Decent car overall but has some annoying features.
Decent car, overall. Does not lug up hills, even with the smaller engine. Not a large car but will transport it's fair share. Feels very open with the large windows and sunroof. Basic interior that I find comfortable. Biggest complaints about this car are interior related. The doors auto lock once you start driving, which is fine, except that they do not unlock automatically. This leads to many frustrating times. The center console with cup holders is almost pointless as it will not hold anything much larger than a soda can. The cup holders are placed below the dash which makes accessing them awkward. The sun visors are almost pointless. The soft coating that VW used on the dash and door handles has not aged well at all. It scratches extremely easy and does not clean well. The textured portion of the dash is impossible to clean well. The silver on the steering wheel spokes is rubbing off and due to cheap materials. The tan interior seems made to attract any dirt or mar possible. Magic eraser cleans it easy enough though. All of the newer beetles suffer from terrible door upholstery that lifts from the arm rests. Mine is no exception. Interior build is cheap. Center arm rest breaks easy. The release button on the emergency brake broke and popped out. My gauges have gone out and the replacement part is no longer available and finding a used one is turning out to be almost impossible as the part number has to be the exact same one and it can't be swapped for another Beetle gauge set. An easy work around is a heads up display that plugs into the OBD port.
Other than my complaints about the interior, this is not a bad car, at all.