Volkswagen Talk

German carmaker Volkswagen just announced its official tag price for the 2012 Beetle in the UK. The new VW Beetle can be yours starting at £16,490 OTR. The Beetle will be arriving in showrooms in the UK by next spring but the company is accepting orders now.

For their British market, Volkswagen will provide two petrol engine options including a 1.2L TSI which gives out 105 horsepower and the 1.4L TSI that is capable of giving out 160 HP. The former is coupled with a DSG transmission with seven speeds while the latter is linked with a 6-speed manual transmission.

There will be 3 trim levels to choose from: Design, Beetle, and Sport. The Beetle and the Design trim that uses the 1.2L engine will have a tag price of £16,490 while the Sport or Design trim using the 1.4L powerplant will be priced at £19,470.

The Beetle based model will have an air conditioning, central locking with remote, DAB radio and CD system, plus the Isofix seats as standard.

The Design variant will have 17 inch rims, Bluetooth and iPod connectivity, alarm system, fog lights in front, RCD 510 sound setup, multifunction steering wheel with leather treatment, and dashboard and door panels following the color of the car’s body.

The top of the line Sport trim will have 18 inch rims, tint, sports seats, cruise control, parking sensors, climate control, and gloss black treatment for the door panel, dashboard, and door mirrors.

VW promises to enhance the range of the Beetle in the UK market with the introduction of more powerplants which will include the 105 HP diesel 1.6L TDI BlueMotion; 140 HP 2.0L petrol TSI engine; and the 1.2L TSI engine that is linked with a 6-speed manual gearbox.

A long time has passed since the Volkswagen Beetle was released way back in 1938 by the German carmaker Volkswagen. Though the car is referred to fondly as the Bug & Beetle, the public gave these names to the car; its original name was Volkswagen Type 1. It was sometimes in late 1967 the manufacturer of this car too started referring it as Beetle too. Till 1967, this car was marketed in Europe as Type 1, or 1500, 1200 and 1300. For the curious minded, these numbers referred to the vehicle’s engine size in cubic centimeters. There are many people who love this classis car and it is not tough to see why. There are some innovations that this vintage car had when it was initially released.

Later on, in the year 1967, the Beetle underwent some minor changes. Though the size of the car did not become bigger, quite a few of the components and mechanical systems of the car did and these included a bigger engine. Prior to the changes the output of the electrical generator was a paltry 180 watts. This was changed with the changeover and had been increased to output 360 watts. The older generator had also been enhanced from the original six volts one to twelve volts. There were changes in the flywheel, the braking system and the rear axles. The clutch disk too was made bigger. Regardless of the changes made, all car lovers remember this classic.