It’s been around for the best part of a decade now, but is the New Beetle a viable city car, or is it simply a case of form over function?

Before the new Mini, before the modern-day Fiat 500 and indeed before the retro-tastic Ford Mustang, there was one car that made ‘old’ the new ‘new’.

Volkswagen’s New Beetle burst onto the scene back in 1998 to much fanfare, with its distinctive bubble-on-bubble silhouette capitalising on the unique and oh-so-cute shape of its sexagenarian predecessor, the Volkswagen Type 1.

Unlike the original Beetle though, Volkswagen’s new ‘people’s car’ was motivated by a water-cooled inline four that drove the front wheels, instead of a rear-mounted air-cooled flat four that turned the rears.

“Heresy!” screamed Beetle purists, but the truth of the matter was that the New Beetle’s Golf IV-based underpinnings were cheaper to produce, allowed a greater range of engines and used a suspension system that was dynamically superior to the old Beetle’s archaic swing-axle geometry.

Fast forward ten years and the New Beetle is still with us, and largely unchanged to boot. For a vehicle that’s so long in the tooth, the New Beetle’s design still looks fresh and it’s still proving popular with style-conscious small car buyers.

But what of the rest of the package? Is it time the New Beetle was put out to pasture? Can it still keep up with the current crop of zippy, fashionable city cars?

Volkswagen threw us the keys to a mint 10^th Anniversary Edition Beetle and set us loose to find out.

First Impressions

The moment you step into the New Beetle’s high-roofed cabin there’s one thing that immediately strikes you – that enormous dashboard. Grafting the Beetle’s iconic shape onto a front-wheel-drive chassis necessitated some severe compromises in interior packaging, and the inordinate amount of air between the driver and the windscreen is just one of those unfortunate byproducts.

Another is the slightly cramped rear quarters, which may not accommodate the ‘tall of back’ or the ‘long of leg’. That being said, we took a full load of four average-sized people on a lengthy highway stint, and all reported a surprising level of comfort from the rear pews – even if headroom was limited by the sloping rear hatch.

The black-and-white leatherette seat trim is a little naff (and more than a little squeaky), but there’s a number of charming throwbacks to the New Beetle’s forebear dotted around the cabin. The grab straps on the B-pillar are one, while the body-coloured inner window sills are another.

The grab handle just above the glovebox is also a tip of the hat to the original Beetle’s interior; however it seemed to be at just the right height for me to smash my kneecap into it when entering the left seat. Mildly annoying, that.

Switchgear will be familiar to anyone who’s ever been in a Mk IV Golf, and while they may look dated that also means said switches will probably outlast mankind itself. The stereo is a basic single disc MP3-compatible CD/tuner with six speakers and, compared to other VW products, sound quality is not the Beetle’s strong suit.

However the trim feels solid and durable, the instruments are clear and easy to read, and aside from a rather thick A-pillar, outward visibility is good.