JUICED BEETLE

OLKSWAGEN REALLY HAD a hard day’s night with the Beetle’s image. It was too easily dismissed as a Golf in a frock – and a rather impractical faux-retro one at that. But all manufacturers know the best way to change that kind or perception is to hit a big power chord. So that’s what VW did in 2000 when it presented the Beetle RSi at the Geneva Motor Show. Inspired by the Racing Cup Beetles, it was taken much further by the installation of four-wheel drive and a 3.2-litre V6 that occupied every millimetre of space under the bonnet.

It seems odd that after going to all that trouble to create an Impreza-basher it only built 250 Beetle RSis, all left-hand drive. But VW knew there would be limited appeal in a car like this, which retailed around the $100K mark in Europe, and it served its purpose – not only in gaining the right kind of publicity for the Beetle, but also as a test bed for the running gear of the upcoming MkIV Golf R32. See, now it all makes sense.

With so few