Motor Trend mentions the i as a more worthy Beetle successor

[jray3]

More important than numbers, though, is the feeling that you're driving a premium product. While not luxurious by any stretch of the imagination, the 2012 Beetle fills you with the same driving emotions you get from the Fiat 500 and Mini Cooper. These are cars not simply built to move people, but rather because some people love cars. I don't think this third gen car has anything at all to do with the original. But it has even less to do with 1998's New Beetle. Here's the important part. While logic says that the Beetle is just a Golf/GTI with different metal, emotionally that's not true. It's its own machine, just as the mechanically identical Type 14 Karmann Ghia differed from the Type 1. One could make the argument that the real new Beetle is something like the Mitsubishi i, a tiny, cheap, rear-engined electric vehicle that may offer the masses a new form of mobility. The 2012 Beetle will never command its own chapter in the big book of automotive history. But it's not a bad footnote.

Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/coupes/1107_2012_volkswagen_beetle_drive/viewall.html#ixzz247cyIPTF

 

[MLucas]

I totally agree that the i is definitely more akin to the original beetle than the new new beetle is. I saw the comparison early on shortly after I bought it. Basic, yet very functional cabin - rear motor, rear drive - most affordable electric mass produced car, etc.

I have a feeling the reviews for the original beetle were not as favorable as the long range test were, either just like the i. Its' hard to judge these cars in a day, is owning them long term that helps us to see how good they are. Just like the original beetle.

 

[jray3]

Absolutely, and few remember that the Beetle was far from an overnight success in the US.

Here's a gem from Wikipedia:
Opinion in the United States was not flattering, however, perhaps because of the characteristic differences between the American and European car markets. Henry Ford II once described the car as "a little box."[citation needed] The Ford company was offered the entire VW works after the war for free. Ford's right-hand man Ernest Breech was asked what he thought, and told Henry II, "What we're being offered here, Mr. Ford, isn't worth a damn!"[

And onother from "How Stuff Works"

By 1956 the company had passed one million in total production and was doing business in 80 countries.
That included the U.S., where Dutch Volkswagen importer Ben Pon had first tried selling the Beetle in 1949. He managed only two. Next came Max Hoffman, America's import-car baron, who teamed with Arthur Stanton and John von Neumann to sell Volkswagens through East and West regions.
But after moving just 887 in 1952 and 1,139 the following year, Maxie bailed out, a decision he later came to rue. "Heaven help me," he lamented. "They just wouldn't sell."

Let's hope that Mitsu has staying power, and adds incremental improvements just like VW did.

 

[Don]

I remember when the Beetle first became common in the late '50's - They were ridiculed by most folks similar to the way the Yugo was when it made it's debut. People looked at the owners like "Is that all you can afford to drive?"

Nobody cared all that much what their gas mileage was - You could fill up the average car for three or four dollars . . . . gas was 25 to 30 cents a gallon. I remember working in a gas station as a kid - The station attendant pumped all the gas back then . . . . they really didn't like the customers touching the gas pumps. We had to check the oil and wash the windshield for every car that came in, no matter how little gas they bought. It seemed like every second or third car that came in only wanted a dollars worth . . . . especially the Beetle owners!!

The early Beetles had no instruments at all except for a speedo - Not even a gas gauge. There was a 'reserve' lever you would switch to when the car began to run out of gas, much like most motorcycles have. You had better remember to switch it back to the normal position too when you bought gas or else the next time you ran out, there was no reserve to switch to :shock:

Yup - I'm really dating myself. A brand new Mustang cost $1995 when they came out in '64. I was in high school and everybody wanted one . . . . . but very few parents had that kind of money to spend on a car for their kid. The teacher's parking lot was twice the size of the student parking lot in those days - 90% of us rode the bus. Times have REALLY changed . . . .

Don

 

[leec]

Times have REALLY changed . . . .

Thank you for sharing, Don. It's good to keep our perspective around the evolution of automobiles both in how things have changed and also how they've stayed the same.

I hope to see an even more rapid evolution of automotive technology. By the time my kids are in high school, I expect they'll be printing their own cars (or hoverboards).