Why take the modern day 2015 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible on old Route 66? Well they share a lot in common, both iconic of automotive history and lore. They both bring imagery and memories to all who see them, and they both live on today, celebrating the days of yore.
Our tester here is a toffee brown entry level model, a 1.8T with Technology to be precise. As tested its price comes to $28,815 including destination, and while you can go upscale well into the $30,000’s, this one will be the most common example you see on the roads.
Its styling is familiar with its big round eyes and smiling lower grille that always seems to be cheerful and fun. At the rear, the folded convertible top and boot rides high in retro style, a throwback to the earliest models.
Its side silhouette is also far from breaking new ground, though its size and footprint is much larger than the original from back in the day. Its standard 17-inch alloy wheels look well proportioned to its body and fit tight into their openings.
To sum up the exterior presentation, Volkswagen does offer up a premium and well equipped base model with generous chrome trim elements and design aesthetics that could look well at home in a garage with much more expensive cars.
The same execution follows through inside with body color accent panels on the doors and dash panel. As equipped ours had leatherette manually adjustable seats with heating elements, though that certainly wasn’t needed here.
The audio system here is a touch-screen upgrade which has a back-up camera, satellite radio and CD changer all of which plays through a well placed collection of 8-speakers. It does offer an auxiliary input, but VW still doesn’t give us a USB port.
Putting the top down is a one-touch power experience which takes only a few seconds with no manual latches to undo. It comes with a vinyl boot to cover the folded top, which does take some effort, but fits well and snug. Also standard is a wind deflector to keep wind buffeting to a minimum.
Comfort for the long drives to and from Northern Arizona from our home-base of Phoenix as well as on the Mother Road itself was very good in the front seat. Support and adjustability allowed just the right positioning as did the tilt and telescoping steering wheel.
The rear seat is rather snug, but not much more than in the coupe. There is room back here for real adults however and they do fold down to allow larger things to be placed in the trunk. And the trunk, well it is smallish, but larger than in the last generation Beetle Convertible.
Under the hood is the new base engine for this year, 1.8 liter turbocharged four-cylinder which offers up 170 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque. This engine comes mated only with a six-speed automatic transmission.
Our observed fuel economy of 29 mpg on the road trip was right inline with what its rated at by the EPA which is 24 mpg city, 32 mpg highway, and 27 mpg combined with a more balanced city and highway mixture of driving.
The 2015 Volkswagen Beetle rides on a version of the Golf V architecture, which means it’s a bit older than the new MQB platform the new 2015 Golf is built upon. In terms of handling and refinement however, that means little.
Power steering is electric with a MacPherson strut arrangement up front and the more upscale rear suspension from Volkswagen, a multi-link independent set up instead of the old torsion beam which is found occasionally on lesser models.
On the road the car feels every bit the German engineered conveyance it is. The ride is firm and offers up generous road feel but isn’t at all harsh. Conversely, it isn’t too soft either as I feel the last-generation New Beetle convertible was.
The 2015 Beetle Convertible is a bit larger than the last-generation New Beetle it replaced, now weighing in at 3200-3300 pounds depending on the model. It is by all accounts a mid-sized car by today’s standards.
On our road test trip was a visit through now historic Selgman, AZ which is one of the best preserved towns along Route 66 in Arizona. In addition to the many others, this town celebrates its history with a lot of shops, attractions and scenery.
One of our stops, Delgadillo’s Snow Cap, is as iconic on the Mother Road as the Volkswagen Beetle itself. And, our road trip on Route 66 for this test was as much to test the Beetle Convertible’s fun factor as well as its real-world drive testing elements.
Part of the trip was reuniting the car I came to call “Root Beer” with many of its relatives which populate the scenery of the Mother Road as much as old American branded classics. These include well planted fixtures of the old, to dressed up icons of movies and expressions of humor. Who say’s I’m all business?
In the end, the road trip showed that the 2015 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible is well suited for playful jaunts such as this, offering up good long day comfort, excellent visibility (obviously), spirited driving, and good fuel economy.
When it comes to price and value, it’s a reasonable balance of top quality and playfulness that few brands and their models achieve.
