| VW new beetle
Posted: 5/16/2009 8:38:48 PM | | Anyone know much about these cars? I'm car shopping right now, I found a super cute little '99 beetle, 90,000 km on it (which is pretty low for a '99). It's in nearly perfect condition (a wee scratch on the back near the license plate, the steering wheel has a wee spot were the paint is worn off, the inside door handles have a wee bit of wear on them). It's super fun to drive. The dealership is giving me winter and summer tires for it (which is good as I live in a city where it was snowing yesterday... and well actually there's snow on the ground for 1/2 the year). Only problem is, it's the same price or more as the 2005-2006 cobalts/G5/Echo's I've been looking at. It's close to 9,000 (Canadian dollars, $7,500 US), and pretty much fully loaded. Automatic, air, cruise, power windows, power trunk. About the only thing it doesn't have is a sunroof and a CD player (it does have a casette player). I looked it up in the blue book and it is a wee bit over the blue book value. I really only know one person who knows much about cars (my father) and he keeps giving me contradictory advice and is really confusing me, and I honestly don't know what to do anymore..... | |
|
| VW new beetle
Posted: 5/17/2009 2:13:30 AM | It's a VW Golf with a different body. Straight 4 cylinder is like a rock, 4 cylinder turbo requires premium petrol. They had a recall to replace the power window clips (window would get stuck in the down position - not good in the middle of the winter).
Nobody likes to think of it, but German designed cars have to meet the highest crash standards on the planet - A VW saved my life once.
Enjoy. I'm on my 6th "Vee-Dub" and planning to buy the new CC next year. | |
|
| VW new beetle
Posted: 5/17/2009 9:00:39 AM | | VWs are quality, but not cheap, including maintenance and repairs down the road. The Cobalt is cheaper as you saw, and the repairs will be cheaper too, but they'll likely be more often. It's hard to say if the more frequent but cheaper repairs of the Cobalt will end up more expensive in the long run, a lot has to do with luck and how you use the car. | |
|
| VW new beetle
Posted: 5/17/2009 9:04:05 AM | I had one of the "classic" slug bugs as my first car. I saw in the manual that the max speed was 68mph and you know what? That was as fast as it would go EXACTLY!
So when they released the "new" Beetles. Imagine my reaction when I was tooling down the Florida Turnpike at 75mph and one zipped past me. My world had been turned upside down! | |
|
| VW new beetle
Posted: 5/17/2009 9:49:05 PM | | DO NOT get a 2005 Cobalt. It was the first production year. They have a ton of "Little Problems". The stereo/cd players are screwy, the door latches are screwy, the doors can freeze shut in winter if left outside. My mom had one, and the first year it was in the shop for all of these little problems because it was under warrenty, but after three stereos, and the corporate engineers inspecting it(and replacing the door latches so they wouldn't freeze into open position in the winter), the doors still froze shut and the stereo was still wonky. Plus you can't jumpstart it or use it to jump start a car w/out a fire risk? If you can figure out by just popping the hood how to jumpstart it. But it did drive ok in the snow.............. The newer ones are much better, just be careful and research. Good luck car hunting. | |
|
| VW new beetle
Posted: 5/17/2009 10:03:54 PM | That's the classic car buying dilemma. I personally like buying 10 year old, 1-owner cars with less than 100,000 miles (isn't that like 165,ooo km?)
If you have the cash it may be a good deal, but I wouldn't borrow a nickel for it. It's a 10 year old car, after all, and I don't trust dealers where odometers are concerned. Do a Carfax on it. | |
|
Home
login 
