Old vs New: Is a Classic Beetle Less Thirsty Than A Modern VW? | Beetle Diaries Ep. 7
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- Опубликовано: 28 июл 2018
- ( www.TFLcar.com ) How does the new VW Alltrack stack up against vintage Volkswagen iron? We find out today, plus some more fun beetle features you may not know about!
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You won't believe a great a VW Beetle Sounds with the Exhaust Tips. You can listen to it raw and unplugged on this episode of the Beetle Diaries: of ruclips.net/video/jH4PZS8wB1A/видео.html
I had a flowmaster on my 73 attached to a header, it sounded amazing (it had a mildly built 1776cc engine built by Painters Grinding with about 90hp).
TFLnow. Other than a brief 10 second political commentary, one of the best car videos I've seen! Not long, cool music and a scientific approach makes for good viewing. Uniformity and your location, caught up in the moment like i was there, great job.
Well if you were ever worried about any connections between VW and the 3rd reich. The beetle we know wasn't the same car that was built in extremely small numbers pre-war. The beetle we know was designed and built entirely post-war using the basic design of the KDF wagen, but sharing basically no parts. The company we know was founded by a British army officer named Ivan Hirst and production of the beetle we know started in 1946.
I had an 1800 bus engine in my Ghia, with headers and a good exhaust. THAT was an unsafe car. Way, way, way too fast.
40 psi in front wheels can be dangerous, thats about double the recommended pressure should between 18 and 20
47 years old, no engine management, no fuel injection, 4 speed tranny, I would say the Beetle did more than very well!
Well made things last forever
That Beetle gets that mileage with only being air cooled and with windows down. Not to mention the age of it. That’s amazing engineering considering it was designed in the 40’s. Also that engine doesn’t even use a true oil filter, only a metal screen from what I recall. Probably the most reliable engine ever made.
Tommy these cars are awesome ,I grew up with these daily, my best friend drove and built them and rebuilt them,he use to just carry cheap $5.00 bicycle pump for this reason and also for when we got flat tires, we'd repair them on the road and the cops never hassled us while fixing it no matter what time of the day or night, these beetles were awesome hill climbers because they were lite weight and rear engine and rear wheel drive and made the best Dune Buggy conversions, and my friend took a standard engine from i think his was 64 or 68 hp and built it out to have almost 200hp and we couldn't keep tires on it or clutches in it either until a shop opened in Winnipeg that built custom clutches with heavier parts,cost about $200 for parts, we did all the installs overselves, then did the smiles ever get big, there was nothing short of a Corvette that could beat us off the line until about 50 mph the we were done against , the v8's and sure pissed of allot of those guys,lol, Thanks for the Video, is original 55000 miles on that car , it is in good shape,
Love this series. You guys have a terrific example of a classic beetle.
Nathan is an old pro at this. But I have to say Tommy he’s doing a great job with these videos and I’m sure his dad is extremely proud of him! As a previous owner of a 72 bug love the video! 😊👌
If you read Comparison tests involving a then new VW Beetle in Road and Track, Car and Driver etc from the 1970s, the Beetle was at it very near the top of its competition in terms of fuel economy, which is very impressive considering its basic design harks from the 1930s and that those competitors were of the current day then.
jldude84 I believe the Toyota Corolla, Datsun B210, Subaru DL etc at the time were similar in weight.
A quick google check shows a 75 vw Bug according to the epa got 23/33 city/highway gas mileage vs the 1975 Corolla at 21/31. The bug weighs 1830lbs to the corollas 1918. Both had quarter mile times around 20 seconds.
Awesome video! Loved it when Nathan was talking to Jeff 😂😂
Wish you would’ve done new beetle vs old
Well here in Mexico and starting back in the 80s all the way up until 2003, the air cooled beetles had an electric pump for the windshield washer.
Awesome video. I seriously wanna get a beetle, but I think I would try and beef up the engine a bit. VW sure did make sweet cars!
It's kind of like how I want a Samurai. It doesn't have much power so I would get an aftermarket air filter and carburator.
Ive got a 1200 beetle with 34hp and I gotta say it drives easily in the traffic of 2018.
Got the car for 10 years now and still going strong.
The total costs may be around €2500 maintenance since I got it.
The paint isnt the prettiest anymore but technically their quite strong.
Maybe next year Im gonna get some fresh paint for it 😁
The 34hp 1200 is just a great engine, best one they put in the bugs.
I have a 74 Super Beetle that I bought 30 years ago. It got 28 mpg back then. I tinkered with it over the years and now I get 35mpg consistently, I don't over inflate my tires like on this video. 20psi front 30psi rear. Got rid of the 009 distributor and went back to stock vacuum type. New carb. Got rid of the legendary blue coil. Normal timing and tuneup adjustments. Adjust valves every 3,000. Good hyper-mile driving.
After reading comments I would like to add that live in Florida I use all my vent windows open front and rear that also open and make a great difference! I still get 27.5 miles per gallon Also it is good to notice that the small almost vertical windshield keeps minimal the amount of sun rays getting in the car and also the head liner is floating or separated from the metal roof and it has a good layer of insulation in between.
Tomey - I feel the same way about stickers. Nathan is also correct. I would much rather focus on Ferdinand Porsche - the designer of the Beetle and not the person who wanted the 'people's car'.
Our 356 gets around 33 MPG. Not bad for a 1958. Go classic cars! Heidi
Not bad for 1958 until you compare with the Citroen 2cv, finest machine ever made
Actually Ferdinand Porsche didn't design the Beetle but a jewish designer (Josef Ganz) did.
Working in the Ferdinand porche design house? I'd always thought it was Mr porche's work too.
Ferdinand further developed the car and put it in production but the design was from Ganz
And Your 356 gets 33 MPG? Thats super nice, cause in my beetle I got an origional 1600cc engine that they also used in the 356 so it would prob also do something like 33 MPG.
Great video,...all the information we should need about both cars.
Well done Nathan and Tommy!
Im really liking the beetle series. Keep up the good work.
Dude if you are going to drive a VW really need to learn about the vent windows! Those are air conditioning in summer and defrost in winter!
Great video. Thank you for testing a manual all-track!!
A buddy and I ran beetles, fastbacks, and squarebacks for years. We got tired of filling the spare tire all the time. We grabbed a couple of medium size propane tanks and added a valve stem to them and used those to pressure the windshield washer system.
Awesome! I love driving my 1973 super beetle my wife an I also own a 2016 golf sportwagen the same color blue as yours!
I’ve always wanted my windshield washer to work on my 79......Motivation, TY! A bicycle tire pump works great for a Bug.
Great video, perfect balance of fact and fun. My daily drive for over ten years is a 72 standard 40hp and gets high thirties gas mileage. Its slower pickup than superbug but lighter so slightly better mileage. Keep on Buggin in the Free World!
I love this series so much. Seriously. FYI... that Alltrack is rad. I hope my wife ditches the minivan some day for that exact car, down to the color of the paint, seats and the stick shift! :-)
Maxing out the tyre pressure isn’t necessarily good for fuel economy. Over-inflating can steal some efficiency just like under-inflating can.
Inflating to what’s Volkswagen says is just right for the beetle will be much better for fuel economy, because you get a more even grip on the road surface, and that translates to more movement per drop of fuel.
On the washer system - grab yourself a garden sprayer pump up bottle (or the car washing variety). Fit under the front, pipe it in and pump up when washers are needed.
Or fit in the car and feed the pipe through if you want easy.
When the title said "old versus new" I was looking for a beetle to beetle test although nice to see the alltrack real world test
Binge watching this series and love it! Also, I dig the KISS referances at the end.
Love the bit about the washer system. Very cool!
Without having to tear into the engine I would install mag core wires (not solid), a electronic ignition conversion, high voltage ignition coil (one for electronic ignition), and have the carburetor rebuilt and tuned with a wideband O2 sensor. I always use a set of NGK standard plugs in these older cars as well. I would also consider a generator to alternator conversion. Doing these should really help a lot and not cost a fortune. If you want a bit more pep you can also change out the exhaust for a better breathing pipes / muffler but I'd do that before I had the carburetor tuned as it can throw your fuel mixtures off sometimes.
Felix will probably outlast a new VW product just as it has already outlasted most VW products from the 80's 90's and 2000's. That comparison data is already in. GO Felix!
The VW TDI's are pretty rugged and reliable -- I own two of them, a Sportwagen and a Jetta. Half-a-million miles on a TDI is totally doable.
daviesakiller I'ma a big VW fan, but Felix has has lived as long as it has because it has been exceptionally cared for, not because it is inherently better "than most VW products of the 80's 90's and 2000's." Where are the millions of other VW Beetles produced over the years? Gone, not still running like Felix.
Loved the bucket list, all I can say is I have nothing to live for as I've driven one of Paddy Hopkirk's road registered factory Cooper S touring cars and we own a 56 beetle Oval.
I got myself a golf mk1 but love these vids, the beetle is a real classic. Everything is so basic. On the golf 1 the washer fluid is electric so i was suprised by the way it works on the beetle.
When I was a kid we had a 1968 Campmobile. It used compressed air for the windshield washer, but had a special tank that you poured the fluid into first, then pressurized by pumping air into it. The spare tire was in the back, too far away to reach so they came up with this. I wonder how much more it would have cost them to just put a motor on it instead.
I have been doing exactly the same test on my 1971 VW Super Beetle for three months now. . I have owned this car for over 35 years and I am getting 27.5 miles per gallon. I am about ready to install an electronic distributor that uses no points and I have been told that it is possible that mileage may go up to 15%. I am happy with the 27.5 😀
Next time do a VW BEETLE VS NEW BEETLE VS THE NEWEST BEETLE SO THAT ALL 3 generations
We do not acknowledge the impersonator.
Great comparo! Your actually getting better mpg at that elevation vs sea level.
I was wondering that. My 74 Super Beetle gets maybe 22 mpg at best. I live near sea level.
Jason Explains Things! Yeah. Sea level is more air. That means more fuel is needed. Same thing with cold air and heat.
I would rather have more Smiles per gallon then actually worried about how many miles per gallon I actually got, because nowadays all the cars get good gas mileage..
Tommy, those of us that lived with those air cooled super beetles (mine 1973 vintage) can tell you that if the spare tire washer valve malfunctions, you'll find a flat spare when you least need it.
I have a '75 Beetle (1200cc, least luxurious edition) and a motorbike (650 twin), which is used as daily transportation. I "hypermile" both of them (not sure if that would work on modern cars with power steering and brakes). With that method, both have a great mileage, especially my bike. Although my Beetle is as basic as a car can get, compared with my bike, it's first-class transportation. Insurance for both is cheap, and the Beetle is road tax free (with a maximum of 5000 km per year).Both are cheap, both are fun (you guessed it, i'm Dutch, lol).
2:57 that bugeye wagon was the best car in this video! (coming from someone who owns one as well as a '74 super beetle)
Nathan Adlen Strutter! One of the best first songs on first albums ever. KISS!
The biggest advantage of the beetle is: He looks good and friendly. After 50 years, he seems to be much younger than the brand-new offsprings
Good to find you guys. I have exactly that car (1971 super b, just bought it 4 days ago and I'm in love), except it's around the right way because we drive on the correct side of the road down here in Australia. (Of course we need the magnetic wheels so we don't fall off into space, which is a bummer because they're getting hard to find).
I haven't checked out your other videos yet but do you look into replacing the drum brakes with disc brakes? I've seen a few disc conversion kits around and I don't like the spongy feel of the drums. Let me know if you have any thoughts on that. Cheers guys. Liked and subscribed on first visit :)
That was impressive for a bug at our elevation. 25mpg is pretty normal for a stock bug at sea level. As limited as the Beetle's performance is, it is an amazingly fun car to drive. It is a very raw, visceral driving experience that you can't get in a modern car, you feel very connected to the car because there is no power anything and not much sound insulation.
I have yet to see a series in Gunbarrel but it’s cool to see roads I know
My 61 had no gas gauge...you moved the petcock with your toe as the engine stumbled....put it on reserve like a MC LOL
I am the second owner of a 1984 VW Beetle built in Mexico and I drive this car more than 24 years, I drive through Europe from North Germany to Spain, sometimes 3-4 times in a year. Runs like a dream, never had an issue with the car except normal things like brakes, oil changes, air filter, new tires and so on. At 280.000 km I change the motor, but only for safety and I had an good offer, 800,- € for a complete new built and restored 1200 engine. My mileage is between 29mpg in town in winter up to 40mpg on long trips. All American mpg, in metrics is 6-8 liter on 100 km. When I hear your motor of your beetle I think it is running a little bit to rich or the timing is not correct. You smell gas from the exhaust? I think you can get a little bit more mpg out of the motor. You have the 1300 engine? 44 real horsepower? Greetings from Spain, from a German Beetle driver! I have 2 old American cars too, a real gasoline fan! ;)
I used to get 35 on the highway in my 72 super beetle in Idaho.
Great video, but it begs this question - why compare the classic beetle vs. the Golf and not the "new" beetle?
So solution to the washer air pressure source could be a battery powered air pump?
You should have left the sticker on the bug. I have read that each sticker adds five horse power. I hope you put summer air in that spare tire. if it still has winter air it could reduce the effectiveness of the washer squirter.
Type 2 bay windows have a similar setup only because there's no spare tyre providing the air, you actually have to pump the bottle up. Not too inconvenient if you carry a small bicycle pump in the van with you
What's the top mpg from back in the day? My sister had the chevy version of the geo metro. It did good from what I remember. 3 cylinder I think?
You may be running the wrong jets on the bugs carburetor. Did the golf have a spare tire? Just curious.
60 HP from the Super Beetle? Was it that hight? Don't know how it does it, but my Geo Metro XFI has less than 50 and climbs hills / keeps up with highway traffic without straining. Not fast, but the pedal rarely needs to contact the floor to stay with the traffic. And it gets in the 40's. Impressive milage on that Jetta/Golf (or whatever they're calling the version with cladding). I had the bug back when they were cheap and everywhere. Super easy to maintain.
I love your dad's sticker trolling. Hah!
When it's really hot you can turn your vent windows far inward to get a blast of cool air on the face. It helps tremendously in hot weather. Just guard against dehydration.
And I know what you don't need for Christmas....
A teddy bear 😄
That works if the air outside is cool. If it's really hot out, that results in a hair dryer blast. My trick, with a similar car and the same area as these guys, is to carry a squirt bottle of water, spray water on my arm, and hold it out the window. Sometimes that will get my arm so cold it starts to go numb.
Quill Maurer that's a good idea ! Despite there's no ac I still wouldn't trade my car for one with.
This trick works well in Colorado where the air is dry, wouldn't be so effective in a humid environment. In Colorado I generally don't feel a huge need for A/C, but occasionally we have really hot days where it would be nice to have - not enough to justify buying a different car or equipping my bug with A/C. It is possible to do that, but it hurts power, fuel economy, and is very expensive. My worry is that it will get hotter every year though, that's been the trend the past several.
Quill Maurer agreed about the heat increasing year after year ! I live where it's usually humid in summer. The northeast.
Great MPG mash up!
They sold you a 12 volt tire inflater as a dealer option. I have one, Porsche 911 came standard with them because of their inflatable spare.
The fuel injected beetles were supposed to get 33 MPG, wonder if that would hold true.
32C , beetle can handle that easy , never had issue mid summer in Australia in my 68 1500 bug
27 MPG may not seem too great compared to 35MPG, but you have to remember Felix was built in 1971. Back then, 25mph was great milage.
Of course you can use the secondary valve to comfortably fill the spare without having to clean the trunk.
Yes, I was thinking of that, that is the way I always do it. Mine still has the original tubing. The one to the tire is quite thin and the plastic is quite rigid.
the rain sucks here im happy its not raining now btw i live in bolder
I owned a new 1965 beetle for four years. Two of those years were in Texas. All highway miles, no city miles in that part of Texas. 29.9 mpg. Average. Enjoyed the car for four years until I had a reality check when I saw the wreckage of a beetle involved in a head on crash. Front bumper, hood and steering wheel up to front seat. Time to trade for a Chevy Impala.
Put EFI on the Bug, and ditch the peashooters for a 4 into 1 header and a quiet pack muffler, and you would see 30 or more MPG on the VW.
Beetle has some advantages like no piano black in the interior!
My 1300cc have been performed 33,87 MPG... obviously, ride on road and speed up to 50 mph .
Checked round trip.
yeah i want a classic beetle but i cant work on them and it seems like there is no who can here in Illinois for miles ans miles? i did know about the windshield squirter and its stupid sorry not sorry.
I have to try in order to not average at least 40 mpg in my 2017 Jetta 1.4t, even with a lot of city driving.
All the beetles that my dad had tho...
for European watchers: 28 MPG is 8,4 Liter /100km and 35 MPG is 6,72 Liter /100km
At one time I think you could build a completely American engine. I think Scat Performance built engines that made up for some of the weaknesses of a split case. You'd probably need to work on the transaxle as well, which might involve Porsche.
Title of instrumental background music @2:55??
Anyone?????
Nice... 😍
16:47 Geoff taking all of this abuse my goodness, we may have to get PETA involved 🤨
other factor to consider the gas is better today than yesteryear.
How efficient do you think they could make a motor if it didn't have all that air conditioning safety junk extra computers on it.... it would be amazing i have a feeling
Geoff doesn't like Felix because he keeps getting shoved in the frunk! :P
"Frunk!" HA HA!! That is the PERFECT name for that! I seriously laughed out loud. I am totally using that from now on!!
Would it be possible to put EFI on the original engine set up? Does somebody make a kit or would one have to do an engine swap?
maxr4073 The Mexican/Brazilian beetle had fuel injection and even catalytic converters!!!:Don'r know what gas mileage is. But in general, the older ones use less gas.
Keven paul halliday: The older 70s buses, bugs, Squarebacks, 914s, bug convertibles (, etc.depending on what market they were sold in) .... did in fact come with Sequential EFI .... along with CIS Injection. Bosch CIS (a durable Continuous fuel injection set-up) tends too dump fuel into the engine under the wrong conditions (to be lower mpg sometimes) Bosch CIS used an electro-valve to allow fuel into fuel distributor pressure regulator (mounted on the block) for warmed-up idle speed and wide-open throttle demands.
The Bosch Sequential EFI tended to have an electric gremlins of which many times you could leave stranded .... being Bosch, it's no surprise ... both systems were less than ideal, than say the setup in a 260Z, Toyota Supra / Cressida from the 1970s .Yes the 1970s Japanese Sequential EFi was a copy of the Bosch Sequential EFi ... but it had bullet-proof reliability compared to the crap which was Made in Germany .One exception would be the Airflow-Meter which would sometimes go bad on the Datsuns and Toyotas back then.
It's certainly possible to put EFI on the stock engine core, check out CB Performance and The Dub Shop, they both offer kits to do that. I think there are others out there, but those two are the most well known. CB has their own ECU, Dub Shop uses Megasquirt products. Possible to use independent throttle bodies (similar to a dual carb setup) or the late-model Mexican manifolds with a single throttle body that looks similar to the stock carb. I have that on mine, cobbled together from various parts. Mexican manifold, microsquirt ECU, coil pack wasted spark. Some parts from The Samba, others from Dub Shop. While still a work in progress, it runs way better than it ever did with the carb, far less maintenance to keep it running nice, starts pretty easy, should run good in cold. I do get better mileage than when it was carb, but usually not as good as these guys - I suspect they might be running lean as my car is faster (timed 17 second or so 0-60, same altitude - in fact that was just a few miles from where these guys live) but worse MPG. Hope to put a turbo on it and adjust fuel to get better economy at lower power and dump in more at boost for power, but need more money to execute that. Modern EFI on these engines is not a particularly cheap or easy mod, but it sure runs good - I highly recommend.
Somebody built a type 1 engine in a Volkswagen Ghia that got 37 miles per gallon.
The beetle has the aerodynamic efficiency of a Jeep.
These were really and truly very good cars for their day. They got good fuel mileage, and Outlasted cars that cost a lot more money. You have to remember that the average American car back then was pretty much done after 60,000 miles. A well-maintained VW would easily do double that mileage. Cars have come along way since then of course, - modern VWGTI Will blow the doors off of most muscle cars in that era while getting for the gas mileage and not falling apart. But these old vws can still be a fun and practical daily driver even today. It’s still a perfect city car that can take a lot of abuse.
I love my 1960 beetle
I just use an inner tube from a golf cart to power my windshield washer, thus bypassing the spare tire entirely.
Obviously those old cars needed less fuel. They weight half as much in.part because they had next to no amenities including no safety tech. What matters is the power to weight ratio and in that regard cars have improved a great deal. Also in terms of reliability.
With my 83 1200 Beetle I usually get about 30MPG
how about upgrading Felix with more power?
Felix is a survivor. We’d hate to mess with that. A car is only all original once.
Why didn't you compare it to a 2013 beetle?
get the right air pressure back in those tires - these cars are so light most owners run pressure in the 20's. With 40psi you had to have been bouncing all over the road.
The Superbeetle had a bad reputation as far as fuel economy was concerned. VW was believed to run the Superbeetle on a quite rich mixture to cool the hidden cilynders. Drivers reported 12-13 l per 100 km, which was and is a lot!
The 40 hp beetle was much better,. around 8 l per 100 km. And even less. Ours made about 8 l on long trips with 4 persons, fully loaded with luggage and a high luggage rack on the roof.Not too bad.
Why didn't you use the new Beetle in this comparison?
We don't speak of the Impersonator.
Cross winds were probably scary because the front tires were overinflated. After all, there's no engine up front. I've heard that was a problem back in the day actually. America's over inflated the front tires like fools.
I consistently got 48 to 50mpg in my 73 bug. Highway miles no city.
Why would u use a new 4 door beetle not a 2 door beetle
Funny...back in the day VW had an advertising campaign based on “honest” mileage...and today they are battling exaggerated mileage claims
Classic VW Beetle: One of the most iconic automobiles of all time.
I wish the new beetles we're rwd why they had to kill the fun
You should lower the front end of that beetle and ditch the front and rear bumpers
I have the shame color bug
I love Volkswagens because they fahrvergnüg!
Man I miss my Beetles :-(