Sister's 2010 VW Beetle. Good first car??

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Don't have pics yet as it's night time here. It's a cream white on white leather interior, 2.5L NA with 6 speed auto. 116k miles with a laundry list of new parts (Fuel pump, cooling fan assembly, , battery, 2 new switchblade remotes). It's very clean and only needs cosmetic touch ups like filling in windshield chips and restoring the headlights. I don't know my way around VWs mechanically speaking but it isn't terribly complicated from what I can see under the hood. I know the expert armchair techs on BITOG like to lambast VW anything when they've never even sat in one, let alone wrench on one.

Only flaw is the trunk release is very stubborn though. The motor will open the latch but it won't actually open all the way. The trunk will just "catch" on something but not open all the way unless you guide it up when the switch is pressed. Hope it's an easy fix. Everything appears it was maintained well before we got it. My younger sister will be the primary driver and I will be maintaining it barring some major issue. It was either this or a Fiat 500. No way I was gonna touch the Fiat. She seems very happy with the Beetle so far.
 
I had an 04' TDI Beetle and my aunt had a 13' TDI Beetle. She gave me the 04' when it was 10 years old. It was a decent car up until the age of 10 but once it hit that point... dual mass flywheel, camshaft, transmission, a/c compressor, electrical stuff etc. were on their last leg. I wouldn't wish one on my worst enemy.

The 13' was bad as it rolled off the show room floor.

For the trunk release, can you open it within a couple seconds? My 04' you had to push the button and react like a ninja to open it, had been like that since new. Otherwise it would time out and be clicked halfway from being totally latched. Also, if it clicks halfway when closing it, don't push it down the rest of the way. Open it again and slam it harder.

I do have to say the 04' handled incredibly. Nice precise steering, as good as one could have wished for. Tons of leg room and head room for the people in the front, honestly the roomiest car I've ever been in. The 13' didn't handle as well and wasn't as comfortable.
 
British mechanic who runs a car-sourcing bizniz here is very scathing about them.

IIRC poor access and plastics that dissolve in the heat.

I see you are in Arizona. Oh wait...Avondale. Dunno where that is.
 
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i dont know about the beetle as i have a 2013 passat, but the same 2.5 liter, non turbo, 5 cylinder engine is a solid performer. for the life of me i will never understand profesional car journalists' collective dislike of the 2.5.
 
It is either this or a Fiat 500? Sounds like a young woman picking a car based on cuteness.
I like VW's, most of them anyways.
I'm going to give you a weird analogy. My parents had 5 children and 4 of them turned out good but 1 didn't. The Beetle represents my younger sister.
 
The problem with the trunk is a spring in the latch on the body that pushes a plate up against the latch in the lid. IIRC I tried new ones with not much success but shortening the original about 1/4" solved it permanently, it pops the lid right open.
Nothing wrong with a Beetle, it uses the same floor pan and engine as the Jetta and Golf. The R spec 2.0T Beetle with 6 spd stick is a real sleeper.
 
Originally Posted by 10WSmuckers
I know the expert armchair techs on BITOG like to lambast VW anything when they've never even sat in one, let alone wrench on one.
That's BITOG. If it ain't a Subaru/Hyundai/Honda/Toyota it's crap.

Old VWs might not be for everyone, but the more recent they are the more they resemble a American/Asian car. If it's been maintained then it should have had whatever common issues they have taken care of, but it is an 8 year old VW in the hands of a girl. 2010 is still the first generation MK4 chassis right? Solid as a rock by 2010!
 
If is equipped with the 09G transmission, I know some of the earlier models had issues with the valve body. Change to transmission fluid and keep it clean and fresh. Other than that I do believe they are fairly solid cars.
 
Originally Posted by maxdustington
That's BITOG. If it ain't a Subaru/Hyundai/Honda/Toyota it's crap.



Must be a different BITOG that you go to. The one I hang out on is forever talking about how Toyota is behind the times and oil burning sludge monsters. Honda uses glass transmissions and Subaru has a litany of problems (head gaskets, oil burning, CVT's). Neither is a good buy new, and worse if only a few years old. Only Hyundai gets a pass.

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Haven't heard much bad about the 2.5 I5, but I don't think it was around for long? Timing chain. Seems like it was a nice upgrade to the much older 2.0 but being of the same mindset: simple and durable. Dunno about the automatic but it'd probably be nice with a 6MT, assuming it wasn't geared like typical North American cars are (high rpms on the highway).
 
There are grunts on here that like to complain about certain car brands. Their posts are repetitious and predictable. It would be nice if these people do a 180 and start to be a little more positive with their posts or not say anything at all. Would they prefer we only have one car brand that makes one car with one engine and trans combination and one color available? Please keep the negativity to yourself. Thank you.
 
Originally Posted by SatinSilver
There are grunts on here ..... Please keep the negativity to yourself.
OK, Cupcake, get ready for reality: There are different views out there! ...

Readers: Post any opinion you want on here. Of course it does help if you can back it up with some kind of evidence, but ignore SatinSilver's lack of openness to free speech and over-sensitivity to any opinion he doesn't like.

About the Beetle, they are very good. They look fun, drive well, and the new ones have a 6-year bumper-to-bumper full warranty!!
I'd check Consumer Reports and JD Powers surveys to see how they rank on quality, both new and used, over a big enough statistical sample for real data on reliability.
 
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Originally Posted by Trav
Nothing wrong with a Beetle, it uses the same floor pan and engine as the Jetta and Golf. The R spec 2.0T Beetle with 6 spd stick is a real sleeper.


+1, esp one in black or navy blue.
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It is a good first car. It does not show up in Consumer Reports used cars to avoid list if reliability is a concern.

The posts about an early 2000's don't apply as much because VW actually refines same generation cars over time and corrects problems.
 
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Originally Posted by supton
Must be a different BITOG that you go to. The one I hang out on is forever talking about how Toyota is behind the times and oil burning sludge monsters. Honda uses glass transmissions and Subaru has a litany of problems (head gaskets, oil burning, CVT's)
Must be BITOG.ca. There was a recent thread that claimed that all of Subaru's problems were fixed a decade ago and they are perfect now. There's a jug of Kool-Aid in the fridge if you are thirsty
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No experience, but I find those video's convincingly off-putting.

The plastics thing will probably apply to any contemporary VW product, and may not be so much an issue in a milder, less polluted climate, but the engine access looks really horrible, and I'd be surprised if it was better with a 5cyl 2.5 engine shoe-horned in there.

The neo-Beetle was, after all, styled to look like a car that didn't have an engine in the front at all, and had a flat-four air cooled in the back.

Matching that constrained layout to an off-the-shelf front engined water cooled FWD seems very likely to sacrifice function to form.
 
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