Where should a total newbie get started?

Hi Rachel. Please do not take this offensively but you really do not want an old aircooled VW for a daily driver if you indeed know nothing about cars. Yes the are great cars for many different reasons however....they are getting on in age, 30+ years almost guaranties repairs and replacements. You could do much worse for a PROJECT car though. They do pass the time well and you might learn a thing or two over the rebuild and maintenance cycles. Although you may have bad feelings about an older Honda or Toyota they are by far the better choice for a reliable vehicle. In fact, the same make and model you currently own would be great as you have some parts, tires..etc.

Joel Bartlett

We have an Accura (=Honda), a Nissan and a Subaru in the family. We've owned other cars (Toyotas, Ford, Volvo, Saabs, hoopty Scamp) and have done most of the work on them. Worked on many others as favors to friends and family.

Recently I was given a beetle because I was interested in making that a project car -- did you notice how I didn't select any of the above as a project car and those cars I know relatively well. So why did I do it?

I am not looking to make the bug into a daily driver.Nothing is more frustrating than _having_ to work on a car on a perfectly good sunny weekend to take you back to work that monday. The bug will be a car to drive around on the weekend for fun.With its quirky heating system, I'd imagine that it won't be used in winter.

This being my first bug, I am a total bug newbie but I like its design -- everything seems to be made so anyone can service it. You don't need an engine hoist. The engine is relatively small and light. It is a simple car, does not take a lot of space, does not take expensive special tools, parts are available. It is so ugly, it is pretty. :) Whenever I see a bug being driven, it makes you smile.

If you were looking for a good project car, a bug is a good choice. Mine was given to me, but from what I hear you can get project cars and project-project-project cars. Some are worst than others, so you'll want to be careful as to how much work you want to get into. Mine for instance will take engine work, welding, body work and interior work. Mine is a project-project-project-project-project car :) It will not be cheap to fix, I am sure -- ebay is your friend :)

One last plus: If you see someone driving a bug, you immediately assume he/she must know the car intimately, so you get immediate bragging right (you don't get that with a project Civic, for instance).

Sorry for going on and on -- others will have a lot more to say, I am sure. Hope to see you here with your bug. Remco

"Rachel Garrett" wrote

If you can't walk or take a cab to work and shopping, don't get a Bug for a daily driver. Make it your second car and enjoy.

Some here have heard of my Hippie Brother's car adventure. He learned the basic maintenance (grease, valves, oil/filter change, tuning) and followed it religiously and made his Toyota last over thirty years, over 450,000 miles. You ain't going to do that with an ACVW. No way. It was built for much lower expectations.

i drive a 67 beetle everyday,i live in san diego,ca. ,so weather is nice 340 days a year and no salt on roads.i have been driving them (beetles) since august 1965 -

i agree with him my car is a n ol vw and there is something always wrong with it or maybe it is jsut me and howi drive it but guess waht it is sitting in my driveway broken i wich i had a better daily driver . it is a good car whenit wants to be

Wow! youve been driving your bugs since 65?!?!? That's great! You da man! (See, Rachel, what I said about Bragging Rights?? :)

I would drive my 75 in San Diegeo as well year around :) but CT roads are pretty brutal in winter. Growing up in Holland, I had neighbors that drove them all the time so I know it is possible, even in CT. When I get mine all running again, don't want to beat on it too hard, though.

Agreed there -- Had a Subaru and drove it 110 miles/day. Other than the usual maintenance, never had real problems with it. It was unfortunately taken out by an accident at 232K. It was truly a great car! Not fast, nor comfortable, no frills but very reliable.

Actually a funny story after that: I then sold it to a guy for parts or so he said. Months later I got a call from the state police in the middle of the night, asking if I owned this car. Apparently, the guy that bought it from me kept on driving it, never even registering it. He was drunk one night, got caught speeding by the cops and tried to outrun them!! A real genius, this guy!! He ran into a ditch, rolled the car three times, from what the cop told me. Later on, I again saw him, still driving my old subie -- albeit with a huge dent in the roof and sides. :)

Some of those cars last forever if you take care of them. Knowing all about Subaru reliability, I still didn't select it as a project car, though :)

With no down-time? Call Guinness.

Sounds like a good idea to me. Bugs are a fantastic way to learn about how and why cars work. Pick up a copy of John Muir's "Idiot Book" and you will be able to do an amazing amount of the work yourself even with out prior experience.

The plus's of choosing an bug are:

1) Parts are cheap. 2) Lots of parts available nearly anywhere. 3) Most of the work can be done with out expensive specialized tools. 4) There are great books for resources (Bentley's and the Idiots book). 5) The satisfying feeling that you can keep it running. 6) When you breakdown odds are pretty good that another VW owner will stop and help.

The minus's of choosing a bug are:

1) They require very frequent work to run properly (Valve adjustments and oil changes primarily). You have to be prepared to do way more work yourself than you would do for a normal car Or pay for someone else to do the work which will increase the ownership costs significantly. 2) While parts are cheap the total can add up to quite a bit by the end of the year. 3) They are lacking in some of the nicer options of newer cars. 4) Unless you find a really nice bug that someone had done a good job restoring or updating you will be buying someone else's project they couldn't finish or fix. 5) The heaters do work fine providing you have to make sure everything is hooked up correctly and working properly. They were built for a cold climate but they don't provide heat quickly. There are after market options if you need to drive in really cold weather and don't like driving with gloves the first 10-15 miles.

So far I have talked 4 friends into buying Bugs. They all loved them and drove them for quite a few years. Some of them did more work themselves than others but all felt much better about their knowledge of cars afterwards. They drive much newer rigs now and are able to talk more knowledgeable with mechanics and possibly not get taken advantage of as badly. Today I am off to pickup a project bug for my girlfriends son. It will be his first car once he finishes rebuilding it. By the time he gets his license he will be able to do whatever repairs it takes to keep it on the road. Then it's a easy transition to anything else he might want to own.

Chris V

Rachel Garrett wrote: