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Road Tests: Long-Term Test
1998 Volkswagen New Beetle
October, 1998
By editors at Edmunds.com
Date Posted 01-01-1999
The New Beetle was a smash-hit during its first month of city life in Detroit, winning many new 'friends' and forcing our news editor, John Clor, to take old friends out for a ride. It seems that the car's appeal is widespread, but is universally loved by small children, who are far too young to have known about the original Beetle. Everywhere, kids look at it as if it were their favorite cartoon character. They point and laugh and squeal with delight, waving and smiling or simply looking in disbelief at the car's bulbous shape.
After 438 miles of city driving (picking up the kids from school, visiting relatives, banking, post office, drug store, video rental, shuttle bus to guitar practice, etc.), the Beetle was able to muster only 38.4 miles per gallon of diesel. The combination of rutted Detroit roads, heavy traffic and steep temperature swings contributed to logging the lowest mileage in months. Later, the Beetle started to see more cross-town freeway driving and our staffer started to notice some problems:
- The soft rubber covering the remote key fob door lock button is fraying
- The color coating on the driver-side interior door pull is chipping
- There is a scuff on the right-front wheel in the alloy finish, as if it had been curbed (Could that be why the Beetle drifts to the left like it is out of alignment? Evening up tire pressure didn't solve the problem)
By Oct. 15 and with 10,391 miles showing on the ticker, it was time to call Vyletel Buick / Isuzu / Volkswagen of Sterling Heights, Mich., to set up an appointment for the Beetle's 10,000-mile service check. VW Service Specialist Patrick Mosher, who was surprisingly friendly and assured our driver that he would need no appointment, said he would:
- Perform the 10,000-mile service
- Code/program the new second set of keys to the ignition/locks
- Repair cruise control
- Check why car drifts to the left
- Check why the driver's seat rocks fore/aft and makes noise as if seat bolts or frame attachments are loose
Pat assured John that they'd get on it right away, put his dealer stamp in the owner's manual, and made sure John and his family had transportation home. The next day after lunch, Pat called to say the Beetle was ready for pickup. Once John was there, Pat explained everything and kindly directed our staffer to the cashier, who pulled the paperwork, said, "No charge, sir" and called for the car to be brought around.
The paperwork revealed that the oil filter, oil and washer fluid for the 10,000-mile service as well as the cost of reprogramming the new set of keys were covered by warranty. The cruise control was indeed fixed, but unlike the story we'd been told in California (that a part was on order to fix it), the technician stated: "Checked ISSI and found cruise was never turned on. Reprogrammed ECU and turned on cruise control." Aha! No part was needed-just somebody smart enough to figure out why it didn't work. And, the tires were rotated and road-tested, which eliminated the car's drift to the left. All this, and they didn't charge us for an unnecessary alignment! What's more, the car was ready in less than a day, the part needed was already ordered and the car was returned clean. And the next day they called to see if John was satisfied with his service. Can this dealer be for real?
The next 10 days saw a mix of city and freeway driving with some highway miles tossed in for good measure. A fill-up revealed the miles per gallon was back up to 40.2, with 10,790 miles on the clock. Other than an $8.25 car wash, our news editor sunk only $37.70 in diesel fuel to cover some 1280 miles of metro Detroit congestion and many family friends have said that for 18 grand, the car's a steal-where can they buy one? So he tells them ... try Vyletel.
Best Fuel Economy: 40.2 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 38.4 mpg
Body Damage: $0
Maintenance Costs: $0
Problems: Waiting for new driver's seat frame to arrive.
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