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who has an air cooled beetle as their daily driver?
daniel7y - October 10th, 2009 at 02:09 PM

Hi all! I am just curious to know... I used to have a '73 Super when I was 18. When I was 19 I sold it and bought a 2002 Golf Gti for all of the modern day luxuries. Having a quiet cabin, air con, safety, power steering etc is awesome, but I miss my old Beetle! It was an awesome car, so much fun and full of character.

I'm curious to know, how many of you have a Beetle as their daily driver, and how many of you have it as a weekend car? I want my old Beetle back! I'm 21 now, and it's been a long time since I have driven or even been a passenger in a classic beetle.

Also, does anybody know when the next Volkswagen show is in in Victoria? I'm looking forward to admiring these cars in the flesh again, rather than magazines and internet.


helbus - October 10th, 2009 at 02:20 PM

The 71 super is my car. That's it. I am lucky to work close to home, so don't drive much.


Bizarre - October 10th, 2009 at 02:26 PM

My 75L is my daily.
I only live 12kms from work - but it is my company car, so i do a few trips in it.
Probably do 15,000kms per year.

About the only time i dont drive it is when i go to soccer and need to take the beer esky, kit, dog, old man etc etc and i take the Vanagon then

It is good to have a spare in case the old reliabe beetle aint all that reliable :lol:


_me_ - October 10th, 2009 at 02:40 PM

my '54 is my only car and does at least 48k's a day to and from work...


colonel mustard - October 10th, 2009 at 02:43 PM

73 super. driven daily. :)


byronmcmanus59 - October 10th, 2009 at 02:49 PM

'58 driven daily, only car so have no other option,

head on down the the Day of, 15th November in the burg. biggest vw show in vic.


ByronBug - October 10th, 2009 at 02:58 PM

[size=4]Hi I have had my black 61 as my daily driver for well over 10 years now...she is so reliable....keep them mechanically mantained & theywill keep going forever[/size]


LUFTMEISTER - October 10th, 2009 at 03:54 PM

Do yourself a favour and grab another Beetle. You never forget your first love:yes:
Daily driver Air cooled Kombi 1972 :) Just sold my beetle :( (have more ;))


Spook - October 10th, 2009 at 06:00 PM

80 click run to work & back every day in a 70 beetle


beetleboy88 - October 10th, 2009 at 08:44 PM

haha you sound exactly like me Daniel. I bought my beetle when i was 18 and im now 21! Iv'e got a 73 super driven daily. prob does around 25km per day. But since i won best European car at the local car show a couple of weeks ago and after spending over $8000 in rust repairs and a full respray im actually thinking of getting a 2nd car (a ute) and keeping the bug at home and saving her for weekend drives and the like.


hellbugged - October 10th, 2009 at 09:10 PM

yes im daily too


cb john - October 10th, 2009 at 09:26 PM

the same here..over 10 years..


shaihulud - October 10th, 2009 at 09:29 PM

I have a 1970, 1500 Beetle as my daily driver.

It's daggy brown with matt black mudguards and white wheels. Otherwise it's stock.

Even at today's fuel prices I can run it for a week for about $30.

My last fuel consumption test gave me about 9 litres/100k economy in city driving.

I don't bother to try keeping up with the other traffic. I just DAKDAK aong at my own pace, so my driving is quite fuel efficient.

A couple of days ago a kid stepped out from a bus queue, pointed at me in the Beetle and shouted, "That's awesome!"

It's full of character. I love it.


beetleboyjeff - October 10th, 2009 at 10:12 PM

My 75L is my daily driver. I do about 20,000 km per year, about 2/3 of it towning a trailer full of tools and/or building materials - have done for over 20 years now. I had 2 different 69's before that, and my first bug was a 59.


DaveCarter - October 10th, 2009 at 11:05 PM

Mine WAS my daily driver until it came off the road for a re spray. Now i have a corolla with my beetle just for fun. I miss having it as a daily driver though. Just having people smile at you as you go past. Not something you get to often in a corolla with a loud exhaust and P plates


Bookwus - October 10th, 2009 at 11:41 PM

Hiya Dan,

Up here in the States I drive both my Bug and my Bus on an almost daily (I usually alternate between the two) basis. I'm currently doing a remodeling job so the Bus is serving as my main drive right now. Gotta haul building supplies around a bit, you know. I'm putting 35 to 40 miles a day on the Bus right now. Otherwise, I find that I commonly rack up about 50 to 75 miles per week on each vehicle


daniel7y - October 11th, 2009 at 01:09 AM

Dave, your very lucky to have two cars! I wish I could do that... I just don't think my family would appreciate me taking two car spots at home lol...

I will definitely be at the day of the VW in Victoria. Looking forward to it. Thanks for the heads up byronmcmanus.

Would be great to see some of your Beetles if you have pictures. I have some pics of my old super if anyone is interested to see I'll post them.


Gringo_54_oval - October 11th, 2009 at 09:17 AM

daniel7y listen to your iside and get a bug!i have an echo (boring)i have slammed hiace for my painting (alright)and i have my bug(freeeking awsome)
i have so much pleasure driving my bug compared with the other plastic cars.
trust me get a bug
Alex:lol:


hellbugged - October 11th, 2009 at 09:51 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Gringo_54_oval
daniel7y listen to your iside and get a bug!i have an echo (boring)i have slammed hiace for my painting (alright)and i have my bug(freeeking awsome)
i have so much pleasure driving my bug compared with the other plastic cars.
trust me get a bug
Alex:lol:


yeah they fun........i gave you a wave from my daily driver when you went past heading north for Warwick ( you trailer sailer :punk:)......think it was the Thursday


Smiley - October 11th, 2009 at 10:40 AM

I had one.
Refer to other thread. :(

Smiley


Goitsy - October 11th, 2009 at 03:53 PM

74L as a weekender or whenever I can. So much fun:smilegrin:


Anthiron - October 11th, 2009 at 04:44 PM

i drive my 60 baja as a daily. it would be nice to have another daily but you cant have everything.


Joel - October 11th, 2009 at 07:25 PM

mine was a daily driver for the first few years when i bought it as it was my only car that was registered but its been a weekend/show toy for about the last 5 years as i have a couple of mainstreamers for dailys.
now the bugs back on the road im planning on using it alot more regularly


Gringo_54_oval - October 11th, 2009 at 10:00 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by hellbugged
Quote:
Originally posted by Gringo_54_oval
daniel7y listen to your iside and get a bug!i have an echo (boring)i have slammed hiace for my painting (alright)and i have my bug(freeeking awsome)
i have so much pleasure driving my bug compared with the other plastic cars.
trust me get a bug
Alex:lol:


yeah they fun........i gave you a wave from my daily driver when you went past heading north for Warwick ( you trailer sailer :punk:)......think it was the Thursday


hahaha no no no i think you got me mixed up with the guy that has charcoal beetle with the same wheels as mine.mines FATTER,LOWER & LOUDER!
mine is the oval with the shaved off gutters and mine never goes on a trailer.:lol:


daniel7y - October 11th, 2009 at 10:19 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Gringo_54_oval
daniel7y listen to your iside and get a bug!i have an echo (boring)i have slammed hiace for my painting (alright)and i have my bug(freeeking awsome)
i have so much pleasure driving my bug compared with the other plastic cars.
trust me get a bug
Alex:lol:


Yeah I am so tempted to go out and buy one. Money isn't the issue, the only thing stopping me is the fact that I'm still living at home and my folks have made it very clear they don't want another Beetle up the driveway again.

Can't wait for day of the VW next month! Who is going?


donn - October 12th, 2009 at 04:43 AM

it's been a long time since I have driven or even been a passenger in a classic beetle.

At 21 it's not possible to have been "a long time" for anything:mad:


djnee - October 12th, 2009 at 09:41 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by daniel7y
Money isn't the issue, the only thing stopping me is the fact that I'm still living at home and my folks have made it very clear they don't want another Beetle up the driveway again.

What are their reasons for saying that Daniel?

Although ours doesn't do a huge amount of km compared to a lot of you, i'd say it's a daily driver though, as my wife uses the Mazda 3 for work and i have the Beetle (stay at home dad) for school runs / shopping etc.
I love driving it, and the kids love riding in it as its great fun!


bajachris88 - October 12th, 2009 at 10:07 AM

I feel for ya Daniel. Same age and living at home... the folks are certainly a hurdle.

I had to knock down the fence and fill the garage with my vee dub while they were away for 5 hrs just so i could give it some undercover while i worked on it.... Although they put it out in the rainy weather of the drive way a few times, we talking a rolling pan with no body (body in backyard).... the whole tunnel got filled with water and rusty stains, made a serious mess....

Its now back in the dry garage thank goodness..

They were pissed about me taking the garage hahaha...
but too lazy to knock the fence back down.
THey want my dub gone...
ain't gonna happen, unless they kill me haha.

Moral of the story.... well, keep pushin bro!
As the saying goes... 'the squeaky wheel gets the grease'....


djnee - October 12th, 2009 at 10:35 AM

Wow, i'm surprised that peoples folks are so against them. Didn't realise that happened actually as my mum was well into them when i got one as my first car.

When we got our first Beetle over here the old guy we bought it from said that he got a Beetle for each of his 3 daughters when they passed their driving tests. And the reasons made so much sense to me.
He said that with a Beetle he would always hear it pull up in the driveway so he could then rest knowing they were safely home. Plus he said that driving a Beetle made them safer drivers due to the fact that they always learnt to keep a good distance between the car in front due to non-power assisted brakes and the general "luxuries" of modern cars.
I know i tend to drive a lot safer when in the Beetle compared to our more modern car.

When my kids start driving i'd much prefer them to drive an underpowered VW than some of these "hoon" cars i see a lot of P platers in here.


DaveCarter - October 12th, 2009 at 11:27 AM

My mum hates me driving a beetle, especially when it was my daily driver. Just before i got my Ps my cousin was in a head on crash in his lexus and had his life saved by air bags. Horrible timing. Now every couple of months she brings up how i should be driving a newer car. She is kind of happy now that my beetle is my weekend car and i drive my corolla daily..... but my corolla doesn't have airbags either. Go figure