| car advice (VW Beetle) 21:07 - Jun 14 with 3576 views | Alan_Handsome |
Ok so I'm 40 in a couple of months and to kick start the mid life crisis i've decided to buy a VW Beetle (old one)...yeh i know - how cliched! Anyway i was wondering if anyone had any advice/pointers? I've never bought a car before and i'm not really that in to cars so i'm a bit worried about getting ripped off so would appreciate any advice.
Thanks in advance.
PS: I'm embracing my mid life crisis....buying a beetle, holidaying in ibiza and on the look out for a lady at least 15 years my junior ha ha! |  |
| You can't polish a turd....but you can sprinkle it with glitter! |
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| car advice (VW Beetle) on 21:44 - Jun 14 with 3521 views | MJallday |
are you mad? i mean this in a nice way.
ignoring my own prejudices against VW beetles - they are
* noutoriously unreliable
* finding cheap examples is rare
* uncomfotable, noisy and expensive to run
* parts are expensive
* they are mostly air cooled, so prepare to sit on the side of the road A LOT
* used examples tend to have had a lot of mods / tinkering - so prepare for things not to be "as they should"
basically if you want trouble free motoring and this is your first car purchase (which at 40 i still dont get- but still) - and you want a mid-life crisis car - seriously, go and buy somehting like an
* Mx5
* S2000
* z3/z4
all of which are pretty bullet proof and will give you smiles by the dozen
but for gods sake if you dont know what you are doing, dont buy a beetle
ps fwiw - im 40 next month - im eyeing up the jaguar - much to mrs mjs annoyance |  |
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| car advice (VW Beetle) on 21:49 - Jun 14 with 3511 views | NewcyBlue |
Oil changes. Change the oil regularly. I do it every 6 months on any car I own regardless of age. It really does the car a world of good.
Later Beetles came with 1600 engines, MacPherson struts instead of torsion bars which featured on the earlier Beetles. Rear suspension remained torsion bars, so you may find they have been lowered.
Later Beetles also came with Front disc brakes instead of drums.
Bodywork will be the big problem. Rust happens everywhere on them.
Mechanical and electrical (older Beetles were 6v instead of 12v) should be easy enough to sort.
Bodywork is time and money. |  |
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| car advice (VW Beetle) on 21:51 - Jun 14 with 3500 views | MJallday |
| car advice (VW Beetle) on 21:49 - Jun 14 by NewcyBlue |
Oil changes. Change the oil regularly. I do it every 6 months on any car I own regardless of age. It really does the car a world of good.
Later Beetles came with 1600 engines, MacPherson struts instead of torsion bars which featured on the earlier Beetles. Rear suspension remained torsion bars, so you may find they have been lowered.
Later Beetles also came with Front disc brakes instead of drums.
Bodywork will be the big problem. Rust happens everywhere on them.
Mechanical and electrical (older Beetles were 6v instead of 12v) should be easy enough to sort.
Bodywork is time and money. |
if i recall, the price of them went through the roof a few years ago - lots of yuppies paying silly money?
i think some people did a water cool conversion on them - was the same with the type 2's | |
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| car advice (VW Beetle) on 21:55 - Jun 14 with 3494 views | gerard1947 |
The very first car I bought new was a 1973 VW Beetle, Kasan Red. It came from McNamara Motors in Ipswich and cost me £970. Ten years and 2 kids later it was time to let it go. I sold it to a couple from Harwich who were going to live in Holland. About 5 years ago and 30 years later I saw the car parked in Tesco car park in Ely with a young chap sitting inside. It was pretty much as I remembered it, it hadn't been resprayed and was very much as I sold it. He'd recently bought the car, paying well over the price I'd paid new.
Old Beetles are great little cars with a few weird features. The windscreen wipers are powered from the air in the spare tyre, it's dead easy to run your spare flat. The heater is frighteningly fierce and comes out directly onto the drivers right foot I had to balance a road atlas between my foot and the heater vent to prevent first degree burns. |  | | |
| car advice (VW Beetle) on 21:57 - Jun 14 with 3491 views | NewcyBlue |
| car advice (VW Beetle) on 21:51 - Jun 14 by MJallday |
if i recall, the price of them went through the roof a few years ago - lots of yuppies paying silly money?
i think some people did a water cool conversion on them - was the same with the type 2's |
The air-cooled ones will only give trouble if they aren't being cooled properly. Which is a lot of the time.
The water cool conversions are a fair bit of money if done correctly. | |
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| car advice (VW Beetle) on 22:08 - Jun 14 with 3467 views | Coastalblue |
| car advice (VW Beetle) on 21:44 - Jun 14 by MJallday |
are you mad? i mean this in a nice way.
ignoring my own prejudices against VW beetles - they are
* noutoriously unreliable
* finding cheap examples is rare
* uncomfotable, noisy and expensive to run
* parts are expensive
* they are mostly air cooled, so prepare to sit on the side of the road A LOT
* used examples tend to have had a lot of mods / tinkering - so prepare for things not to be "as they should"
basically if you want trouble free motoring and this is your first car purchase (which at 40 i still dont get- but still) - and you want a mid-life crisis car - seriously, go and buy somehting like an
* Mx5
* S2000
* z3/z4
all of which are pretty bullet proof and will give you smiles by the dozen
but for gods sake if you dont know what you are doing, dont buy a beetle
ps fwiw - im 40 next month - im eyeing up the jaguar - much to mrs mjs annoyance |
I went the Jag route last year, though I hit 50 not 40, but my XF is the best car I've ever owned I think. |  |
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| car advice (VW Beetle) on 22:53 - Jun 14 with 3418 views | Alan_Handsome |
Thanks all for your advice, i'll take it all on board! Really helpful, thanks!!! | |
| You can't polish a turd....but you can sprinkle it with glitter! |
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| car advice (VW Beetle) on 22:55 - Jun 14 with 3417 views | Coastalblue |
| car advice (VW Beetle) on 22:53 - Jun 14 by Alan_Handsome |
Thanks all for your advice, i'll take it all on board! Really helpful, thanks!!! |
If you want a fun, reliable reasonably low cost car that's easy to own and will put a smile on your face I'd agree with MJ above and urge you to try an MX5. They really are fun to drive. | |
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| car advice (VW Beetle) on 23:51 - Jun 14 with 3377 views | Methwoldblue |
| car advice (VW Beetle) on 22:55 - Jun 14 by Coastalblue |
If you want a fun, reliable reasonably low cost car that's easy to own and will put a smile on your face I'd agree with MJ above and urge you to try an MX5. They really are fun to drive. |
An MX5 is a fabulous choice and a great compromise of performance, reliability and economy. If you want to go mad then do what I did and buy an Audi S4 Convertible, 4.2 V8 soundtrack and subtle looks, as mr hammond once said " I don't thing I have ever been in any thing quite as classy as this" |  | | |
| car advice (VW Beetle) on 23:58 - Jun 14 with 3357 views | Methwoldblue |
| car advice (VW Beetle) on 23:51 - Jun 14 by Methwoldblue |
An MX5 is a fabulous choice and a great compromise of performance, reliability and economy. If you want to go mad then do what I did and buy an Audi S4 Convertible, 4.2 V8 soundtrack and subtle looks, as mr hammond once said " I don't thing I have ever been in any thing quite as classy as this" |
Have a 1976 Triumph Stag tucked away too if that might be an alternative too, wonderful noise....... I know Kev B drove a Merc did any town players drive a Stag in those golden days? | | | |
| car advice (VW Beetle) on 00:07 - Jun 15 with 3345 views | Coastalblue |
| car advice (VW Beetle) on 23:58 - Jun 14 by Methwoldblue |
Have a 1976 Triumph Stag tucked away too if that might be an alternative too, wonderful noise....... I know Kev B drove a Merc did any town players drive a Stag in those golden days? |
I seem to remember them turning up with Austin Princess's and the like with big stickers on the side at the ground, what they drove away from there could have been different though I daresay.
Was it the Stag that had head gasket problems? Fine looking cars. I always wanted a Dolomite Sprint when I was younger. | |
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| car advice (VW Beetle) on 08:39 - Jun 15 with 3237 views | EdwardStone |
I used to own some number of Volkswagens back in the day.....biggest single weakness was always the lack of oil storage in the engine....a skinny 4 pints IIRC
So, add an oil cooler to increase capacity or look at an add-on for the sump for the same result
Distressingly thirsty and vague steering/ brakes on the earlier models...feeble lights and starting on the 6 volt pre-1966
Early models had 1200 cc motor, painfully slow, or the 1500cc which could be reasonably brisk...good idea to upgrade the front brakes to discs
Later models were the 1300 and 1600cc "twin port" ...a lot brighter performance, but thirsty. Being a later model they had better brakes lights etc
Slow, noisy, uncomfortable....not really suited for todays road conditions, certainly not as a main vehicle for commuting, esp on fast main roads/ motorways. Local to me there is an annual Bug Show...AA and other breakdown companies put on tons of extra recovery trucks because literally scores of broken down VWs are littering the sides of the roads
It is a 1930s design, and if driven carefully then it will be reliable. But it ain't a modern car
My Solution
Buy a 1950s oval rear screen, up to 1956 I think. Upgrade to a rebuilt 1500 motor with extra oil capacity, add disc brake front beam and 12v elec. Use occasionally, drive carefully...join a VW club
And buy a copy of John Muir's excellent book "How to keep your Volkswagen Alive" to put you into the right Zen headspace to keep rolling
[Post edited 15 Jun 2017 8:41]
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| car advice (VW Beetle) on 08:52 - Jun 15 with 3214 views | MedwayTractor |
Forget beetles, what you want is a meno-porsche. |  |
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| car advice (VW Beetle) on 09:10 - Jun 15 with 3170 views | Swansea_Blue |
Get yourself a VW camper, grow dreads and go full-on retro hippy 
Brother in law has a few classic cars - if you buy a classic expect to spend a lot of money if you're not an absolute car nut and able to do a lot of work on them yourself. Ideally you need somewhere to garage them as well as you probably won't want to spend a mint restoring it and then leaving it out in the road salt all winter.
Go for it though if that's what you want. |  |
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