Volkswagen Beetle Convertible

Lose the top, keep the testosterone.

The 2012 Beetle has already proved that Volkswagen can bring a more masculine appearance and personality to a car that had been best known for its bud vase and other girlie features. And yet in the 2013 Volkswagen Beetle convertible, we have a car that was redesigned specifically for men that has been transformed into a convertible, a style that appeals strongly to women. Can Volkswagen have it both ways?

Volkswagen Beetle Convertible

VW might just be able to pull off this product-planning Parlor Trick. The convertible wears its harder lines well - especially in black, dark brown, or even red. When the top is in place, the roofline connotes seriousness, not frivolity. If anything, the cabin is a little too somber, unless you choose a model with color-matching dash inserts. We don’t miss the bud vase, but the black roof gives the cabin a slightly funereal feel. Fortunately, a beige top is also available at no extra cost.

We especially don’t miss the old Beetle convertible’s flaccid body. The new car’s structure is some twenty percent stiffer, thanks to high-strength steel in the windshield pillars and other key stress points. There’s no evidence of cowl flex, and the steering column seems to be screwed down as well as it is in a Golf, which makes sense since the Beetle is built on the Golf platform. Compared with the 2006 VW New Beetle convertible, the 2013 model is longer, lower, and wider. When the fabric top is up, the roofline is even lower than it is in the coupe, which gives the convertible a solid, squat stance.

The VW Beetle's power soft top lowers in 9.5 seconds and raises in 11 seconds. It can be operated at speeds up to 31 mph.

The 2013 Beetle convertible has the same three powertrains found in the Beetle coupe. The entry price of $25,790 gets you VW’s insipid, 2.5-liter five-cylinder engine mated to a six-speed torque-converter automatic. If you want to shift for yourself, you’ll have to step up to either the TDI diesel model at $28,690 or the Beetle Turbo for a hundred bucks less. Both the TDI and the Turbo are also available with VW’s dual-clutch automatic for an $1100 premium. The TDI with the manual breaks through the magical 40-mpg barrier for an EPA rating of 28/41 mpg city/highway.

The convertible can be ordered with any of the three engines offered in the Beetle coupe. The turbocharged 2.0-liter is or pick.

You’ll likely be most interested in the 200-hp Turbo, which is the closest thing to a ragtop GTI that you can buy. The Turbo has the boosted 2.0-liter in-line four-cylinder, of course, along with bigger front brakes, firmer dampers, and a slightly larger front antiroll bar for more responsive steering, plus lower-profile eighteen-inch tires rather than the base and TDI models’ seventeens.

Meanwhile, every Beetle convertible has independent rear suspension, a multilink setup shared with the Beetle Turbo coupe (the other Beetle coupes feature a torsion-beam rear axle). Naturally, there are ride and handling benefits to the convertible’s independent rear suspension, yet part of the goodness lies in the ability to package rollover bars, which pop up automatically behind the rear seats in those awkward upside-down moments.

The Beetle's interior is as wild as it gets for VW stylists. As usual, materials and build quality are excellent. Compared with the coupe, there’s an extra half inch of rear headroom with the roof up.

As before, the fabric roof retracts into a pile at the rear of the car, but the roof now collapses in a stack so small that it doesn’t obstruct rearward vision and no soft tonneau is required. Hit the button at the windshield header, and the power-operated top lowers in only 9.5 seconds. Hit it again, and the top comes back into place in 11 seconds. All this is possible at speeds up to 31 mph. When the well-insulated fabric top is overhead, it seals out noise as well as the weather. With the top down, all four windows raised, the available wind blocker in place, and the three-level seat heaters set to toasty, you can be quite comfortable on the Pacific Coast Highway on a windy 60-degree day.

Top up or top down, this car is pretty fun to drive. The ride is both supple and communicative, and the steering is reasonably precise. The action of the brake pedal feels a little soft initially, but then it firms up and gives you confidence. There’s only a little bit of torque steer from this front-wheel-drive car (mostly in the powerful Turbo), and all three engines are up to propelling a vehicle that weighs about 200 pounds more than the coupe.

Even so, we can’t help but imagine a Beetle convertible that aspires to more than self-propulsion, and indeed Rainer Michel, VW of America’s vice president of product marketing and strategy, readily admits, “The Beetle [is built on] a platform that you can do a lot with. We will have lots of versions, and we will keep our enthusiast audience happy.” Michel doesn’t offer any particulars, and the Beetle R-Line that debuted at the Los Angeles auto show provides only cosmetic upgrades. Even so, the 2013 Volkswagen Beetle convertible’s suspension, steering, and brakes are already pretty good, and a future variant of the Beetle Turbo convertible with a few tweaks could make for a poor man’s or a poor woman’s - Porsche Boxster.