TheSamba.com :: View topic - Is daily driving a classic beetle a good idea?

Wed Aug 24, 2016 8:02 am

I have a 74 Super that after a few weeks of working kinks out, gets driven 500 interstate miles a week for work.

Wed Aug 24, 2016 9:58 am

Nils Skarbovig wrote: Lower section was cut and left open and access door was cut into the firewall for servicing at the heater hose connection

I don't get it. What am I looking at. I see painter's tape....?

Thu Aug 25, 2016 9:56 pm

Yes, especially if it's your only car. My wife and I survived driving our '73 std Beetle for five years. It's my DD now. Backup for my wife and I during those five years was a '31 Ford tudor which we still own and drive. So, the VW wasn't our only car.

We ended up buying my wife's mother's old Chevy Lumina from her brother's son (the brother had inherited it ten years before). My wife drives it now and I must admit that the Lumina feels like a new Cadillac when you drive it just after handling the old VW or Ford. But when it comes to fun, the VW and Ford win every time!

Thu Aug 25, 2016 10:00 pm

john1910 wrote: Is daily driving a classic beetle a good idea?

Yes, a great idea but many have to work instead.

Thu Sep 15, 2016 10:01 am

Another uneventful 1200 mile round trip to Bonneville Salt Flats. The only hiccup was I had to stop every 4 hours or so to put gas in the 70 bug :lol:
Pretty reliable in my wife's eyes.

Thu Sep 15, 2016 10:03 am

60ragtop wrote: Another uneventful 1200 mile round trip to Bonneville Salt Flats. The only hiccup was I had to stop every 4 hours or so to put gas in the 70 bug :lol:
Pretty reliable in my wife's eyes.

I'm impressed that she made the trip with you! My wife has a hard stop of 250 miles/round-trip 1x/year!! :roll:

Thu Sep 15, 2016 10:05 am

she didn't, she only goes on the bigger 3-4 K road trips with me 8)

Thu Sep 15, 2016 11:39 am

60ragtop wrote: Another uneventful 1200 mile round trip to Bonneville Salt Flats. The only hiccup was I had to stop every 4 hours or so to put gas in the 70 bug :lol:
Pretty reliable in my wife's eyes.

That's great. This thread is about using as a daily driver. So your post about your 1200 mile trip to the salt flats should probably be moved or deleted.

Thu Sep 15, 2016 11:43 am

sb001 wrote: 60ragtop wrote: Another uneventful 1200 mile round trip to Bonneville Salt Flats. The only hiccup was I had to stop every 4 hours or so to put gas in the 70 bug :lol:
Pretty reliable in my wife's eyes.

That's great. This thread is about using as a daily driver.

I've driven mine every day this summer. Every day. (27 states!)

Mom only drove hers 28 days last month, so I guess you'll shit on that experience too.

Robbie

Thu Sep 15, 2016 11:44 am

asiab3 wrote: sb001 wrote: 60ragtop wrote: Another uneventful 1200 mile round trip to Bonneville Salt Flats. The only hiccup was I had to stop every 4 hours or so to put gas in the 70 bug :lol:
Pretty reliable in my wife's eyes.

That's great. This thread is about using as a daily driver.

I've driven mine every day this summer. Every day. (27 states!)

Mom only drove hers 28 days last month, so I guess you'll shit on that experience too.

Robbie

Yeah you made that extremely well known with your "look at me and what I bought" thread.
My point was, this thread should have been allowed to fade away peacefully, but some folks hold such a grudge that they'll use any opportunity they can think of to keep it going, including posting about something that has zero to do with the topic at hand.

Thu Sep 15, 2016 12:03 pm

but I had to talk my wife out of it for the trip as it is her daily driver otherwise.
Pretty sure the topic is daily driving a classic beetle a good idea. My wife thinks it is.
Talk about grudges :lol:

Thu Sep 15, 2016 1:17 pm

still is for me...or Ill be walking.as my other car has never been finished or titled. I did however have a issue a weekago or so. kinda like crying over spelt milk....I kinda had a half gallon of milk leek in the pass floor...all of it, cartin split. but no use crying over spilt milk...just wash it out 4 times.

Fri Sep 16, 2016 8:36 am

My mother currently drives her 73 every damn day, and while little things go here and there, for the most part it's held up nicely!

Keep in mind that the 73 is only her second car EVER. She bought a 72 off the dealership floor, which she drove daily up to about 10 years ago when she sent it off for a restoration. The guy took off with all the cars in the yard (including hers). Long story.

So instead of buying a "new" car, she went out and got the 73.

She won't drive anything else!! We keep telling her to maybe get a Cabrio for the daily but she gives us *the look*. LOL

Fri Dec 20, 2019 5:09 pm

Frodge wrote: Zundfolge1432 wrote: I drove a 64 VW camper back in the 80s, it was right for me then. Nobody can answer for you they can only relate what suits them. I know grown men that only feel comfortable driving a 1 ton dual wheeled diesel trucks as a commuter vehicle. I can relate to the fuel savings thing though, that said I drive a hybrid getting better than 60mpg and I don't care nor do I seek approval from others.
I still got VWs though a 54 bug,55 bug,63 bug,65 double cab,74 bug. Whatever we drive is right. :D
What is your favorite air cooled that you own? Nice collection...

I’d have to say it’s a toss up between ovals and the 65 double cab. Just today I had a conversation with wife about this and admitted I really like the 74 too. So I’ll narrow it down to just four cars.

Fri Dec 20, 2019 6:07 pm

Well, this tread was a fun read. In 1971,72,73 I drove my bug every day. The car has not changed, it is just a few years older.
So am I. That does not mean I can not still function and do my daily duties.
I am 65 years old, I took care of myself and am still healthy and strong. It is the same with any manner of machine.
Matter and Form can be eternal. I believe 100 years from now a VW will still be capable to transport a person from one place to another. That is the concept.
A machine created by man and maintained will always serve its function.

Sat Dec 21, 2019 1:13 am

mark tucker wrote: still is for me...or Ill be walking.as my other car has never been finished or titled. I did however have a issue a weekago or so. kinda like crying over spelt milk....I kinda had a half gallon of milk leek in the pass floor...all of it, cartin split. but no use crying over spilt milk...just wash it out 4 times.

Rinse it out well, it reeks when it all spoils...I know from experience.

Sat Dec 21, 2019 1:48 am

Cusser wrote: john1910 wrote: Is daily driving a classic beetle a good idea?

Yes, a great idea but many have to work instead.

I did it for 20 yrs, alternating bus and beetle, and 7 of those exclusively type 3.

I mostly had flexible timetables during this time...poor but free :lol: .

I'm now at my 3rd winter without any running aircooled anything, and I hate it. I NEVER had to chain up with a rear-engine VW, anywhere, if it had good snow tires. I was the one pulling people out of ditches...

Both of by VWs have gas heaters, and are absolutely GREAT in winter, but the daily driving takes it's toll on the bodywork, it's the massive amounts of salt they use here....it's the only thing making me question returning to VW dailying. I've fixed up my 1303, basically changing the bottom 6 inches of the body...now that it's all new, will I risk it? I acid wiped, and put as much zinc, epoxy, PU paint that I reasonably could, sealed seams, etc, but still...big dilemma for me.

I don't really care for creature comforts, generations have lived without air-con and lived. I sometimes rent a recent modern car, and I'm always afraid one of these electronic wonders is going to charm me into loving it...and yet, I'm sooooo glad to have a real car when I get home.

Last one was a 2019 BMW. It had gadgets coming out it's tailpipe. I drove it 20 hrs, and I swear it did more driving than I did. It had control of everything: brakes, accelerator, gears, suspension, all of it driven by computers, with some input from the driver, but...it didn't feel like it!

That SOB even had the nerve to tell ME that IT wouldn't allow ME to drive faster than 130 km/h because IT decided MY tire pressures were too low....I don't remember asking you anything!

My son and I spent two days playing with all the buttons till we got bored, I yelled back at the car and GPS who were spouting stuff at me in German, and I was happy to not own it, and hand back the keys to Avis. I'm pretty sure that if the Check Engine light comes on, it's kidney-selling time.

Except the HUD. THAT was really cool.

Sat Dec 21, 2019 8:26 am

randayn wrote: Well, this tread was a fun read. In 1971,72,73 I drove my bug every day.

My 1970 was my daily driver from when I purchased it in 1972 through 1993. By then, I had two kids and a 1979 Toyota truck with AC, and the VW was an extra vehicle, and about $500 a year to insure (registration and repair was very low). But since my kids liked to eat and wear clothes, I "retired" it to help with those costs until I resurrected it in 2016-2017.

I drove the 1970 both Thursday and Friday this week.

Mon Dec 23, 2019 7:38 pm

Old is not obsolete. A sailboat can still travel the world.

Sat Dec 28, 2019 9:38 am

I drive mine all the time for work etc. Where I live they occasionslly salt the roads, but I keep it washed and have had no problems.

My wife drives an E class merc and it's broken down more times than I care to remember.