Volkswagen Beetle hatchback (2011-2019) - MPG, running costs & CO2
No Volkswagen Beetle is expensive to run.
Pick a Volkswagen Beetle with a diesel engine and you’ll have a car that uses roughly half the amount of fuel to cover the same distance as the original car that inspired it; that’s impressive, even if the latest VW Golf is even more efficient.
Volkswagen Beetle MPG & CO2
Being based on a car from a few years ago means the Beetle’s fuel consumption isn’t quite as strong as later models’ but it’s still generally decent. The 108bhp diesel officially returns 65.7mpg, while the 148bhp diesel manages 62.8mpg; both cost £30 a year to tax. For comparison, the most economy-focussed Golf currently on sale returns an official 83mpg and is exempt from road tax.
The petrol engines in the Beetle are pretty economical, and should definitely be considered if you mainly drive your car in town or cover fewer than 10,000 miles or so a year. The 1.2-litre manages 52.3mpg and costs £110 a year in road tax, while the 1.4-litre is about 3mpg less efficient and costs £20 a year more in Vehicle Excise Duty.
Adding an automatic gearbox makes the 1.2-litre petrol marginally more economical, although the diesels are actually slightly less efficient than they are with a manual gearbox. Do note that if you go for the sporty-looking R-Line model, the 148bhp diesel engine this comes with is uses a little more fuel than it does with the Beetle Dune.
Insurance group
Insurance will be affordable, as the Beetle sits in groups 10-23 out of 50.
Warranty
Volkswagen’s a run-of-the-mill three-year/60,000-mile warranty disappoints slightly, though it’s similar to the coverage offered by many other manufacturers.
Servicing
VW offers reasonably-priced monthly repayment servicing plans to make budgeting for maintenance easy, while cars over three years old are eligible for even cheaper fixed-price servicing with Volkswagen. Services are required annually or every 10,000 miles, though those who regularly drive long distances can make use of VW’s variable servicing schedule, which can see you going as long as two years (or 18,000 miles) between pitstops.
