1998 Volkswagen Beetle-New

My wife was always a fan of the original beetle but having been a VW mechanic several years ago, I told her it would be insane to buy one of those underpowered things in this day and age. When the new beetle came out in 1998, I bought her one for her birthday. When she walked into the garage and saw the little red car with the big yellow bow on it, she couldn't stop screaming for about 5 minutes. It was the second one to be delivered in San Antonio. Everywhere we took it, people would comment on it and stare. She absolutely loves that car even now as it is approaching 100,000 miles on the odometer. It has been fairly good on maintenance but there have also been a few nagging problems. When the oil is changed, you have to make sure they replace the washer behind the drain plug or it will very likely leak oil on the garage floor. This has happened about 4 times over the past 8 years and we have given up on taking it to the quick change oil places. It either goes to a VW garage or to a trusted mechanic for oil changes. Also, one quick change place tightened the plug too much and stripped the threads. This required expensive replacement of the oil pan. The electric motors that control front side windows needed to be replaced. Both failed while the windows were down, of course, which meant that it could not be locked or parked out in the weather until it was fixed. The battery has been changed several times. The last time, I replaced it myself. You have to turn the battery on one end to get it out. When the headlight bulbs burn out, it is a major job to replace them. I will never replace another one myself. Next time I will pay someone else to do it. Many of the parts under the hood are cheap plastic and they break easily. The fittings on the vacuum hoses will break, the check engine light comes on and the car starts running like crap. There is a fiberglass pan under the front end (not sure why). It broke loose and started dragging on the highway so we replaced it. When this happened the second time, I ripped it off and threw it out. The new beetle can't be towed on a hook. You have to make sure they send truck with flat bed to crank it up on. This of course is common with a lot of cars. The covering on the door pull handles wore off in about a year. Maybe some day I will have some leather ones installed.

As you can see, it does have some problems but it is a fun car and I would at least consider buying another one.