Faults:

The usual maintenance items have required attention. Brake discs and pads, tyres, alignment, oils and filters. In addition one of the door check straps broke and required a plate inset to replace the damaged bracket.

One of the small rear soft-top mechanism covers was broken and required replacement. Later models, after 2004, seem to have deleted these small fragile electrically operated covers.

Engine check light illuminated a couple of times, but after a change from 91 to 95 octane fuel, the issue hasn't repeated. The check light was able to be reset by disconnecting the battery for an hour or so.

Boot (trunk) gas struts plastic ball and socket joints broken, seems to be a common fault.

General Comments:

I find the vehicle quite lively, easy to drive with the automatic tiptronic transmission, and it has a very solid feel on the road with no creaks, groans, rattles or vibrations.

The large doors allow for easy access to the front seats and the seating position is relatively upright, so providing good visibility forward and to the sides. Rear visibility is not so good, but the car has the benefit of a proper heated glass rear window. The fabric roof provides surprisingly good sound insulation and also provides excellent headroom with the roof up.

The vehicle is comfortable to travel on its 205/55 tyres and standard 16 inch wheels.

The engine requires 95 octane fuel and is more than adequate to power the vehicle, and the VW returns about 25mpg (Imp) town and 30mpg (Imp) on a run.

Due to the shape of the front and rear, there's quite limited space in the engine compartment and access to some service items is awkward; additionally the boot space is also limited to 3 or 4 bags of shopping and is fiddly to use.

A bracing plate under the engine must be removed to get access to the engine and gearbox drain plugs and filters.

The car has been designed as a homage to the original Beetle and is therefore compromised in terms of access and servicing, but it nevertheless has a certain charm as a result of the retro design. A future classic?

Faults:

Nothing major has gone wrong with the car, still has the original 1600cc Twin port engine that came with it back in 1968...

General Comments:

I love my Volkswagen beetle, I bought it brand new back in 1968 for $21 thousand I think. its blue and still is original. the one bad thing about it is they don't handle hot hot days very well.

Faults:

Right rear bearing - tow required at three months

Window regulators (x2) - six months

Sunroof made a sharp cracking sound - no repair despite dealer visit

CD head unit (x1, but 12 (!) dealer visits to "fix")

Diverter valve (x1, but three visits to fix)

Coil packs (x1, more to fail) - tow required at 53,000

Driver's seat showed excessive wear on the piping despite careful ingress and egress. My wear and tear.

General Comments:

I know that every manufacturer has its lemons and I had one. However, VW Australia's dealer service was customer hostile mostly due to VW Australia's service policy of "we will only replace an item after we have seen it broken, and only after calling you an idiot or blaming you first, and you must come back at least twice", taking many more visits (21 in total, only three of which were for regular servicing) than absolutely required to fix.

The bearing rusted out after three months, despite it being a "lifetime" part. The original dealer tasked to find the problem failed to find it. The third party service centre I took it to found it immediately and refused to let me drive it any more as it could have caused an accident due to four way play - the bearing was nearly dead. Two and a half weeks off the road, and no loaner car, and no repayment of car hire fees. No satisfaction from calling VW Australia to complain - they listened and did nothing.

Towards the end, I was getting more comfortable with the reliability until the coil pack packed it in. This is a world-wide replacement under 7 year warranty extension... except in Australia. So after my warranty was up, I would have to shell out $480 per coil pack, even though it is a known fault with these coil packs. The car cannot be driven safely with only three cylinders as it safes itself, and so requires a tow. I got rid of the car within two weeks of that being fixed.

I knew by first name my local dealer's service staff and made casual acquaintances with three other dealers. I nearly lost my job due to so many dealer visits.

Unacceptable. I am NEVER buying a Volkswagen ever again. I have had five until that point, and run Australia's largest Volkswagen forum.

You have been warned!