Re: new vw beetle (marginal audi content)

["Mark L. Chang" <mchang@ece.nwu.edu>]

On Thu, 26 Mar 1998, Shaun D. Mullen wrote:

> No doubt many of the, er, middle aged q-heads on this list grew up with
> Beetles; I myself had five, ranging from a '57 to a '72, all purchased
> way used, before I was drawn by the siren call of bigger, faster iron. 

ah... my 73 superbeetle is calling to me!

> handling are quite smooth, if not all that sporty.  My only criticism is
> a somewhat silly one: The dashboard is massively deep and a little
> off-putting, stretching nearly to eternity before it reaches the bottom
> of the windshield.  (Mandatory marginal Audi content: The sweep of the

Agreed... it was quite shocking -- much like my friend's older Lumina
mini-van thing ... ugh, too much dashboard.  Nearly have to climb outta
your seat to reach something that you accidentally tossed up there.

OB. Q content: this is all in contrast to my 87 4kq dashboard (or really,
a set of a few "trays")... which is a little small for my tastes, raked at
an angle, and really really shallow -- this to go along with the TINY
thing they call a trunk.  Hope the four passengers in my 4drUrq don't want
to take much stuff with them :).

Shaun -- did you  perchance notice that both rear fenders are completely
PLASTIC?  Not the heavy-duty steel-like plastic, where you can tell an
attempt was made to give the notion of "heft", but rather, more of a
Rubbermaid/Tupperware type of cheesey plastic.  Heck, it gave in when I
leaned on it with my two hands clasped, popped in, and popped back out -
-very unnerving.  I will *not* buy a car that is made out of Rubbermaid.

Speaking of Auto shows, though, I will have pictures of various cars from
this year's Chicago Auto Show on my web site in approximately 1.5 weeks.
Of course, there will be plenty of Audi content, including a shot of the
"private party" they had at the show in an elevated room above the
showroom floor at the Audi stand.

Mark
87 4kq (not much plastic, but maybe some rust..)

                    [PGP] finger mchang@ece.nwu.edu