The New Beetle has been around for several years now, and except for the classic shape, it’s not the Beetle of old. Unlike its ancestor, this New Beetle is conventional, modern and sophisticated. It has all of the bells and whistles of other current models, the performance and handling of a conventional front-wheel-drive car, and is still cute. One thing it does share with the original Beetle is popularity. The New Beetle sells quite well, and more and more of them are on the road. From baseline GL models to top-of-the-line turbo Cabriolets, there are versions to fit any desire. This article will focus on the various maintenance quirks that relate to the unique design of the body.

The basic vehicle layout is the same as the Golf and Jetta. Actually, the New Beetle chassis was here before the Series IV cars. The design is very conventional, with a strut suspension in front, and coil springs with separate shocks for the rear axle. The brakes are huge for the vehicle. They’re equipped with 4-wheel disc brakes and most have ABS as standard equipment. Engines and

transmissions are VW standard units - 2.0L gas, 1.9L TDI and 1.8L turbo models. Be sure to always check for engine codes before ordering parts (see Figure 1), as there are many running changes that are not necessarily along model year lines. There are different versions of each of these engines and some parts do not interchange among them. ...