Beetle or Mini,
Discussion
Not a happy bunny employment wise.
If i change jobs, i could possibly need to get rid of one car a4 b7 avant, and get an shed like an old Zafira or Astra or something, but with the change my wife would absolutely adore a mini or a beetle.
Not my choice, and i doubt i will be in it, but which is better or more reliable.
if i can get by with one car, then i will but if i needtwo buy two, she wants either of these which is better to run/drive?
appreciate thoughts.
If i change jobs, i could possibly need to get rid of one car a4 b7 avant, and get an shed like an old Zafira or Astra or something, but with the change my wife would absolutely adore a mini or a beetle.
Not my choice, and i doubt i will be in it, but which is better or more reliable.
if i can get by with one car, then i will but if i needtwo buy two, she wants either of these which is better to run/drive?
appreciate thoughts.
Assuming you mean modern but not new (I think the Beetle has just been replaced):
Reliability-wise, I doubt there's much between them. "Better" is obviously down to personal opinion. The Beetle is bigger and hence considerably more practical; the MINI is a bit more fun to drive; the Beetle has a better ride;...
Reliability-wise, I doubt there's much between them. "Better" is obviously down to personal opinion. The Beetle is bigger and hence considerably more practical; the MINI is a bit more fun to drive; the Beetle has a better ride;...
If you're expecting to steer it at any point then make sure you sway her towards the Mini.
As said, Beetle is more practical but that's about the only thing it's got going for it! I would suggest going down the 'it's big, you can't see the corners and it'll hard to park' route if your Mrs is your usual prospective Beetle buyer
As said, Beetle is more practical but that's about the only thing it's got going for it! I would suggest going down the 'it's big, you can't see the corners and it'll hard to park' route if your Mrs is your usual prospective Beetle buyer
kambites said:
Assuming you mean modern but not new (I think the Beetle has just been replaced):
Reliability-wise, I doubt there's much between them. "Better" is obviously down to personal opinion. The Beetle is bigger and hence considerably more practical
If we're talking the Beetle that just got replaced: it's bigger alright but no more practical - the interior is mostly taken up by half an acre of dashboard and please don't let anyone take place on the rear bench before shutting the tailgate... Reliability-wise, I doubt there's much between them. "Better" is obviously down to personal opinion. The Beetle is bigger and hence considerably more practical
900T-R said:
kambites said:
Assuming you mean modern but not new (I think the Beetle has just been replaced):
Reliability-wise, I doubt there's much between them. "Better" is obviously down to personal opinion. The Beetle is bigger and hence considerably more practical
If we're talking the Beetle that just got replaced: it's bigger alright but no more practical - the interior is mostly taken up by half an acre of dashboard and please don't let anyone take place on the rear bench before shutting the tailgate... Reliability-wise, I doubt there's much between them. "Better" is obviously down to personal opinion. The Beetle is bigger and hence considerably more practical
kambites said:
The Beetle isn't bad to drive, it's just not much fun (much like everything else based on the mk4 Golf platform).
Admittedly it's been a fair while since I've driven one, but my impression at the time was that it was the worst car I'd ever driven. These days I'm often driving Chinese cars so I might change my mind The Wookie said:
kambites said:
The Beetle isn't bad to drive, it's just not much fun (much like everything else based on the mk4 Golf platform).
Admittedly it's been a fair while since I've driven one, but my impression at the time was that it was the worst car I'd ever driven. These days I'm often driving Chinese cars so I might change my mind kambites said:
The RS is meant to be quite entertaining, but is rather rare.
I've driven one of 3 RSis that eventually came to The Netherlands. It cost as much as a well specced 911 back then (the equivalent of over 100,000 euro) - which sort of explains its rarity. 
Weird old thing - because the seat is placed so far inside the car in relation to the windscreen (and a fair bit lower than in a regular Beetle) it felt like a Touring Car racer. I'd assume it would take some getting used to before feeling confident to place the car correctly on the road when pressing on.
Might be a collectors item now as i don't remeber seeing any for sale anywhere.
900T-R said:
kambites said:
and there's at least a couple of inches more rear legroom.
It's not legroom that's the big problem with these - it's the likeliness of getting your skull fractured when someone closes the tailgate if you're taller than 5' ... kambites said:
Maybe it was broken? To me it just felt like a shopping car - no different to the Golf, Astra, etc. of the era. Certainly not sporty, but not unpleasant to sit on the motorway or pootle round town in either.
It was a fairly new car at the time, so I don't think there was much wrong with it. My lasting memory was of springy, massively gainy steering that had no on-centre stability or feel, lumpy ride and poor body control. Perhaps not terrible, but very poorly tuned. Certainly it felt a lot worse to me than a Mk4 Golf.
Having said that, the biggest problem I had with the one I drove was the 4-speed Auto, absolutely screaming it's nuts off to hit 70, but still glacial.
kambites said:
Yeah, same with the TT. At least you can get an adult in the back of the Beetle to have their skull shattered though, you can't in the MINI.
Well not without a fair bit of coöperation by the front seat passenger, anyway. For short trips it's OK'ish but you wouldn't foist the experience onto one of your clients/your boss/ etc. The Wookie said:
My lasting memory was of springy, massively gainy steering that had no on-centre stability or feel, lumpy ride and poor body control. Perhaps not terrible, but very poorly tuned. Certainly it felt a lot worse to me than a Mk4 Golf.
Exactly, like a mk4 Golf or an Astra. kambites said:
900T-R said:
kambites said:
and there's at least a couple of inches more rear legroom.
It's not legroom that's the big problem with these - it's the likeliness of getting your skull fractured when someone closes the tailgate if you're taller than 5' ... 
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