Here's A Rare Chance To Buy A VW Beetle RSI
At the Geneva Motor Show this week, VW’s R&D boss Frank Welsch confirmed that the VW Beetle is effectively being killed off. There won’t be a replacement for the current version, so once production ends, the Beetle name will once again disappear from VW’s range.
We’re not likely to shed a tear - the retro pastiche, Golf-based machine hasn’t ever been an object of the average petrolhead’s affection, after all. But, there was one version of the earlier, Mk4 Golf-underpinned ‘New Beetle’ which we are rather fond of: the RSI.
This is no ordinary Beetle, as you can tell from the brilliantly OTT bodywork - complete with a comedy-size rear wing - and the orange leather bucket seats in the cabin. The reason for those lairy additions is what’s under the bonnet - a 219bhp 3.2-litre VR6 engine.
This narrow angle sort-of-V6 sends its power to all four wheels via a Haldex clutch-based system, and that should sound familiar, because the Mk4 Golf R32 used the same configuration. Some two years after the debut of the RSI.
The RSI was - in a way - as an expensive, exclusive test mule for the R32, with only 250 of the steroid-injected Beetles built from 2001 to 2003. Today, there are just two right-hand drive cars left in the UK, and that’s had a dramatic effect on the prices surviving cars are being listed for: the RSI you see here is up for auction on eBay with an eyebrow-raising starting price of £40,000.
Quite a figure, especially given that you can have the aforementioned R32 - with the same platform, engine and four-wheel drive system - from about £6000, and the related Mk1 Audi TT V6 for even less. Unbelievably, there are left-hand drive examples being flogged for even more. Yep, the modern classic car market has well and truly jumped the shark.
eBay auction via Lewis Kingston
Update: the auction has since - unsurprisingly - ended with no bids…
Comments
Still have a Golf R32 tho…
Cheaper.
Ikr! Lighter too
And you can buy one off GT 5.
We will all miss it
Tbh I could rear engine swap a VR6 into it for cheaper
FYI: engine swaps aren’t plug-and-play.
Engine swapping isn’t as easy as everyone thinks it is mate, games like Forza make it seem so easy. There’s a shitload of time, money and pain involved in it. Let’s not forget you’re not actually a expert mechanic.
Porsche 911 Carrera 4: Front engine edition
It’s AWD
Edit: you’re welcome
aka Porsche 911 Carrera 4 stuck in its reverse gear
So it is basically a more hideous but underrated version of a 911 with the engine in the right place and its cylinders in a v formation
Actually, its more of a z formation
Looks like they changed the design of the handle to pull your car out of tight places or mud. Oh they just added a spoiler. Lol I was trying to find s picture, I’ve seen some me new beetles with a spoiler similar to a supra and it had a gap between the body and it.
Is this salomondrin? 🤔
He has a Beetle RSI , but not this one.
I love the sound of them…
ricer alert
This would have looked great in nfsmw 2005
£40,000? For a car that will make everyone think you’re (a) driving your girlfriend’s car and (b) really want a 911 GT3 but can’t afford it.
True lol