept and the person selling it. This way I'd be taking over a car that had been cared for and not just driven as a hack. And I'd be paying about 20% less than the dealers. Remember that in some cases the reason why people sell their cars privately is because they are upgrading or whatever and the trade-in price is way below what they think their car is worth. Plus if they loved their Beetle they want it to go to a good home...so if you see the Beetle and fall in love with it let the seller know...but also stress that the price is 'a little more than I can afford to pay'. Usually they'll say 'well, I want the car to go to someone who appreciates it and seeing as you seem such a nice person I'll let you have for $---' Well, thats the theory and it works for me. Everyone wins. You will need to be flexible in the extras you want. Good Luck. (apologies for the homespun philosophy)

I agree with the guy that said DON'T DO IT!!! Buy a GTI or a Jetta, the beetle is on the same pan as them but a real "Pain In The A__" to work on and all the shops know it. I bought a battery from Auto-Zone who advertises "FREE INSTALL", which was great because I couldn't see how to get the battery out without tipping it sideways. Auto-Zone has two or three cars on a list that they charge to replace the batteries on, YES the Beetle is one of them, they wanted an hour and a half labor to do it $150.00 or so depending on how it went. So I did it myself by tipping the battery on it's side after taking off all the crap around the battery and the power steering pump resevoir. Changing the tail light bulb and headlight bulbs are no walk in the park either. They (VW) made this car a service nightmare so it could look like the old Beetles. Good for initial marketing but bad for long term use!!

JUST MY OPINON,GOOD LUCK :nono:

still looking for a new beetle? I am looking to sell my 2002 1.8T GLS. it has all the options. i learned that this is a limited edition and would really hate to sell it but i need to relocate. my car is in the best condition. it has premium monsoon sounds, six cd changer, power sliding and tilting sunroof, 18" magwheels with orange removable trims, 2 tone heated leather seats, heated side view mirrors, Michelin performance tires, it's dealer maintained, still has dealer warranty til 60,000 miles, it only has 42500 miles on it and according to kelly blue book the average beetle of this age has 62000 miles on it. i wipe the interior with leather conditioner monthly, i wipe the dash and sides on interior all the time, i take it to the carwash often and do undercarriage flush during the winter. please do let me know if you or anybody you know is interested. thanks. by the way, i am located in michigan.