I have encountered several problems since purchasing my Bug just two weeks ago. First, the drivers side window switch broke, a fairly inexpensive repair. My second discovery is a reluctance for the trunk switch to actually pop the trunk without several attempts. Thirdly, and most disturbing, is the sporadic stretches of my airbag light remaining on. This means the entire system is disabled. My first repair attempt was "attaching a loose connection in the Airbag wiring harness" at a VW dealership using their own diagnostic equipment. Six days later when the problem reoccured, I returned to the dealership which then wrote a $560 repair estimate to replace not only the harness but the airbag itself. I cannot fathom replacing an unused airbag. I also found out from the previous owner that she'd encountered the same problem and had replaced the harness just over a year ago. This is a major safety concern, and obviously is an electrical glitch, defective manufacturing. No warranty covers this late model, low mileage car with a manufactured defect. This seems crazy to me. Buyer Beware! Thanks.

Easiest car to parallel park in the world. Such a cute little car that I can't imagine anyone making fun of.

Could use a little more storage room & the cup holder issue. It could also use a better dome light. It's really dark at night in my car.

I just read all the horror stories that the other "Bug" owners have had and I guess I am pretty lucky. I've had it for a little over a month and it is such a fun car to drive. I went from a 2000 Chevy Tahoe and decided since my kid is now 5 I don't need all the extra storage space for the baby equipment so I down sized. I manage to still fit 2 bowling balls, and my roller blades in the trunk with a little extra room for small shopping trips. My 5 year old and my 12 year old think I am the coolest Mom in the world as I open the moon roof put the windows down and play the music really loud. We have fun looking for other bugs so we can do the "Punch Buggy No Return" game. The little car is quick, it is so easy to park and visits to the gas stations are very far and few in between. This car is a diesel and I think that is even cool. You can't pay at the pump so you get to meet people. The only mechanical problem I see so far is the trunk switch. You do have to pull it several times before it opens. The interiors biggest problem is where the cup holders are located. In this day & age we all supersize our sodas. Where they placed the cup holders is right under the dashboard and it only gives you enough room for a small sized drink. (However, I just found a web sight to order some from. www.drinkholders.com I hope they will work cause I hate putting the drinks between my legs. How did we ever live with out cup holders before? The car could really use a center seat belt in the rear, too. Did they think we would never cram a 3rd person back there? They also only give you one cup holder in the back which gives the kids more reasons to argue. They could easily fix that by adding a pull down console for your arms to rest on or to hold your drink. I guess that will be in the newer models so we will have to upgrade for the luxuries in life. I really love this car right now. I hope it stays that way. I would recommend it to anyone and even my Macho husband loves to drive it over his Ford F150.

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Years ago I drove a Ford Escort and a Chevy Spectrum. I felt like people made fun of me. Now I am the one having all the fun!

Fun, happy lemon car

Service, sales/lease and service

The car has been great, but the service has been horrible, like everyone the truck never opens right, I had a 1999 beetle and traded it up for the 2000 after 10 months (I wanted more options). Boy do I regret that, my lease is now up and I had an idiot at Hunt Club Volkswagen in Ottawa, Canada try to rip me off by hiding the cost of things that need to be fixed on my 2000 beetle that happen to be under warrantee. Needless to say, I walked away from the negotiating table. I just called VW Customer Service to complain, it's like talking to a wall. Personally I don't give a hoot whether they get some fake award or not, all I want is service, honest, straightforward service. After dealing with VW Customer Service, I had to deal with VW Credit; well here's another great service center. Right now my lease is up in 3 weeks, I just wasted my day off sitting around Hunt Club being screwed around by their salespeople, so now I'm stuck with either walking away from this vehicle (but now I have to spend $1,000, because the mechanics at Hunt Club were too stupid to diagnose a clutch problem went I was there 6 months ago, complaining to them about it!!), buying it out (which I know its not worth the $19K CDN buy out). Don't deal with the dealerships in Ottawa they all suck, as so does VW Corporate!! I'll be looking at other products over the next weeks, just so I don't have to deal with dumb, ignorant, people.

turbo-charged engine given excellent acceleration/performance, great handling

no reliability AT ALL! vw certified is a joke!

purchased it in Dec. 01 as a vw certified pre-owned, check engine light went on after driving it for two weeks, replaced mass airflow sensor and temperature sensor by dealer at no charge; one week later it would not start, replaced battery at 23k no charge too; one week later it would not start again due to battery drained again, mechanics can't find what caused the sympton; no mention the cooler indicator flashing all the time; rear hatch would not open every first attempt; gas lid would not open once; sunroof causing huge humming noise while cruising; cassette failed to eject once; too many to list here! I've decided to get rid of it for good so I traded it in for a '03 toyota matrix xrs. Don't buy a bug unless you don't bother visiting dealership often!

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'94 honda del sol-excellent fun car to drive despites it's a two-passengers coupe

They are so Cute! And they are safe cars.

All the nightmare reviews I,ve read. Everything goes wrong with this car. And the Customer Service? Forget it!

Ever since the "new" Beetle has been out, I have wanted one. I'm now looking for a new car and I thought for sure I'd get one. A friend of mine at work has one and says she LOVES it. I must say that after reading these reviews, I'm more than apprehensive. I'm going to be a mom soon and I know the Beetle has gotten great reviews for safety in its class, but I can't (and won't) risk my car braking down when I'm driving my baby around. So, thanks for the info everyone.

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1995 Honda Civic 2-dr, 1992 Honda Civic LX 4-dr, Ford Bronco-a HORRIBLE car

Design: it looks great, functions well, and carries 4 people with ease in comfort. What's more, it does all this while putting a smile on your face whether you are the driver, a passenger, or the person in the next vehicle. :-)

The vestigial trunk. OK, if I need trunk space I'll drive my Odyssey instead. 'nuff said.

First off, I haven't had this car long enough to develop any problems... unless you count the airbag warning light that kept me waiting at the dealership for 2 hours when I came to pick it up. Hmm, maybe not a good sign. Other than that, I cannot comment on reliability (it only has 48 miles on it, total). What I like is the styling, performance, and comfort. This has got to be the most distinctive vehicle on the road. I got the double yellow exterior with lifestyle package (black & yellow leather, sunroof, 17" alloys with color-matched inserts, heated seats, monsoon stereo). This package is a great deal! Check the numbers, it's a giveaway. It is very striking inside, but not to the point of distraction when driving. Speaking of driving - I love the turbo whine, the whoosh-clunk of the spoiler deploying, and the subtle purr of the engine as it propels me down the highway on-ramp. Unbelievable. This is the same engine as in the 1.8T Passat (another vehicle I greatly enjoyed, but which I traded for this bug), but in the lighter bug you can really feel the difference in performance. Incidentally, for those gearheads among you, APR (www.goapr.com) does a $400 ECU upgrade that lifts the 1.8T from a pedestrian 150 HP to a demonic 215 HP. Maybe after the warranty has expired I may try this. Comfort, then: not the quietest cabin, but certainly the most capacious. For a 2-door, access to the rear is unparalleled. I can get my 18 mo daughter and her 4-year old brother into their car seats easier than I could in my old Passat. In this car, I can kneel down in front of them while I secure them, rather than having to lean across the car to do so (my garage layout permits very little access on one side). Note - I am 6'1" tall, and getting into the back is trivial. The front seats do a cool little slide-n-lift out of the way when you pull on the lever, and even a big guy like me can make it past with ease. Incidentally, I can sit in the back, too, without the spinal compression that some reviewers would have you believe is a necessity. My knees fit into the scalloped seat-backs too, so that's not an issue either. Functionally speaking, then, this car is excellent. Let's see how the reliability works out though.

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VW GTI, Honda Civic (2 of them). Last vehicle was a Passat 1.8T (also excellent, but slower).

It's safe, it's small enough to fit into any parking spot.

Do I really need to say anymore? But the unwanted attention from truckers is also a weakness I hadn't mentioned above.

This car is horrible. I hate it!! It was fine for the first 6 months, but it was all downhill from there. My O2 sensor had to be replaced after 6 months (before the recent recall, when it had to be replaced AGAIN) and since then it hasn't been shifting properly. It bucks from reverse into drive (I have to wait until I feel the car buck before I take my foot off the brake) And it won't accelerate on the highway with the AC on when it's hot out (the what the hell good is the AC then?!) Plus it rev's waaay to high and waits waaay too long to shift gears. I've brought it to the dealer at least 5 times complaining of this, but each time they just plug it into the diagnostic machine, and when I'm lucky, they drive it down the block, and then tell me there's nothing wrong with it. Makes me wonder how wide their diagnostic spec's are. But my independent mechanic told me to bring it back pronto, because there was definitely an internal transmission problem. I had him perform a safety check on it, not VW because I don't trust them, because I had to drive to Maryland and was afraid I'd end up stranded on the NJ Turnpike somewhere. If they do finally find a problem with it, I think I'd rather have the independent mechanic fix it rather than VW, so I can sell the damn thing and be done with it! Oh, did I mention that my locks and trunk door like to malfunction as well? That my car drinks oil like a lush? That I've already had to have the windshield replaced? That I drove all the way from Maryland to Massachusetts without the AC on so I wouldn't get run over on the highway, on a 95 degree day? That I've tried 3 different dealerships? That you get no corporate VW response to your complaints? That they never seem to take me seriously when I'm explaining my car's problems, since girls obviously don't knwo what they're talking about when it comes to cars? That my DAD had to go to the dealership with me once in order to get anything accomplished at the first one we took the car to for service? I'm 22 years old for goodness sake! I also test drove a Honda Civic when I was car shopping---I am so sorry that I didn't buy the Honda instead. Once I get rid of this pile of junk, I'm running for the Honda dealership!!

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I drive my boyfriend's 93 Honda Accord sometimes and I love it--why, why didn't I buy the Honda!!!

Nice body style, catches peoples eye.

Factory warranty sucks on it.

Maybe not the best car I have owned but not the worst. I have had to replace the o2 sensor but VW paided for that and I have had some problems with the trunk not opening all the time on the first try but other then these minor things I love the car, ok power and rides nice and handles good.

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PT Crusier

If you are thinking about buying a beelte, do yourself a favor, dont buy it. I have had problems with it since the day I bought it. They only offered a 1 year warranty, and during the period I had an engine failure, the drivers side power window went out, headlights went out, and some of the fuses burned up. After that, I had numerous other problems, and the most annoying one: power window broke on me 4 times, each time cost over $200, and I am currently driving it with the window taped up. I will contact customer service in a minute, but from reading everyone's reviews in this and other sites, seems like Im only going to get more annoyed with it. Anyways, Im looking for a cheap window regulator part to fix it myself, because Im tired of taking it to the store. In sum, DONT BUY IT!

45-50 mpg, good safety rating, beautiful cars..

cruise control on the older one, they are called bugs because they are always covered with them.

We just bought our 2nd Diesel 5 speed Beetle. I became so enamored with my wife's 2001, that we bought another. I will write another review after we have owned them awhile, but it is hard to find fault. My cruise control doesn't work, but I knew that when I bought it. I read the scathing reviews here before I bought them, but had to decide for myself. We both love them.

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Diesel Ford truck?