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Best aircooled car VW ever made?
pete wood - June 21st, 2010 at 01:39 PM

What IYHO is the best aircooled car that VW ever made? What's your pick of the bunch? Why is it the best?

waltermitty - June 21st, 2010 at 02:01 PM

Not on list any BAY KOMBI or SPLITSCREEN models??? !!!

MY vote would be for a Double cab bay or split but I cannot as they arnet there. It would appear thay they dont rate well for you pete ? Mitchell

pete wood - June 21st, 2010 at 02:33 PM

I said CAR. the commercials are whole different kettle of fish. I like bay SCs myself, but I wondered about cars not trucks.

Nikos - June 21st, 2010 at 02:58 PM

LOWLIGHT GHIA.

This is based purley on looks. It's those damn sexy curves that do it. The low set headlights with the smaller nostrils and tail lights are just perefctly proportioned.

Nick

MickH - June 21st, 2010 at 03:16 PM

Obviously the 411....groundbreaking (especially when dropped from a great height) design for the times and a first in many ways for a VW..Highly under rated...IMHO...:tu:

dangerous - June 21st, 2010 at 05:28 PM

1967 Aussie Bug is my favourite.
Best on the list?...1967 Euro or 1970s 1300

vwjon - June 21st, 2010 at 06:15 PM

horses for courses, personally the FRIDOLIN is the best looking and most useable (friedolin must be toasted)
the best vw i ever had was a military 181, reverse diff, factory off road suspension, great heater, and more fun that a barrel of breasts!
most practical 70's squareback
most advanced 411-412 also the fastest and most economical
but at the end of the day if we didnt all like different things we'd all be driving beige jelly moulds!

Smiley - June 21st, 2010 at 06:15 PM

Definately a 1968 1500 Semiauto Beetle.

Man I love that car.


Smiley :cool:

Joel - June 21st, 2010 at 06:34 PM

when it comes to fatchick beetles I've had a play with all of them over the years - BJ/swingaxle, BJ/IRS Sbug and Lbug but Ill always come back to the supers

The beam front end is just so agricultural, theres only so much you can do with it and the ride still just cant compare to struts

my first bug was a 71 Sbug and i still have a soft spot for them but Lbugs just have that more refined and modern feel, and seem alot bigger inside with the windscreen further forward

Mick is spot on, those 411s as ugly as they are were had an awesome ride and so roomy inside compare to bugs and type3s

jsheppard64 - June 21st, 2010 at 06:47 PM

I like the L bug in general.. but i just don't like the dash

ancientbugger - June 21st, 2010 at 06:53 PM

No SP2?!

pete wood - June 21st, 2010 at 07:31 PM

no, must have forgot that one.

btw, Dangerous, how is the aussie 67 different to the 66?

vlad01 - June 21st, 2010 at 08:09 PM

I like
late notch, late KG, and 914

since there is no 914 to pick and I already own a 71 notch i picked late KG.

they look sexy.

silver - June 21st, 2010 at 08:13 PM

Scwimmenwagen

vlad01 - June 21st, 2010 at 08:16 PM

haha yes one of those would be handy.

imagine during north qld floods. Hey ma, going up the steam to get some milk from the store, need any thing else?

waltermitty - June 21st, 2010 at 09:09 PM

Pete said

Quote:

I said CAR. the commercials are whole different kettle of fish. I like bay SCs myself, but I wondered about cars not trucks.



Hey pete have you ever seen a Frid? Mitchell

Joel - June 21st, 2010 at 09:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by pete wood
no, must have forgot that one.

btw, Dangerous, how is the aussie 67 different to the 66?


deluxes werent much different, some had the later model pushbutton decklid latch and sunvisors but the pov pak custom model was fairly different
different upholstry, blade bumpers i think were stainless steel? few other small trim differences
there used to be one getting around here ages ago

colonel mustard - June 21st, 2010 at 10:02 PM

1303/1302, super beetle, strut bug ! :)

May the struts be with you!!

waveman1500 - June 21st, 2010 at 10:59 PM

I've got an S bug now but I miss my '70 1500. They're better looking at the front than the Supers, and you just knew that the beam axle would survive almost any off-road encounter with a pothole, whereas the Superbug suspension looks so delicate. I especially hate the way that the IRS shock mounts dangle down at the back like dog balls, to me they just look like they want to be ripped off by a big rock. Having said all that, I did break my beam axle, and I haven't managed to break the Super yet. I don't think it counts though as the beam axle got hit by a Mitsubishi at 70km/h.

kittycat - June 21st, 2010 at 11:20 PM

I'm just a sucker for my 1970 1500 lol, She's my first and will be forever my favourite for that reason !

ratty 63 - June 22nd, 2010 at 12:42 AM

just have to vote for the 411 - just so far ahead of their time. Learned to drive in my parents '69 411....

Of course, 'best' is not necessarily referring to looks is it? ;)

Having owned Beetles and Kombis the choice was far from easy :D

R :)

ibmoknegawsklov - June 22nd, 2010 at 05:36 PM

What no Veyron...............the radiators and intercoolers are air cooled............

pete wood - June 22nd, 2010 at 05:50 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by silver
Scwimmenwagen


well technically, they aren't actually a VW. They were made by KDF.

Re the strut front bugs and the 411, by the time they'd been manufacturered, they almost 'with the times'. Remember the datto 1600/510 had a very similar setup (except OHC, but not crossflow head) but was made about 5 years earlier. The real 'ahead of it's time' VW for the 70s was the golf. The passat was ok too. Shame all the aussie ones rusted out so badly.
Beetles have never really been 'ahead of their time', rather just a completely out of the box solution to a range different problems. Sum being greater than it's parts and all that gestalt stuff.... and it's got a great shape too. :cool:

vwjon - June 22nd, 2010 at 07:36 PM

PETE, the K70 came out before the golf, front engined, water cooled, surely that was the "real ahead of its time vw?" the first production VW that was water cooled!

volumex - June 22nd, 2010 at 08:44 PM

Zwitter

Snap Crackle Bang - June 22nd, 2010 at 09:49 PM

For something different what about the Gol?
They were front engine front drive & air cooled (later on they switched to water cooled).
Sort of a mix of early Passat and Beetle technology.

The ultimate Beetle would have to be a Hebmuller though!

pete wood - June 23rd, 2010 at 09:34 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by vwjon
PETE, the K70 came out before the golf, front engined, water cooled, surely that was the "real ahead of its time vw?" the first production VW that was water cooled!



http://web.telia.com/~u31614134/K70/K70b.JPG

Well sorta, but no. Up until last year, I'D never even heard of the K70. And I've been into VWs for 15 years solid. On the other hand, EVERYONE knows the golf. And EVERYONE copied the golf. Early ford lazers even LOOKED like em! FWD, hatchback, East/west motor and trans, tight packaging, Struts all round, hipo OHC GTi model, diesel engine options. All of these things were copied by other manufacturers in ways the K70 and passat weren't. Although the K70/passat were clearly the forerunners to everything audi produced up until about 1990. Sure the Golf took some hints from the mini, but not all that many. And just like the beetle, it's the overall package that impress people. The gestalt thing again, rather than individual elements. Which to be fair, is really just the beetle but 40 years on. I wonder what it will look like next.... and I wouldn't be at all surprised if VW could do it again... providing of course, they pull their collective heads out of their yuppie iphones and stop pretending that making luxury cars is more important than just making GOOD cars.


Oh and BTW, I put my vote in for the 1303. To me, technologically it keeps the best bits of the beetle, but has real suspension (shame it never went OHCs and 5 speeds, but we can easily do that now), Struts and proper trailing arm. Fal/codores only caught up with this design in the mid 90s.

waveman1500 - June 23rd, 2010 at 12:16 PM

Wasn't the K70 an NSU project which VW just happened to inherit when they bought NSU? And hence not developed by VW in any way. The Passat and Golf were VW's plan for water-cooled cars, and the K70 was NSU's idea. NSU basically bankrupted itself by pioneering the Wankel engine in the Ro80 and hence VW released the K70, but it never sold well enough to stay around for too long because the Golf was better. Or perhaps more importantly, VW really wanted to sell people a Golf and not a K70.

pete wood - June 23rd, 2010 at 03:23 PM

maybe that's why I've never heard of it much

68AutoBug - June 24th, 2010 at 01:40 AM

Yes,
the only thing different on the K70 was the VW badge...
it was ALL NSU...
it was ready to be made when VW took over...
so, they just made them and sold them as the K70..
why K70???
who knows..??
it had the individual tappet covers that NSU used on their engines..
and the shape was just the 3 box type.. nothing different or special... unlike the passat...

The first Audis in Australia had inboard disc brakes...
an idea from NSU..??? only guessing...

LEE


PS: they were sold in the UK... saw them in UK VW magazines



Quote:
Originally posted by waveman1500
Wasn't the K70 an NSU project which VW just happened to inherit when they bought NSU? And hence not developed by VW in any way. The Passat and Golf were VW's plan for water-cooled cars, and the K70 was NSU's idea. NSU basically bankrupted itself by pioneering the Wankel engine in the Ro80 and hence VW released the K70, but it never sold well enough to stay around for too long because the Golf was better. Or perhaps more importantly, VW really wanted to sell people a Golf and not a K70.