Volkswagen’s New Beetle Is Finally Growing Its Own Following

Brendan McAleer

Volkswagen’s retro-inspired ID.Buzz has, for the most part, been hailed as a success by the critics. The only real problem, and it is one that’s hard to ignore, is that it’s quite expensive ($61K to start). No one seems bothered by the application of 1960s Microbus vibes to an electric van, because why not? A little throwback charm goes a long way, no matter what the powertrain might be—it’s why the Plymouth Prowler landed on the 2024 Bull Market List. And speaking of Volkswagens with a little cosplay-classic flair, it might be past time for the New Beetle to get its due.

First shown in concept form at the 1994 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the New Beetle arrived just in time to catch a wave of nostalgia and surf it all the way to sales success. Makes sense: the car was designed in California, after all, the initial Concept One a collaboration between J Mays and Freeman Thomas. The production car arrived in 1997, same as the Prowler, and in 1999, VW managed to sell more than 160,000 of them.

New Beetle in Atlanta yellow
Volkswagen AG

Not bad for a Mk IV Golf in a Halloween costume. The New Beetle was front-engined, front-wheel-drive, and unconventionally proportioned inside as a result of draping that three-circles body over a hatchback chassis. Four people could have a picnic on the dashboard acreage, and the back seats were cramped because of the sloping rear glass. But it was cute-looking and fun, and if the vase by the steering wheel seemed a bit Woodstock ’99, at least there was more joy here than in driving a beige Corolla.

More than a decade after the New Beetle left showrooms, it’s starting to become a choice for younger enthusiasts. You can’t really compare it to the air-cooled original, as it’ll never have the same breadth or depth of a fanbase, but there is a little overlap going on. The New Beetle is an inexpensive used proposition, has a ready supply of spare and aftermarket parts (thanks, Golf), and owners get to participate in Volkswagen enthusiasm as a whole. Also, exactly because it’s such a whimsically adorable design, seeing a modified New Beetle can’t help but put a smile on your face.

New Beetle Morgan front three quarter off road
Sydney Morgan

Take Sydney Morgan’s baja-look New Beetle, fitted out with F-150 shocks, Jeep springs, and 29” BFGoodrich KO2 all-terrain tires. It’s sitting six inches higher than stock, the clearance needed to get down her forest access road driveway, and also out to explore the wilder places of Vancouver Island, where she lives.

New Beetle Morgan off road forest
Sydney Morgan

This thing, dubbed Casper The Offroad Friendly Ghost, is hilariously good. It’s also a textbook budding car enthusiast backstory. After earning her degree in surface design in the U.K., Morgan returned to Canada and initially ended up with a typical Honda Civic. The Beetle came later, and lifting it was part of a project done with her father, a forty-year automotive mechanic. Having previously had not much interest in cars despite her father’s work, she turned the wrenches herself, growing to love the experience of building something unique. As she currently works designing custom graphics for M2 Graphix, a vehicle wrap company, there’s more to come for this tough little New Beetle.

“My favorite trip I’ve done with it is actually a recent one,” she says, “The Pacific Marine Circle Route, a 289km circular route that brings you through Goldstream Park, Duncan, Lake Cowichan, Renfrew, along the east coast of Vancouver Island, Sooke, and ending back in Langford. There’s a breathtaking banked chicane under a rocky cliff on Pacific Marine Road that had my jaw on the floor. Last weekend I had a putter up some logging roads in a recreational area near Sooke and plan on exploring that next, and hope to do explore north of Campbell River this summer.”

New Beetle Briggeman front three quarter red vertical
Colin Briggeman

For a more conventional tarmac performance-oriented build, look no further than Colin Briggeman’s Snap Orange VR6-swap. He bought a donor 2004 VW GLi with a 2.8-liter VR6 and a six-speed manual, and stuffed it into the nose of the New Beetle, finishing things off with coilovers and spacers. It has a bit of the feel of the old EMPI “Inch Pincher” VW Beetle from the 1960s.

While initially introduced with a couple of modestly-powered engine offerings, including a low-powered diesel, Volkswagen itself did offer a little more performance as the New Beetle aged. Memorably, to introduce the new availability of the 1.8-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, Volkswagen created an ad campaign around a fictional element called Turbonium. As this was the dawn of the dot-com era, there was even a whole website dedicated to it.

And the VR6 did appear in the New Beetle in a singular application, in the most collectible version: the RSi. These are pretty wild machines, filled with carbon-fiber parts, widebody styling, fixed-back seats, and the first introduction of the VW’s 3.2-liter twenty-four valve VR6. You can’t quite import these to the U.S. yet, as all 250 of them were built between 2001 and 2006, but there are a few in Canada, and they are very special machines indeed. This example belongs to the founder of HPA in Langley, BC, a VW specialist that made its name building VR6-powered New Beetle sleepers, including some ridiculously quick twin-turbocharged variants.

You don’t need to go fast to have a good New Beetle story. When Stephen Sunderland met his now-wife, she was driving a 2001 New Beetle with the turbodiesel engine. Together, they drove to Southern California, the Alberta badlands with two kids in car seats in the back, and on camping trips. On one of those trips, Sunderland pushed the car’s capacity to its limits.

New Beetle Sunderland side wide
Stephen Sunderland

“I loaded a folding table, two camp chairs, a six-person tent, an eight-foot easy-up shelter,” Sunderland says, “A camp stove, camp bbq, 20 lb propane tank, full-size cooler, some food, pillows, blankets, air mattress and pump, and some clothes in 2 separate bags and likely a few things I’ve forgotten. The elderly couple in the campsite behind us had to come over and compliment how it looked like a clown car. Just couldn’t believe stuff was still coming out.”

That car is now long gone, replaced by first a Passat and Touareg, and then VW’s followup to the New Beetle, the slightly more serious next-generation car it simply called Beetle. Sunderland’s is a cherry-red turbo model.

New Beetle Sunderland side
Stephen Sunderland

But tucked away in the back of family photos, the silver New Beetle will be fondly remembered the way you would an old pet. Or for Briggeman’s orange machine, it’s an accessible show car that defines built-not-bought. Morgan’s scrappy VW in hiking boots opened up new enthusiasm and bumpy paths to adventure.

The New Beetle was never going to replace the original air-cooled VeeDub Bug. Happily, though, it has stuck around long enough to establish its own thing.

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Comments

    Like it or not, the New Beetle is certainly an icon for the new millennium along with that a great platform with lots of potential

    Hopefully, VW can bring back the Beetle perhaps as an EV hot hatch

    My favorite new Beetle experience was seeing one at a PA Turnpike rest stop with an ATV strapped to the roof. They were using the Beetle to transport the ATV and simply drove the ATV up onto the roof from the back.
    It looked top heavy, particularly for the very twisty PA Turnpike.

    Best of the best.
    I own a 2002 turbo s Silver I will keep it forever Has 40010+ Miles and still running the best. Love this car

    I’m sorry you fell for all those AI generated videos. There will not be a new beetle for 2025 or the foreseeable future. Such a shame that the Internet is littered with computer generated trash. There ought to be a law.

    The new Buzz was a great idea cashing in on the iconic old bus, but who are going to pay over 60k to have that experience except the trendos who’ll buy it for the novelty & then 6 months down the road realize the EV idea is just too inefficient for everyday use.

    Love my VR Beetle.. Its my track car.. VW should have put the VR in the Turbo S.. would have made things much much cooler.

    Owned 1962 bug,1964 bug, 1973 supper beetle, 2013 turbo beetle. Waiting for the 2025 turbo. I did peek at the New Karma Gia. Very Beautiful 😍

    Born in 69″, my parents weren’t part of the Woodstock set, but that 60s vibe took hold. As a kid fantasizing you could drive a ‘Bug’ because it was small, by the time I reached licensure at 16 production had stopped. That childhood dream was rekindled in 97″ when “The New Beetle” was reborn. 1999 was my FIRST New Beetle was white (I waited for the antilock brakes and sunroof). Rolled the lease over to a red Turbo-S, which i kicked myself for not keeping for 2008 GTI. When they announced the New Beetle was ending its run in 2019, my 49yr old self decided I still had one more Beetle still in me, I went for broke, and made my last payment in Dec on a ‘Sandstone’ metallic Beetle Dune. When she’s clean, and the guy I the Escalade pulls along side and nods in affirmation, I KNOW I made the right call.

    This car has always had a following thanks to it’s retro looks. It still continues today. My favorite are the big winged 911 Turbo-ish style turbo cars. Surprisingly quick and fun. If you are tall nothing is roomier than a new Beetle.

    the air cooled beetles, fun little cars one exception being the heaters, using one in the Midwest in winter was a challenge trying to keep warm and defrosting the windshield, when the oil embargo happened in the seventies, I was offered lots of money for my 67 VW, I turn them down.

    I have always loved them had 1973 1303 beetle fun to drive but in the winter it’s a challenge to keep warm 😂
    Sold it and moved on to the new shape beetle bought my wife 2000, 2 liter engine love it nice and warm air conditioning all the mods.
    Now we three of them very special the first kne is V5 engine the second one is V5 pickup converted and the last but not least RSI which is my favourite very special and beautiful in every way 😉.

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