While testing a VW Beetle Dune Edition, we get seat time in an actual dune-conquering Beetle
The whole trip was looking pointless even by the admittedly freewheeling standards of press trip pointlessness. My esteemed colleague, Ryan Beene of Automotive News, and I were dutifully plodding through the Nevada desert in — brace yourselves — a Volkswagen Beetle Dune. Yes, this was the low point of the new year so far in terms of newsworthiness. The current Beetle hasn’t exactly been a hit for Volkswagen — the beleaguered company sold just over 13,000 Beetle coupes in all of last year, down by 25 percent from the year before. So in an attempt to move even a handful more, VW came up with a trim level called “The Dune.”
The Dune has 0.4 inch more ground clearance (and you can get to Cabo San Lucas with that!) as well as fender arch things and some vaguely sand-colored paint.
“Yes, that will do it,” someone at Volkswagen actually thought. This would succeed where other special editions like last year’s “Denim” and the (we are not making this up) “Pink Color” edition didn’t.
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“We think it’s going to be really successful,” the VW guy actually said, sporting the forced smile of a hostage reading a prepared statement.
Look at all that technology in there!
To celebrate the Dune’s coming sales triumph, VW brought a bunch of us press dopes to Vegas, gave us the shortest product presentation in automotive history and then sent us out into the desert on State Route 95 somewhere northwest of Area 51. We slunk down in the Dune seats striving for anonymity as we passed rural Nevada hot spots even the Bundy family wouldn’t defend. Finally we pulled into the sunny cosmopolitan metropolis of Pahrump and it was there that we first laid eyeballs on her: Old #1107, a desert racing, stock-class 1969 VW Beetle strengthened, striped and stripped for competition in Baja … ready for us to drive.
“Yes!” Beene and I bleeted in unison.
Haters are going to point out that #1107 is no 800-hp Trophy Truck, that almost any desert racing vehicle from any other class would mop the dusty dirt with anything from Class 11, and to them we say, “Hey man, you weren’t just driving a Beetle Dune.”
Granted, with a 1.8 TSI gasoline turbo engine, the Dune makes enough grunt to stay up to speed on the Interstate. And 170 hp and 184 lb-ft of torque is one strong Beetle (not to mention that it gets “cross stitching,” park distance control, LED tail lamps, available eight-speaker Fender audio, intelligent crash response and App-Connect “providing seamless smartphone integration through three interfaces,” all starting at $ 23,995).
Beene at speed
Number 1107 didn’t look like it had App-Connect. Heck, it didn’t have windows, a back seat, an interior nor probably any kind of wifi connectivity at all. 1107 belonged to Desert Dingo Racing, a fine outfit run out of Santa Cruz, California and fronted in Pahrump by team co-founder Jim Graham. Graham and crew had won many a Class 11 desert duel in 1107 and he seemed perfectly happy to be in Pahrump in the freezing rain letting complete strangers drive his race car.
Beene and I jumped in, flipped the hidden ignition switch, pressed the start button and whiiirrrrrreeeeezzzzz, the air-cooled flat four whirred to life. We slotted the four-speed manual into what seemed pretty close to where first gear would be and we were off. Adventure! Freedom! The desert! Being Germans, Volkswagen had provided us with a map and detailed instructions of exactly where we were supposed to drive but we took off on the first dirt road we saw instead. The Bug rattled and wheezed and banged over every little bump it hit, but man, was it cool.
“This is fun!” said Beene. Or words to that effect.
And it was.
The jets in the carbs weren’t set for the 2,700-foot elevation of Pahrump nor for the 45-degree temps, so what would have been 76 hp in ideal conditions felt like about 35 or 40. But who cared? This was a blast! Beene and I both made a sacred blood pact to form a race team and enter the Mint 400 March 12 between Jean and Primm southwest of Las Vegas. All we need is a car.
Maybe one of those Dunes they’re not going to sell? It has the ground clearance …
