Jalopnik calls out on Katwalk!

Kat lives near me and say what you will about the car. She drives it like a woman on a mission.
 
Do you realize 12.4 is slower than the PRIUS? Amazing.
Prius moves very quickly early on...once it nears highway speeds it starts to become very slow. I'm actually surprised the new Beetle is that slow...I honestly thought the 2.7L Dodge Magnum was the slowest thing in the world but that's only 11.7s.
 
Damn 0-60 in 12.4 seconds?? That is so slow its unsafe.

Hardly. Many people think they need good acceleration for everyday driving, but it simply isn't true. The most commonly quoted problem is pulling onto interstates. People think they need to be at full speed when they enter the interstate...I can't tell you how scared have I been in the past with inexperienced (read: girl) drivers doing this. They slam on the throttle to reach 70mph, but don't bother to check their mirrors, so as soon as we reach the interstate they realize there is a huge truck just inches away, and the driver (of the car) has to slam on the brakes to let the truck pass.

In what other cases do you need massive acceleration? On country roads people no long overtake others. On the interstate everyone is going pretty much the same speed (with few exceptions). So why do you need acceleration? ...except for fun and thrills.
 
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In what other cases do you need massive acceleration? On country roads people no long overtake others. On the interstate everyone is going pretty much the same speed (with few exceptions). So why do you need acceleration? ...except for fun and thrills.

Believe it or not I have done this before in a "man" moment. 0-60 might be awful but anything that is not a stop to 60 isn't.


Also, after searching the only place I can find that says the 0-60 time for my car says:


Depends on powertrain. The 2.0-liter hatchbacks are peppy enough with manual transmission, sluggish with automatic--VW says about 10.2 sec 0-60 mph. Heavier 2.0 convertibles feel slow with either transmission--VW says 11.4 sec 0-60 with manual, 11.8 with automatic.

http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/2003-volkswagen-new-beetle-1.htm

After 5 different search phrases all I can figure out is no one tests the automatic and no one can agree on the manual.
 
And yet it is still better than a camry which is a picture of beige. :lol:

The real reason men hate my car is the majority of you car too insecure to be seen in one. Honestly if you are such a man I have no interest in dating you, so the car is handy to weed you out. :p

Nah it's not that. I'm indeed secure enough to be seen driving around in a mobile bathtub retrostyled to look like something from the 50's, only slower and forgetting the RWD layout and quirky characteristics. It's just that .. well, I WILL NOT. :lol:
 
Believe it or not I have done this before in a "man" moment. 0-60 might be awful but anything that is not a stop to 60 isn't.


Also, after searching the only place I can find that says the 0-60 time for my car says:


Depends on powertrain. The 2.0-liter hatchbacks are peppy enough with manual transmission, sluggish with automatic--VW says about 10.2 sec 0-60 mph. Heavier 2.0 convertibles feel slow with either transmission--VW says 11.4 sec 0-60 with manual, 11.8 with automatic.

http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/2003-volkswagen-new-beetle-1.htm

After 5 different search phrases all I can figure out is no one tests the automatic and no one can agree on the manual.

Well, the current 2.0 Manual takes 10.9 seconds according to vw themselves.

12.9s for the Slushbox
 
Hardly. Many people think they need good acceleration for everyday driving, but it simply isn't true. The most commonly quoted problem is pulling onto interstates. People think they need to be at full speed when they enter the interstate...I can't tell you how scared have I been in the past with inexperienced (read: girl) drivers doing this. They slam on the throttle to reach 70mph, but don't bother to check their mirrors, so as soon as we reach the interstate they realize there is a huge truck just inches away, and the driver (of the car) has to slam on the brakes to let the truck pass.

In what other cases do you need massive acceleration? On country roads people no long overtake others. On the interstate everyone is going pretty much the same speed (with few exceptions). So why do you need acceleration? ...except for fun and thrills.

You don't drive much in heavy traffic I take it? It is very useful to have good pick up in traffic around these here parts that is if you want to be able to overtake people at all. Cars tend to run tightly together and people go to great lengths to not let you in so having a quick burst of accell to get into an opening is very useful.
 
FYI, many men who are smooth with women have little interest in fast cars, mainly because they are too busy getting it on with women :lol:

Uhhh.... I can only speak for myself here, but I'm all set in the "getting it on" department and yet I still love racing.
 
There is only one reason i did not mention the new beetle over in the "worst car you've ever driven" thread: It has a Golf chassis, which is close to perfect for a compact FWD car and i drove the TDI, which produces quite a lot of power and torque, so it was not completely useless.
It still is beyond my understanding why anyone would want to buy a car as fake as that (and why VW stopped making the much-better Golf Convertible in favour of the Beetle convertible and the Eos). Starting from the fact that it's almost impossible to parallel park the car because you see even less of where your car ends (and the other car begins) than in the original Bettle, not even mentioning the fact that it offers about a third less space inside than the Golf it is based on, what really pissed me off most is the impression of raw metal on the inside of the doors, which, of course, in fact is plastic. I found an image of a Beetle in an appropriate color that displays the non-metal parts of the inside quite well:
2007-volkswagen-new-beetle-interior.jpg


As to why it's so slow from naught to sixty: It has even worse aerodynamics than the original Beetle cause it was designed with nothing but cuteness in mind. I bet a same-engined Golf would outperform it even with extra weight added to bring it up to Beetle convertible-overweight.
 
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Hardly. Many people think they need good acceleration for everyday driving, but it simply isn't true. The most commonly quoted problem is pulling onto interstates. People think they need to be at full speed when they enter the interstate...I can't tell you how scared have I been in the past with inexperienced (read: girl) drivers doing this. They slam on the throttle to reach 70mph, but don't bother to check their mirrors, so as soon as we reach the interstate they realize there is a huge truck just inches away, and the driver (of the car) has to slam on the brakes to let the truck pass.

In what other cases do you need massive acceleration? On country roads people no long overtake others. On the interstate everyone is going pretty much the same speed (with few exceptions). So why do you need acceleration? ...except for fun and thrills.

Dude, you need to quit while you're behind. When was the last time you drove on a country road? I overtake someone almost every time I go to the lake (Saturday was no exception, passed a pickup struggling to reach 40) and on the way home too if it isn't too late at night. I use probalby 85+% of my car's perfectly appropriate available acceleration to pull out into highway traffic here all the time because the merge lanes are often up hill. Oh and you ARE supposed to be going at very nearly road speed when you merge in which is quite reasonable if you check traffic before you accelerate. If you aren't up to speed then people have to merge over just to get around you which is not only rude but hazardous as well. I can guarantee I'd much rather be in the car with Katwalk or any other girl on this board than you right now. I'm not so into being slammed into trees and cars and such. Geez.
 
^ That.

My car has adequate power but only barely. There are highways around here with stop signs at the top of the ramps!
 
You don't drive much in heavy traffic I take it? It is very useful to have good pick up in traffic around these here parts that is if you want to be able to overtake people at all. Cars tend to run tightly together and people go to great lengths to not let you in so having a quick burst of accell to get into an opening is very useful.
You are right, I don't drive in too much heavy traffic. However, I've driven around NYC and Miami - once with a Mk3 Golf the other time with the Volvo and I never felt that I need more power in order to overtake somebody.

Dude, you need to quit while you're behind. When was the last time you drove on a country road? I overtake someone almost every time I go to the lake (Saturday was no exception, passed a pickup struggling to reach 40) and on the way home too if it isn't too late at night. I use probalby 85+% of my car's perfectly appropriate available acceleration to pull out into highway traffic here all the time because the merge lanes are often up hill. Oh and you ARE supposed to be going at very nearly road speed when you merge in which is quite reasonable if you check traffic before you accelerate. If you aren't up to speed then people have to merge over just to get around you which is not only rude but hazardous as well. I can guarantee I'd much rather be in the car with Katwalk or any other girl on this board than you right now. I'm not so into being slammed into trees and cars and such. Geez.

Dude, I drive mostly on country roads (West Virginia) with quite a lot of hills. Nobody overtakes, even if there is enough room to do it. The speed limit is 55 on those roads, and most cars are doing 60. Nobody is doing 40, but if that was the case then he will get overtaken.
(Actually I suffer from a good amount of road rage, so I tend to overtake even those going 60, whenever I see an open stretch of road)

About the merging lanes...Yes, you are supposed to be at nearly interstate cruising speed when you merge, but those lanes are usually long enough for any car to reach that speed without having to "floor it".
I'm saying all this, because for a long time I used to drive a Mk3 Golf 2.0, which is not much faster than Kat's Beetle, and I never thought it was "unsafe" because of its slow accelaration. I don't think there is a modern car (post 90's) that is so slow that it can be considered unsafe, but you are more than welcome to try and prove me wrong.
(Not wanting to be in a car with me - I bet you won't have a problem with my driving, but you probably won't be too fond of the music that I listen to in my car :lol:)
 
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but those lanes are usually long enough for any car to reach that speed without having to "floor it".

Usually.

It's also fun when people stop at the bottom. Happens all the time on this one ramp onto I-290 I used to take from school.
 
I feel we may have drifted slightly from the original topic.
 
So we're agreed then, even at its fastest the beetle is a glacier(with a great chassis) that you have to be very intensely secure to drive.
 
I wouldn't go so far as to call the chassis "great". There's a reason why people don't autocross them (well there's also the reliability - there was a GTI at the event I went to this weekend and he had to change his driveshaft half way through the event).
 
I wouldn't go so far as to call the chassis "great". There's a reason why people don't autocross them (well there's also the reliability - there was a GTI at the event I went to this weekend and he had to change his driveshaft half way through the event).

Well - a chassis does not have to be trackworthy to be great. After all, even a GTI Golf is hadly a sportscar.
 
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