The fastest, most expensive Volkswagen Beetle you’ve never heard of

Original story first published in Drive on 17 March, 2000

Volkswagen has given its New Beetle the Arnold Schwarzenegger treatment, transforming the previously mild-mannered fun car into a musclebound giant-killer it calls the Beetle RSi.

It has shoe-horned an engine with almost double the standard car’s power under the cheerfully curved bonnet and given the body a serious makeover.

To ensure the 3.2-litre V6 gets its power to the ground, VW has hooked the engine up to an all-wheel drive system and fitted a six-speed gearbox.

The interesting news is that this is not a fantasy car, and VW sources confirm that the company will be producing the RSi in limited numbers. Price is expected to be similar to that of the Audi TT quattro, which in Australia is about $86,000. Indications are that it could be built in right-hand drive.

The RSi is expected to be on sale by the end of 2001, making it a stand-out top-of-the-range model for the Beetle range.

It is yet a further illustration of the Volkswagen policy of having its different brands – which include Audi, VW, Seat and Skoda, to name a few – compete head-on in the market, rather than splitting the market up into convenient, non-competing sectors.

Thus we have the Beetle RSi lined up against the Audi TT quattro, in much the same way as the Passat in its various forms throws down a challenge to the Audi A4, and which, model for model, it generally undercuts in price.

Acceleration of the RSi from rest to 100km/h is claimed to be about 6.4 seconds, giving it sufficient performance to be at least a serious rival for the four-cylinder, turbocharged Audi TT quattro, which is based on the same platform.

In keeping with its muscular image – and to accommodate its underbody extras – the bodywork is 80mm wider than the standard car, and the front and rear mudguards are borrowed from the potent racing versions used in Germany’s Beetle Cup series.

A roof-mounted rear spoiler pulls the airflow down over the pronounced boot-top main wing for increased stability at high speed. There is also a deeper front air dam incorporating air scoops, as well as aerodynamic additions to the lower side panels.

The spoked aluminium wheels are also from the Beetle Cup cars, and the interior trim is a combination of carbon-fibre, aluminium and leather. There are aluminium pedals, and footrests for both the driver and front passenger, who are accommodated in Recaro seats.

It demonstrates, says VW, “the New Beetle’s potential for diversity in design”. That it does. Drive

You’re looking at it. After Drive’s initial 2000 report, Volkswagen did indeed put the Beetle RSi into limited production. Just 250 were produced between 2001-03, all in left-hand drive, meaning Australia missed out on the wildest, fattest and fastest Beetle to ever roll out of VW’s plant in Puebla, Mexico.

Not that we would have been queueing up to buy the Beetle RSi, the meanest Bug ever priced at an eye-watering $US80,000, or around $AUD125,000, when new in 2001. Adjusted for inflation, you’re looking at a Volkswagen Beetle with a price tag of around $AUD232,000 in today’s money. That’s not too far off base Porsche 911 money. Hmm.

Still, there’s something delightful about the über Beetle, its wide haunches, outrageous rear wing, big wheels with fat rubber and a snarling 3.2-litre V6 under the bonnet.

That 3.2-litre is familiar to Volkswagen aficionados, having found its way into all manner of the VW group’s cars since its introduction in 1991.

In Australia, the 3.2-litre most famously underpinned the Golf VR6, the forerunner to today’s Golf R, and the first two generations of Audi TT.

An angry, growling V6 that was matched by its Remus exhaust system spitting its soundtrack at passers-by via a pair of angry exhaust tips, the Beetle RSi proved, according to contemporary reports, a joy to drive with loads of grip – thanks to VW’s 4Motion all-wheel drive set-up – and a tactility modern cars sometimes lack.

Of note was the six-speed manual close-ratio gearbox, driven by a stubby gear lever with a deliciously short throw that ensured the RSi remained fair and square in the camp of ‘driver’s car’.

To cope with the prodigious outputs of the VR6 engine, Volkswagen upgraded the suspension, with stiffer springs that resulted in a noticeably firmer – and flatter – ride than regular ‘flower-powered’ New Beetles.

But the undoubted star of the show remained the 3.2-litre V6 which, with 165kW and 317Nm proved at once lively, especially at 3000rpm and above, and linear in the way it delivered its outputs to all four wheels.

It was, in every way, a performance beast, a V6 wolf in sheepish clothing that took the cutesy and retro-styled New Beetle and transformed it.

Of the 250 made, all were finished in German rainbow silver, with just a lone example painted blue at the request of Volkswagen’s then boss, Ferdinand Piëch to add to his collection of blue cars. Piëch, by his own admission, preferred blue-hued cars.

Thanks to its low-volume production run, the Beetle RSi remains a rare beast. Anyone wanting one today will need to stump up some serious cash. Last year, a low-km example sold at auction in the UK for around $AUD130,000 while another example out of Sweden recently changed hands for around $AUD115,000.

Despite never being available in right-hand drive, Volkswagen Australia did import two cars. One contested the 2002 Targa Tasmania, a full factory effort with three-time Gold Star winner Paul Stokell at the helm. It crashed out on the second-last day. The second car has since passed into the hands of a private collector, its current whereabouts unknown. RM

So, what do you think? The New Beetle RSi, hot or not? And if anyone knows the whereabouts of the second Australian imported car, slip us a note on the comments below.

Rob Margeit is an award-winning Australian motoring journalist and editor who has been writing about cars and motorsport for over 25 years. A former editor of Australian Auto Action, Rob’s work has also appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Wheels, Motor Magazine, Street Machine and Top Gear Australia. Rob’s current rides include a 1996 Mercedes-Benz E-Class and a 2000 Honda HR-V Sport.

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