It's a car that makes people smile wherever it goes. It stands out like an orange life raft in a grey sea of auto-anonymity. Even if they don't immediately recognise the Beetle connection - and not everyone does - expressions of affectionate interest are instant and heartfelt.

What's there to dislike about the New Beetle? Almost everything. Its cartoonish design perhaps, which compromises its practicality in a way that the original's designer would surely never have countenanced. Or maybe the fact that it's a profoundly ordinary car to drive.

But let's begin at the beginning... When Ferdinand Porsche sketched the outline of the Beetle in the 1930s he ignored existing conventions of small car engineering in an attempt to create somet

But for how long will its style sustain interest? A year? Two years? The New Beetle will be a fashionable car for a time, but fashions inevitably change.

The exterior style of the New Beetle makes its interior an odd environment. The base of the windscreen is so distant and the dash so deep that it feels like driving a people mover. Except, of course, that there's a distinct absence of roomy accommodation aft.

Luggage space in the New Beetle is meagre. The tiny 209 litre boot actually offers less space than the combined front and rear compartments of the original Beetle.

Visibility from the driver's position isn't brilliant - the A-pillars are very thick. Because they sweep so far forward they create - with the aid of the external mirrors - a sizeable blind spot.

Many adults

Some common words found in the essay are:
Porsche-style Golf, Beetle It's, Ferdinand Porsche, , in-line cylinder, what's dislike beetle, car drive, beetle it's, what's dislike, dislike beetle, original beetle,
Approximate Word count = 530
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)