VW Beetle Questions

[ArmyCop]

Question about the front wheel drive. Is it only one of the two that actually pull or both?

Thanks in advance.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[matiki]

Question about the front wheel drive. Is it only one of the two that actually pull or both?

Thanks in advance.

It has an open differential and two different length cv shafts. The majority of power will be to one wheel, and if either wheel slips, it will send power to the slipping wheel. Hope this answers your ??

[Erich]

You must be talking about one of those newfangled things with the engines in the front . . . the Beetles that I know about have rear wheel drive.

[SIXTO]

You must be talking about one of those newfangled things with the engines in the front . . . the Beetles that I know about have rear wheel drive.

Yup... I always thought everything was in the back of the real beetles.

[AZ Husker]

How are you going to make a Scoobie-Doo dune buggy out of one of those new fangled copies?

[Stetson]

My wife and I bought my son a beetle for his first car.He wanted to learn how to drive a standard so we got him a 5 speed and off we went for next six months.He's had it going on 5 years and we've spent $4000 on maintenance
which is normal.I don't like how VW has 60,000 mile tune up which ends up
costing $1200 and there is NO WAY to cut it down!Headlights are impossible to
change anywhere except the dealership.They treat you good on that .Gas mileage is respectable at 25-30.Plus they are a hoot to drive!

[ghost tracker]

Original (air-cooled) Bugs were designed to be low-cost, easily-repaired, basic transportation. I've owned 13 of them (I think) over the years. The New Beetle is a modified (re-bodied) front engined, front wheel drive chassis shared with the VW Golf, Jetta & Audi TT with exterior styling meant to "remind" us of the original's exterior lines. While the new model is a MUCH more modern, capable & sophisticated automobile...I kinda' miss the lawn mower-like simplicity and anvil durability of the old Bug. But the days of a car that the owner could repair on the side of the road with only a pair of Channel Locks and a bobby pin are long gone! And setting spark plug gap with a paper clip is a lost art...

Maybe I can find an old Bug in the Classifieds. A $6 replacement headlamp sounds kinda' good right now.

[Erich]

When I was 10 years old, my summer chore was to rebuild the engine on a 1966 beater Bug that Dad had bought. It was fun, and using The Idiot's Guide (the original Idiot's Guide, not those stupid yellow books that are everywhere nowadays), I was able to do it. I've always had a fond place in my heart for the old Porsche-designed air-cooled engine.

The modern VWs? You can keep them. We had a 2002 Jetta TDI that we bought new that continually had electrical problems. After the car got out of warranty, they started getting expensive. Plus, the cars seem designed to require expensive maintenance (and no one around here works on the diesel VWs but the dealer) every couple of years. The car was paid off early and traded-in in '06.

[ArmyCop]

Answered my question. I like the limited slip feature.

[snakatack]

Because you can't fit any type of tire chains on a new beetle, (lack clearance on the inside of the wheels) They're kinda worthless in my neck of the woods.