When a nasty blizzard racked Detroit early in January, causing airport closings and treacherous driving conditions, our pretty yellow Bug disappeared out of our news editor's driveway. A full afternoon of shoveling huge mounds of snow from the driveway revealed that the Beetle was still there, just buried from roof to wheels under 27 inches of snow.

After rescuing the Beetle from the blizzard, our editor-in-chief hopped aboard for a 500-mile jaunt to the Windy City. He was happy to find that the Beetle's cargo area swallowed three weeks' worth of vacation, work and holiday stuff with no trouble when the rear seats were folded down. He also discovered how easy it was to speed in the car, though the expansive plastic dash rattled and squeaked quite a bit. During the drive to Chicago, he enjoyed a high, firm seat and good driving position, but didn't like the feel of the steering wheel rim against the palm of his hand.

Kudos to VW for installing such a capable diesel engine under the hood. Our editor found that it had more than adequate power for both city and highway driving (except maybe for enthusiasts who should get the 1.8T anyway), and took him from Port Huron, Mich., to Schaumburg, Ill., on only three-quarters of a tank of gas. The nostalgic clatter and grumble of the diesel also reminded him of the old air-cooled Bug.

Complaints about the Beetle included stereo controls that were too small and couldn't be operated with gloves on, washer jets that were woefully inadequate for cleaning such a huge windshield, and netted map pockets that were useless for storing garbage or pens.

The New Beetle brought more attention to our editor than he wanted; a Port Huron gas station attendant even Slug-Bugged him as he was buying washer fluid. He should have picked up some WD-40 while he was there, because later that day the fuel door froze shut and wouldn't open until the car had thawed for 45 minutes in a heated garage.

A first-time New Beetle driver is now housing the vehicle in Chicago's northern suburbs, and he is already smitten with the "cute" Bug. Features that he likes include illuminated switchgear, which makes driving at night more pleasant; the rear window defogger, which stays on until you turn it off rather than automatically shutting off after a few minutes; the CD changer, which works like a charm even in sub-zero weather; and the huge amount of headroom (for the first time in his adult life, a 6-foot-5-inch guy did not have to recline the seat to get comfortable).

He also noticed, however, that the trunk light is on the wrong side to be of any use when trying to operate the CD changer at night, and he worries that the CD changer may get damaged by a loose object rolling around in the trunk and banging into it. On a minus-17-degree day, he noticed that the hatch would not close until the car had warmed up, and the VW logo covering the rear hatch lock fell off when cold air made the foam tape too brittle.

The soft upholstery holds onto lint and hair like a slug, the keyless remote buttons are easy to accidentally depress, cupholders are useless, visors are too short to block sun from the side and the clock goes out frequently in cold weather. His final complaint is that the side mirrors are not the same size and using the passenger side mirror is like trying to see what is behind you in a shiny bottle cap.

Total Odometer Reading: 13,347
Best Fuel Economy: 38.9 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 35.9 mpg
Body Damage: $0
Maintenance Costs: $0
Problems: Chip in the windshield, broken fog light, VW emblem fell off trunk lid.