Just how weak ARE New Beetles anyway?

I saw this article in the latest issue of Underhood Service:

http://www.babcox.com/editorial/us/us30748.htm

Look at all that damage, and she was only going 5mph when she hit a speed bump. JEEZ!

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Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.

read the article....just another liar behind the wheel, trying to get out of trouble

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-Tom
DemonRallyTeam | Fine Tuning | CTS Turbo & RP Turbos | RalleyTuned | JRM | Meister Autowerks
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Seriously now. I have seen/done some remarkably stupid things but I've never comprehensively demolished a car like that *in one shot*.

I am going to assume it was all in one shot given that the airbags were deployed and the sheer number of broken/bent/missing items.

We all know that the "i was only going 5mph and then the airbags went off a few minutes later" story is pure and utter BS, but the question remains, HOW THE FUCK?

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Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.

Pete Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Seriously now. I have seen/done some remarkably
> stupid things but I've never comprehensively
> demolished a car like that *in one shot*.


One word: curb

I've seen the entire front suspension ripped of one of the 240 Volvo's that John likes so much from hitting a curb with the brakes locked...does a remarkable amount of damage. If you let off the brakes before you hit the worst you do is break a rim. Leave them locked as you slide in and the wheel just stops along with the control arm but the car doesn't...end of car.

Having done a fair bit of real world teting of how to brake VW's, the photo on the title bar of the bent golf is mine, dady is being taken for a ride by his little one.

I have also driven over a curb with the wheels locked in a VW at a much higher rate of speed with much less damage, a bent arm and strut in that case.

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In the long run reality always wins.

I got to deal with similar just a couple of weeks ago.
Seems that 'one of the kids' had the '96 Maxima and it found itsself with a scraped wheel, bent control arm, dead tie rod and dead right front wheel bearing.

Dad came in with Junior. When Junior came back in after Dad left to get something out of the car I asked him "what it is worth to him to run cover for him?" He told me that "He could pin it on his siblings." Dad was less then amused when I told him of this. Seems that Junior was not copping to it. Junior was clearly the guilty party.

I never bent or broke my parents cars.

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JohnLane

Overkill is consistently more fun

JohnLane Wrote:

> I never bent or broke my parents cars.


I was never allowed to drive them since my parents knew what I was likely to do with them
They're still a bit wary to this day!

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Nick Taylor.
Knobhead.
Los Angeles, CA.

Meh, I own up to it when it screw up in one of my parent's vehicles...