Beetle me Baby

[overrun]

Sorry for the delay folks, had a few things to do after collection of said Beetle. I met my former colleague at Watford Junction this morning. History file, V5C, keys and money were exchanged and off I drove.

 

First impressions?

 

It is a comfy car to drive, nice light clutch and decent gear change. Decent brakes and it all trundles along quite happily

 

What needs doing?

 

Electric mirror switch for the passenger side is none-operational, it is adjusted perfectly so I won't bother. The drivers side one works just dandy.

 

The stereo display doesn't, errr, display but it all works just great otherwise.

 

The interior is a bit grubby but will clean up fine. The firm plastic top section of the door panel has been marked due to rings/jewellery. Have to have a think about that.

 

The N/S sill is dented. Shallow dings here and there.

 

The rear light units weren't sitting in the recess properly so I have fixed that by undoing the knob inside the boot and repositioning. The N/S is perfect, the O/S is 99.9% perfect but won't sit fully due to that panel being a little out of alignment. I will have a better look soon.

 

That's it so far. Love the car and am really pleased that I finally have one. 

 

My advice? Get one. They are actually rather pleasant.

Nice one.

 

I have nowt against them. I have done a few jobs on my cousins admittedly gutless 1.6 version, but I do like the drive.

And the deep dashboard

And the crazy headroom

And the very well executed retro styling - looks possibly rear engined

And the teeny tiny rev counter

 

Enjoy!

[babydriver]

I want one for the colour of the dash lights, a lovely hue of red and blue. I used to work for Gilbert Lawton in the valet department and used to get these ready for delivery. Hated the left hookers, made me feel claustrophobic for some reason, The rhd beetle and the 1.4 lupo was my fave. Lupo could fly and the GTI version, WOW.

Well bought. I am jealous.

[purplebargeken]

Seeing tons of these locally. Mostly the cabriolet versions. There is a sliver one parked in our road too.

[Taff]

Hmmm. Here I am, the very embodiment of macho and yet strangely drawn. How thirsty is it, please?

[Hertz]

I'm going to sound like Sid the Sexist here but come on this is a proper Flat Cocks car. Mrs Hertz loves her convertible one but I just cringe whenever I have to drive it.

 

The complete opposite of the Yorkie bar for cars whatever that might be.

[purplebargeken]

Doesn't seem that thirsty to be honest. I don't drive like an old fart and it has been pretty good.

 

The floppy top one might be but the saloon isn't deserving of such a label - honest 

[purplebargeken]

Now I own something vaguely modern (the i10 doesn't count), I guess it might be entertaining to consider a code reader. Have been thinking of one for a while. 

 

Needs to be pretty reasonable price-wise, VAG friendly but maybe ok for use on other things just in case?

 

Can spend maybe 50 quid. Is it possible to get such a thing that would actually be useful? Oh, and easy to use. 

[Jim Bell]

If it's obd2, they're about a tenner on EBay.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=301487321781

 

I have summat similar and it does the job.

[purplebargeken]

Cheers Mr. Peas, I'll have a look on the Bay of E shortly. Tis about time I learneded how to use one of these things. 

[purplebargeken]

Went for a run over to St. Albans in The Beetle. Loved it. Car drove like a complete honey. Whilst Ben went into the St. Albans Roman museum to 'risk assess' it prior to a school trip, I cleaned the glass bits of the car. They were filthy. I was so pleased that I fitted the Autoshite sticker and an Ace Cafe sticker. The car is truly mine now. 

 

I took it over to my steam engine owning mate who was impressed with it and reckoned I had quite the bargain.

 

Sunroof open, radio 4 playing, sunshine and a balmy 7 degrees on the outside temp sensor. I am living the life. 

 

This really is my current 'fave car'.

[purplebargeken]

Visit to the breakers in Hertford saw all of my Beetle needs met for 20 quid. Whoohoo. I haz pleased face. 

[Pillock]

You can use a standard OBD2 reader on VAG, it'll handle faults fine.

 

VAGCOM (or a cheap fake version of) is only needed if you want to dick around with features, like you can turn on DRL or activate anti-hijack locks or whatever. It'll also sometimes give you more precise fault codes but generic stuff is usually fine for most.