35 mpg... pretty happy with my "new" little car...

Just can't beat a VW.... ran it empty when I got it, filled it up, and just emptied it today. 35mpg driving short trips, across field and woods right of ways and just running errands.... Actually get's around better than the kia did when in 2wd. Just won't climb a couple of the steeper hills and sets a little closer to the ground. I's happy tho.....

Done now...

If you are happy, that's what matters. 35 mpg ain't bad. I know that the old beetles were tough little cars, I drove three of them. Always got about 30mpg. During the "gas crisis" of the 70s, I mixed about two gallons of fuel oil with about five gallons of gas in one. At road speed it ran OK, but it wouldn't idle worth a darn.

I know what you mean!! I got a new little Hyundai Accent for my wife and I to run around in. Only take the diesel truck out for when we "need" it or pulling tractors to shows. Sure saves a lot $$$ even though I had to go buy a new car. Im getting around 35mpg also around town and can get up to 45 on a good long trip.. never thought I'd like driving a car,but i must admit I'm really liking it! hahaha Its even easier to find parking spaces

I bought a 1972 Super Bettle in 1973 that had the engine stolen. They left the blown 1600cc engine at the scene. It only had about 12k miles on it. The crankshaft had to be ground
.010" undersize. New cylinders (jugs), pistons
and bearings fixed the engine. I was going to sell it, but that was the year when gas became scarce and my wife wanted it so we kept it. It got 30mpg and never failed to start no matter how cold it got. Hal

My brother had a late "60"s,early "70"s bug, was a tough little car, with the right amount of abuse it would go anywhere. Got so rusty it started sagging and the doors wouldn"t close so he welded a couple of T-Posts to the bottom to stiffen it up. Don"t know how much longer he drove it,but he just hauled it out of the hedgerow and scrapped it last summer.

I heard those goofy little "Smart" cars only get 34mpg!

(quoted from post at 14:23:57 07/20/12) I bought a 1972 Super Bettle in 1973 that had the engine stolen. They left the blown 1600cc engine at the scene. It only had about 12k miles on it. The crankshaft had to be ground
.010" undersize. New cylinders (jugs), pistons
and bearings fixed the engine. I was going to sell it, but that was the year when gas became scarce and my wife wanted it so we kept it. [b:115723ec08]It got 30mpg and never failed to start no matter how cold it got.[/b:115723ec08] Hal

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Did you had a set of bike pedals in it to wheel it along?
I had a couple of these gutless beetles, they drank like an alcoholic,and i froze my nutz off in winter,..no heat at all.

(quoted from post at 13:59:06 07/20/12) Sure saves a lot $$$ even though I had to go buy a new car.

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mine cost 250 bucks ($280+/-) :roll:

We had a 73 Super Beetle that we were very disappointed with. We called it the "wonder bug" because we were always wondering what would go wrong with it next!

I was especially disappointed in the mileage. We could not get more than 22 mpg with that bug. The Plymouth Duster I also had would get 22, and it had a decent heater. Apparently the guy who "rebuilt" the VW engine didn"t know what he was doing, as one of the clips that are supposed to hold the piston pin in place came loose and the pin quickly rubbed a 1/4" groove in that cylinder wall. My wife didn"t have sense enough to realize there was a problem until she told me that it wouldn"t run right and was burning a bunch of oil. We ended up having to buy a professionally rebuilt engine. That one wouldn"t get better than 22mpg either. I think we replaced the clutch cable 3 or 4 times, and I got pretty good at driving the car by shifting without the clutch.

We did like how well the VW got around in the Winter, but the poor excuse for a heater was hard to live with sometimes.

When I was growing up, my family had a bug for a while, about a 1960 model. My Dad really liked it and claimed that it got nearly 40mpg. Unfortunately after a couple of years, my Dad hit a large whitetail buck with the bug at speed, and after that the doors would no longer fully close.

I think the VW bug was an interesting, very significant car for its time. But I also think that time was a long time ago, and like the Ford Model T, an aircooled bug is not very practical for today.

My Wonder Bug was one of the very few cars I ever got rid of that I didn"t miss soon after...good riddance for a car that possibly cost me more per mile than any other car I ever owned.

Germans, best engineers in the world.
Mrs B&D got a New GMC Terrain AWD 4 cylinder SLT
for Christmas. 21,000 miles on it already and she
loves the thing. Burns half the fuel the pickup
does.