I just want to get opinions on what would be the best type of bug to buy that has the most potential in terms of power and handling wise?
I've always loved the old bugs but have never really learnt anything about them hence joining up to this site.
Now I do not want to do any engine swaps like the suby motors into them I want one of the standard air cooled engines and only really wanna do bolt on mods to it maybe abit more later on in the future.
So what would be the best type of bug to use to get the most power out of a couple of bolt ons?
Would also like to know how fast the beetles are compared to modern day cars because at the moment I drive a turbo nissan silvia and am thinking going to a bug will be a massive drop in power??? I know bugs are light as so they will be fairly fast with a little bit of engine power but would like to know how they compare??
You will get a lot of different opinions but i reckon that the curved windscreen superbugs (1303) are the best. The curved windscreen means they cut through the air and you can just feather the throttle at higher speeds and it will cruise. They also have the strut front end which handles the best and the biggest engine standard (a 1.6). Without a fair bit of work it will be no where near keeping up with a turbo silvia. A superbug lowered with a set of decent struts and maybe a 944 rear end (what i have in mine) and it will easily out handle one
Bored and stroked engine costing big $ or a subi conversion. For example i just put a 1904 cc engine with twin carbs that is pretty mild probably worth around $5k or more. It did 10.8 on the 8th of a mile and would no way keep up with a turbo silvia. That being said i would much prefer my car because it corners flat and drives like a go cart. They are fantastic fun to drive its just once you go looking for big power, they cost big $
It comes down to what you want out of your bug? Do you want something that will handle on rails, or nice old cruiser? Do you want something that will adapt to circuit racing, or something that you can slam easily on the ground and have cred?
I've had both earlies and late models. Whilst I liked to comfort of my later superbug, I much more enjoyed the cred of my pre-67 Beetle. Motor wise you can put anything into an early or late model. Do you research on this site, The Samba, and Melburgluft, and see what shape suits your personal taste. The pre-67 Beetles have a lower and more curved roofline, and you'll notice other changes as you look through the different age categories.
hi mate i will have for sale soon my 1964 bug. it is
modded quite a bit but is a great cruiser. its light
blue in colour. recaro seats(new). quick shifter.
autometer gauges in the dash. adjustable front end.
converted to disk brakes. heavy duty sway bars front
and rear, bilstein shock absorbers. has porsche wheels too.
only running a 1600 twin port engine but not hard to
put something a bit bigger into. and you can have the whole
package for $5500 and anyone here will tell you that it is
cheap cost more then double that to build it.
only selling to fund paint on my new project.
Thanks for the replies guys changing my mind a little considering I don't think I would be able to drop from the silvia to a bug especially when I paid $5000 for my silvia in perfect condition compared to a 40-50 year old car that will need a fair bit of work that costs nearlly exactly the same, handling on the silvia is pretty good to after chucking some coilovers, sway bars and bigger brakes in 🙂
I most likely will still get one sometime in the near future just cause I love the way they look but will do a fair bit more research on them and probably won't chase my dreams on a stupidly fast bug and just restore one for the fun of it.
There are really two thoughts of school on this. The ultra reliable and the classic. I have both the 1600 superbug 71 and the 73 Kombi (actually 74 model). In my opinion both mine, are ultra reliable caegory. But neither seem to attain the prices of the 60's beetle's eg oval etc or the spltty kombis. But they can be picked up for a song. I bought the Kombi 27 years ago for $2,100, and worth maybe 5 grand now, maybe even much more . At that time I could have bought a splitty in similar condition for less than a grand and there worth minimum 11 now maybe more (am talking similar condition). Hope this helps but also check ebay regular, some good stuff comes up there. And whatever you get, one thing I can assure you. None (looked after) ever go down in price.
