Volkswagen New Beetle RSi Was One Juiced-Up Bug

Right here is the rarest and costliest Volkswagen ever constructed. It is a weird, wide-bodied, and whale-tailed machine, filled with carbon fiber, aluminum, all-wheel-drive, and the primary narrow-angle 3.2-liter V-6 (VR6) obtainable in a manufacturing VW. Presenting one thing you forgot about, or maybe by no means knew existed: the New Beetle RSi.

Sitting contained in the New Beetle, we open the door to step out and snap a couple of images, and clouds of mosquitoes come for blood. Possibly two minutes and at the least ten bites later, we scurry again contained in the automotive. As we begin off, there is a deep satisfaction in watching insect vampires spattering towards the windshield.

“Kills bugs quick” was a well-known print advert that starred an Enviornment Pink air-cooled Porsche 911 Turbo. Right here in Langley, BC, the RSi’s V-6 is on the boil and doing simply nearly as good a job as any Stuttgart-built flyswatter.

Subsequent to me within the passenger seat, proprietor Marcel Horn claps his huge paws collectively, racking up the skeeter physique rely by squashing a couple of which have snuck into the cabin. Effectively over six toes tall, Horn is spoiled for headroom with the Beetle’s lofty curved roof, and he gushes over the main points scattered all through his RSi’s cabin. He lately imported the automotive from Tokyo, and there is some inside put on, however whereas the blemishes will ultimately be addressed, Horn’s summer season plans are to only drive the wheels off this factor.

Doing so makes absolute sense as a result of the RSi is an absolute delight. On paper, the power-to-weight ratio cannot match VW’s fashionable R-badged vehicles, however this juiced-up Beetle has a lot character.

Underneath the hood, the VR6 punches out 221 horsepower at 6200 rpm and makes a terrific noise approaching redline. The mix of a short-throw, close-ratio six-speed guide gearbox and 236 pound-feet of torque at 2000 rpm makes carrying pace alongside these empty nation lanes simple. Steering is a fast and correct delight, and the engine responds eagerly to throttle enter. It is ein wunderbar käfer.

After which there’s the hilarity of diving right into a nook and feeling the large lateral grip of 235-series tires in a widebody model of a automotive that was bought to the lots with a flower vase perched on the dashboard. When it launched in 2001, the RSi price the equal of $80,000—sufficient to purchase two Porsche Boxsters on the time. Solely 250 have been bought, manufacturing figures ordinarily suiting a racing homologation particular.

Proven as an idea at Detroit’s North American Worldwide Auto Present in 1999, the RSi injected some sporting intent into the New Beetle’s picture. The New Beetle was promoting effectively already—VW shifted greater than 84,000 New Beetles within the U.S. in 1999—and a turbocharged mannequin was on the way in which. At the moment, many Volkswagen traditionalists view the New Beetle with delicate disdain, but it surely was cute, sensible, and no tougher to reside with than a up to date Golf.

These attributes have been no shock as a result of, beneath, the New Beetle was a Golf. Stretching a Beetle-shaped frock over a Golf-sized model did weird issues to the New Beetle’s inside ergonomics, however for essentially the most half, the general public beloved it. In addition they beloved the RSi idea and clamored for it to be constructed.

Then once more, the general public is at all times clamoring for ideas to be constructed, however automakers are (accurately) normally extra involved with constructing vehicles they’ll really promote. Within the early 2000s, nonetheless, confidence ranges in VW boardrooms have been at an all-time excessive. The choice had lately been made to maneuver forward with the world-beating Bugatti Veyron venture. Volkswagen definitely might spend a couple of Euros to construct an über-Beetle.

The manufacturing RSi was primarily a road-going model of the racecars used within the New Beetle Cup one-marque collection. The fingerprints of Volkswagen’s motorsport division will be discovered all around the automotive, from the fixed-back carbon-fiber bucket seats to the aluminum window cranks. Goodbye bud vase, hi there LED shift gentle. VW used the chance to launch the brand new 3.2-liter model of its 24-valve V-6 engine, which later confirmed up within the U.S. market within the R32 Golf and the Audi TT.

All 250 examples of the RSi have been inbuilt Volkswagen’s manufacturing unit in Puebla, Mexico. The road was separate from the usual New Beetle manufacturing line (and from the meeting line for the air-cooled unique Beetle, which was inbuilt Mexico till 2003). As a result of the RSi was the manufacturing unit’s flagship, a excessive stage of care went into its meeting. The automotive has a bespoke high quality in contrast to that of another manufacturing VW.

Each one of many 250 vehicles was silver, though one further particular blue automotive was constructed for then CEO Ferdinand Piëch. The mannequin was by no means bought within the U.S. or Canada however was provided in Europe, Mexico, Japan, and different abroad markets between 2001 and 2003.

That RSi quantity 160/250 ought to discover its solution to the west coast of Canada is a homecoming of types. Horn is the founding father of HPA Motorsports, a Volkswagen tuner with three many years of expertise making Beetles fly. In 1998, when VW was making ready its RSi idea, Horn was constructing his seventh VR6-swapped New Beetle. When the RSi got here out, his firm developed a twin-turbo package that boosted output to effectively over 400 horsepower on the wheels.

HPA constructed 5 turbocharged RSi New Beetles, in addition to a lot of comparable vehicles constructed utilizing U.S.-spec chassis as a foundation. Because of business connections, Horn was capable of go to the Puebla manufacturing unit whereas the RSi was being constructed there, and struck a deal to purchase up elements after the manufacturing run ended. Canada’s 15-year gray-market importation guidelines meant that the RSi has been authorized right here for years, however the automotive’s rarity makes it laborious to seek out. When this one confirmed up in Japan, Horn purchased it instantly.

The temptation is there to twin-turbocharge the automotive, because it’s what HPA does greatest. At SEMA in 2019, as a send-off to the final technology of VW Beetle, HPA introduced a Beetle Dune with a twin-turbo 3.2-liter VR6 that put out 700 horsepower and despatched 800 pound-feet of torque to all 4 wheels.

However the RSi is greater than fast sufficient because it stands, and there is a nostalgia for the form and the sound. It is a automotive from a time when the web was in its infancy, smartphones did not exist, and Volkswagen was an ascending juggernaut working towards changing into the most important automaker on the planet.

This blister-fendered and box-winged Volkswagen is bursting with hubris; its six-cylinder engine snarls by way of twin exhaust suggestions. The New Beetle RSi makes an odd and uncommon dream automotive, however it’s a dream automotive nonetheless. No manufacturing unit Beetle ever killed bugs sooner.