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Originally Posted by joe1347
But many of us didn't go for the old Turbo S Beetle because of the lack of an automatic transmission.
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It was a sports car. No real sports car comes in an automatic, and many others feel this way. The car didn't have that bad of a sales method -- it was sold out for the first 4 to 6 months of production, but it was only 180HP which is really pitiful when the new GTI puts 200 at the wheel. I agree a MkV model would be good, but that'll come in time. They had some reason to keep the old chasis around, the car as a whole is still the #3 seller behind the Jetta and GTI. However, I totally disagree with the idea of more plastic on the inside. We have a Jetta with those soft touch buttons, and they're all peeling very badly after 16 months of ownership. Yes, the dealer will replace them but much like the soft-grip handles of the beetle I'd rather them be a hard plastic that does not peel. VWs lost me as a returning buyer, I'll gladly buy any model prior to 2000, but it's going to take a really amazing re-design and a really high performance and high economy diesel, or diesel hybrid, to bring me back to having 10 to 12 airbags (that all deploy in an accident and immediately total the vehicle out as a complete loss) and an ODB-II computer-based emissions check (here in NC anything pre-96 gets a visual inspection and that is it).
I understand your viewpoint, but I strongly disagree with certain aspects of it. As a whole, I agree, it should have been updated with the MkV platform but the MkIV platform started w/ the Beetle and they wanted the GTI to be the car you think of when you think MkIV. Lets see if Dune, Ragster or another concept comes forth as a MkV car.