Agreed, the original Herbies (movies 1-4) are the only way to go. That is, as used in The Love Bug, Herbie Rides Again, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo and Herbie Goes Bananas. There are subtle differences between the four, but they are far classier than the 'redesigned' graphics of the later Lindsay Lohan movie. The Herbie TV special (with Horace the Hate Bug) also uses the wrong 'Loaded' graphics.
The 'Loaded' grahics are different in quite a number of ways. Firstly the font of the '53' is different. The original was done by hand but the Loaded looks like a basic computer font. The Loaded number circles are also different sizes - the front bonnet is significantly larger than the doors. On the original the front is only slightly larger than the doors/engine lid. The Loaded front bonnet number is also too low - as you can see above, the bottom rim of the circle is level with the bottom of the bonnet strip. The earlier one is higher up, with around 10 cm of trim showing, and hence looks better balanced. The Loaded stripes are not quite right - the red-white-blue width ratio should be 1-1-2, with the white and red being 35 mm wide, and the blue 70 mm. The Loaded blue is also too light - it should be a darker almost navy blue. And yes, the original Herbie has the stripes on the sunroof material, while the Loaded cars don't.
Greg Carr in the US sells a high quality 'original' sticker kit. He used to own the original Herbie #2 with the EMPI-built mods such as the Porsche 356 engine and brakes. It's now owned by Terry's Beetle Service in the UK.
More detailed info on the original Herbie decals can be found here:
http://www.herbiemania.com//build.html