Comments on: New Beetle Dune Buggy

By: Kurt

Kurt — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:43:25 +0000

Some more news about them, it wonders me that even in mexico, nobody can give some more info about it

By: KURT

KURT — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:59:41 +0000

here we go again, no they are build on the old vw bug chassis and aircooled engines, Yes John you are write, i wonder always how those it come they have vw logos, i wrote also to vw Puebla but no answer, but i found a rent a car who had about 6 of them red,green yellow, white,blue. the man from the rent a car told me he still had one for sale for 8.000 us$ but never got back to me. I have myself 4 Bugways from Brazil but on a full size vw chassis. Bugway sells this days only complete cars with golf engines and 5 speed transmissions. They don’t sell kitcars anymore (well yes only to me) a bugway kitcar would cost like 6000 us$ complete with seats and windshields and all the lights, o yes the floor is complete fiberglass.

By: John

John — Sat, 09 May 2009 00:41:15 +0000

Oh, btw, I was the individual that posted all of the details on hte samba thread amd hte $3K price, which would be very reasonable for these bodies. There are far more substantial than any dune buggy body I’ve ever owned The basic Meyers manxter kit is $7500 by comparison.

By: John

John — Sat, 09 May 2009 00:11:26 +0000

I’ve rented and driven these same buggys in Cancun.they are not Bugways. I am 100% certain that they were manufactured origionally in Mexico, not brazil. I’ve had contact in thepast with the original parties that first prduced those bodies. They did infact run into some copyright issues with VW because they were very clearly displaying them with a VW logo in hte hood and tail lid.

There are two different versions of these new beetle look buggies, but they are 100% “old Beetle” bll joint/ swingaxle chassis underneath. One version has actual working doors and inserts for the t tops. The others had the solid sides and the steps molded in. The front hood and windshield was unmistakeably from a new beetle, and parking side by side with a NB, it seemed highly likely the roof hoops were probably pulled from a NB. The two that I’ve personally inspected were very solidly constructed and appeared well molded.

There are pictures out there of a red one with soft windows that snapped in as well, though I haven’t come across those pictures in a while. Unfortunately I lost all of my information a while back in a hard drive crash.

From my discussions with the brothers that owned and were renting two of them in Cancun, there was someone in the Merida area that had a mold for them, though that was all the information they would divulge as it was pretty clear from them that mold was pulled from another car.They sorta clammed up when I identified the buggy I was renting as a yellow one that had been for sale on the Samba several months prior to my encounter with them. He did confirm that I was infact, driving that very vehicle, though it had been re-painted blue. They had intentions of producing several to run a buggy fleet in Cancun. I’ve also seen these same type bugies in downtown Playa Del Carmen parked at WalMart.
The originals showed up in the Puerto Vallarta area about 6 years ago as I recall. I used to have a link to the original manufacturers. They had revealed these buggys at a mexican trade show and produced quite a few of them. Dollar Rent a car had a small fleet of them for a while in PV. I have a picture somewhere of my mother driving the lime green one wiht hte dollar rental logo down the side.

By: Casper

Casper — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:21:33 +0000

Yeah, but when people are trying to find a car to buy, info often finds there way to :)

Well know a days 3000$ isnt much for a kit. Not the new ones at least. Its under half of the prices I usally se kits to.

By: Rick

Rick — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:02:59 +0000

the link to the buggy group looks like people are trying to obtain these, I’ll keep checking back. Thanks for the link! Though $3000 USD for a fiberglass body? isn’t that a bit steep?

By: Casper

Casper — Sat, 02 May 2009 10:25:26 +0000

Or maybe the diffrent persons owning the models just had another taste in styling. Don’t know.

Another discussion about these new buggys:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/for.....mp;start=0

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 01 May 2009 23:20:12 +0000

Maybe VW got ticked over the “New” Beetle styling and made them pull the model?

By: Rick

Rick — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:45:52 +0000

the front end, fenders and lights aren’t quite as attractive in the current Bugway models IMHO :(

By: Rick

Rick — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:44:17 +0000

Are the ones in the original pics an unlisted model? I went to the link Casper provided and looked up all the models, but none with the built in side steps or the rounded new Beetle back.