Instrumented Test
The Volkswagen Beetle is the car most likely to achieve immortality. More than 21 million air-cooled Type 1 versions were sold during a production run spanning seven decades. Neither the Rabbit, nor the Golf, nor the conversion to front-drive for the Bug’s revival has knocked Dr. Porsche’s gift to humanity off the charts. The car with the rainbow-shaped roof, now in its second water-cooled iteration, keeps winning new friends with every generation.
Between major redesigns, VW issues special editions to keep the Bug kicking. The latest example, called the Beetle Dune, supposedly was inspired by the Baja Bugs that began swarming California deserts in the late 1960s. Yes, the name conjures visions of leaping from one sand berm to the other, but don’t expect to take on the Baja 1000 with this machine. The Dune is to a real desert buggy what a VW Golf is to Tiger Woods.
The Dune arrives this spring as a coupe followed by a convertible in the third quarter. With a starting price of $24,815, the Dune is a fashion statement for the cost conscious. Without disturbing the core sheetmetal, the Baja look wraps 360 degrees around the lower body, adding 0.6 inch to the overall width. Simulated skid plates, fender extensions, polished sills, a ski-jump spoiler, and 0.4-inch-taller ride height complete the visual transformation.
Available exterior hues are white, black, and Sandstorm Yellow. That third shade, which is more of a metallic copper-orange, costs an extra $250 and decorated our test car. Inside, the comfortable front buckets are upholstered with leatherlike vinyl and grippy fabric stitched with bright orange thread. Door trim and dashboards are black with the black or white exteriors. Pop for the Sandstorm Yellow paint and a matching hue accents the dash and the door panels; the orangey color highlights the steering wheel and the gauges regardless of the exterior paint.
Long doors provide ready cabin access. The back seat is reasonably roomy and surprisingly comfortable though a tad short on headroom. The backrest splits 50/50 to convert seating to cargo space. Thanks to the upright windshield and fairly thin roof pillars, outward visibility is good for a compact coupe. There are two gloveboxes, cupholders galore, a convenient dash shelf, and a handy center-armrest storage compartment.
The Dune’s sole powertrain is a turbocharged, intercooled, and direct-injected 1.8-liter four-cylinder producing 170 horsepower at 4800 rpm. Tuned for darting through holes in traffic, this venerable iron-block engine whips up 184 lb-ft of torque at a modest 1500 rpm. It’s commendably quiet, happy at work, and a willing partner with the standard six-speed automatic transmission.
There’s never a chirp of wheelspin when leaping from a stoplight because you can’t disable traction control. While that helps maintain a low profile, it hampers this Beetle’s scamper. The sprint to 60 mph takes 7.4 seconds, barring this coupe from admission to any sports coupe hall of fame. The 15.6-second, 90-mph quarter-mile run is a full 1.3 seconds and 10 mph off the VW GTI’s pace.
Cornering enthusiasm is also curbed by stability control’s incursion at only 0.83 g. The nicely tuned steering, well-damped suspension, and decent Continental 235/45R-18 M+S all-season tires are game, but electronic sensors call a halt well before the understeer gets out of hand. That leaves you with the automatic’s Sport and manual modes to exercise when you’re feeling frisky. While you can shift manually to your heart’s content, this transmission preemptively grabs a higher gear at the 6000-rpm redline. Regrettably, no manual is offered.
The Dune’s dash supports VW’s Car-Net bag of tricks, which enables Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and MirrorLink connectivity plus USB and Bluetooth hookups. The new 6.3-inch display screen has capacitive technology to enable touch and gesture control. Move a hand near this screen and it automatically reconfigures to show major information categories. The rearview camera also feeds this monitor.
Two options are available. The $795 Lighting package adds bixenon headlamps and LED illumination for the daytime running lights and rear license plate. The $1695 Technology package consists of dual-zone automatic climate control, a Fender premium audio system, push-button ignition, a proximity key, and a sunroof.
VW’s unique contribution to safety, standard in all Beetles, is an automatic post-collision braking system. It works on the assumption that most accidents result in multiple impacts. When the airbag sensors are triggered, the brakes automatically engage to significantly reduce the chances of injury caused by the second bump. Thankfully, we had no opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of this technology.
Even though its Baja theme seems contrived, the Dune radiates an overall positive vibe. Those craving something different will feel at home here. That said, we couldn’t stop our thoughts from wandering in the direction of the GTI. In exchange for the happy-rainbow roofline and an extra $1000, you get a shoebox unmatched in its ability to transform the most boring commute into a joy ride.
