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Last Monday I was at the 21st century Beetle Launch training. Trainers travel across the country with  semi truck, tents, a LOT of traffic cons, and of course cars.

Some Beetle history: Volkswagen Type 1, also known as Beetle or a Bug holds a few records, such as longest production car, and a few titles, such as Most influential car of the 20th century, Ugliest car ever, etc. Say what you will – this car made history.

In 1994, Volkswagen unveiled the Concept One, a “retro”-themed concept car with a resemblance to the original Beetle.  It was meant to be developed as an electric car, but public reaction was so strong that VW decided to make a production version which was launched as the New Beetle in 1998. With some quality problems in the first years – still the car yet again made history starting a wave of retro cars – PT Cruiser, MINI, and a few American cars that were not as successful – Chevrolet SS and Ford Thunderbird come to mind. The car went only through one facelift going from MK4 to MK5, but it looked the same, save different mirrors and lights.

And now history is about to be made – again.

Here are my (and others) overall impressions of this car: They did with the Beetle what they should have done with Jetta and the Passat. The car looks, feels and drives great – like a modern, 21st century VW should. If you wanted a Sirocco in US – Beetle is your answer. If you are thinking about a GTI, but don’t need much space and 4 doors – you have to check out Beetle Turbo. If you like the new TT, but need a bit more room – you know what I am going to say by now. As someone said it: “It’s a Beetle, not a Bug”.

Let’s talk about looks:

The car is lower, wider, not as bubbly as the New Beetle, and it looks more like the original. Remember that Porsche was built on the original Beetle, so it is natural to see the resemblance. The car looks very proportional, masculine and sporty.

Base models come with steel wheels in a couple of different variations, but they look great on the car:

Door windows are frame-less,only the mirror housing stands out while also serving as a space for a speaker.

Interior:

Exterior paint is seen through interior – doors, dashboard and steering wheel. There are two gloveboxes – a conventional one with the iPod cable inside, and a higher one, more retro-styled with less space inside.

As always – there is plenty of room in the front, a little bit more shoulder room than the old one. Even though the roof line is lower – I can’t imagine anyone not having enough head room. Backseat room is better than the old one, special configuration of the hatchback allows for tall people to have enough head room.

There is more room in the trunk, it is deeper, and rear seats now split 50/50.

Spare is a space saver. With Fender sound system – subwoofer is placed on the right side of the trunk. Unlike the old model – hatchback can be opened by using the logo, just like Golf.

Driving experience:

We got to drive both Beetle 2.5 and Turbo on a slalom course, with no limitation on speed, as long as we stayed withing cones. The comparison drive put Beetle against Fiat 500, Scion tC and MINI S. My guess is that at VW Academy someone decided that they have to have a comparison drive, and then they just randomly picked up some cars, because it is hard to classify the Beetle. I guess MINI would be a comparable car in terms of cross-shopping, but not MINI S, and the other two didn’t make a lot of sense. Fiat 500 is tiny, and it will go against Honda Hit and the like, Scion is about 8″ longer, and MINI S is awesome as it is – should go against GTI, not a Beetle. But we got to try them, and I guess it is good to have some frame of reference.

2.5 is a known powertrain, but it important to mention that Beetle never got the 170 Hp version that Jetta and Golf have – until now. Pair it with a lighter car (2012 Beetle is less than 3,000 lbs., less than Scion tC), stiffer body, wider stance – it was fun to drive, it shifted at the right places, brakes felt fine.

The Turbo version was just a blast. O the second run I put DSG in manual, but didn’t bother to shift it, so it shifted automatically around 7,000 RPM. Turbo comes with the same XDS diffirential that GTI has and electromechanical steering. I will say it again – this car will give a good run for the money to GTI, and any car that tries to compete with it.

More about Turbo: it will be distinguished by side sills, spoiler, 18″ wheels and 2-tone mirror housings. Our pre-production cars didn’t have it, but in later production Turbo will have the performance dials – boost, temperature and a stopwatch:

Stuff:

There will be 3 powertrains: 2.5, 2.0T and TDI. First two will be available with manual, and I am hoping for manual TDI option as well.

Standard options: Bluetooth,  17″ wheels, heated seats, iPod interface.

2.5 with sunroof will include panoramic roof, KESSY, MFI steering wheel, Premium 8 sound and armrest.

2,.5 with sunroof, sound and Nav will add RNS 315, Fender and 18″‘s.

Turbo comes with sport suspension, large disc brakes, 18″ alloy wheels, dual exhaust,, alloy pedals and fog lights.

Sunroof and Sound package will add KESSY, MFI steering wheels, sunroof, Premium 8 with Fender and armrest, and Nav package will add RNS 315 and leather seats.

There are a coulple of Launch versions for Turbo – Black Turbo for pre-order only, and White Turbo which is not available yet.

Here is a video walk-around, I apologize for the wind noise and the length – somehow my memory got full, and it was cut short:

Please feel free to email or call me with specific questions, and I will make more videos once we get our demo cars.