Are VW Beetles good cars?

you are not buying a Dragster, meant to do the quarter mile in 6 sec. <Several hundred thousand dollars short of that.> . It is not a boat either - though it will float longer than any other car It is pretty well everything else: as it can carry 2200(metric ton) in case you got fat friends. A freeway screamer it is not. You got a 4 banger, and those fat friends...or did you forget them already. It drives on mains with the best of them, off-road with the 4 wheel drive vehicles - take you skiing or on the dunes without a whimper. And still be in shape to go to your 9 to 5 job every day. Simple to fix; you can do most of the work yourself...which is mainly oil changes, spark plugs once a year, air cleaner cleaning once a year . No "special V W oil. I have used "bulk"oil which is what the gas station attendant still has in the container from the last car he added some oil to...so that gets dumped into a common barrel - so it can be any weight motor oil or transmission fluid and mixed together. Basically cheap oil at about 30W consistency. Used every brand of oil. The car does not care. Just so long as there is oil in there. . If you are looking at newer than the air cooled bugs; then expect electronics and something you cannot service. All car companies jumped on that band wagon. It is like riding a horse, but you cannot water it or take care of it. You have to have a specialist come in. . Does not do you much good if it broke down 100 miles from nowhere. And the cars(all varieties) are designed to break at some point.