va-va-VROOM!

Every time my in-laws go out of town, my husband and I get the pleasure of borrowing their 2000 Volkswagen Beetle to drive. Our car is an older sedan, so driving the bug is a real treat, and my husband says he would love to own one himself.

The look of this vehicle is much different than most you see out on the road. I think its originality is a lot of its appeal, people like to be driving something different. I know that the first few times we were driving it, it turned a lot of heads. The color choices I have seen for this car are very nice. My in-laws have a deep blue-purple, but I have seen other nice shades as well. The newest color available is something called Vapor, which is a blueish-white, and is very different.

Once you get into this car, you can see that a lot of thought went into the details. There are lots of different gadgets and toys to use, from a build in vase near the steering wheeland heated seats, to sunglass holders and temperature guage on the ceiling. The remote lock/alarm/trunk release is handy, and kind of fun. One feature I was not too fond of was the "low fuel" warning. When the tank gets down to below about a quarter tank, a loud bell sounds. If you are not ready for it, it can be rather frightening. I was heading down the highway and heard the warning and was startled, wondering what was wrong with the car! I found this car to be very roomy. Part of this is an illusion created by the long dash, but it is quite comfy and spacious.

Although I prefer to drive standard whenever possible, this model was an automatic. Still I found the engine to shift quite nicely when accellerating, and it had a nice accelleration. The bug corners like a dream, and handles excellently. The fuel economy on this car is good, comparable to the other VW vehicles I have driven. I did find the engine a little noisy for such a new car. It wasn't loud enough to be bothersome, and it seems VW vehicles do run a little noisier than others, even when in fine shape.

The 2001 VW Beetle is a fun car to drive. It's excellent handling and good fuel economy make it a wise choice, and down the road, if I can afford it, we may just own one ourselves.