Tuning Car: VW Beetle Street-Legal Jet Powered
VW Beetle is a modern symbol of people car built after the war for ordinary folks; having great price, air-cooled boxer with 4 cylinders and individual sound. This car survived many decades and it was still produced in Mexico few years ago. More than 50 years of production means the title of one of the longest production in the history. It became one of the most popular cars with strong image and cultish design. So Volkswagen decided to build its successor. After more than 50 years from the time of introduction, a new model was born. Its name 鈥濶ew Beetle鈥?reveals that we can see a new member of VW family. But unfortunately it鈥檚 not the same car - interesting with great price. Also the engine isn鈥檛 at the back and it has no great sound of boxer. Instead of the classic concept there鈥檚 a boring engine with FWD. You can choose from 5 4-cylinders and one V5 engine. There are also diesel variants.
But its design is something different and has something from the legacy of its older brother. But honestly, everybody waited something more from the successor of the legend. But tuning companies didn鈥檛 hesitate and now they offer everything you can imagine for the exterior or interior, engine too. There鈥檚 a lot to choose and practically you can built your own Beetle too. But what happens when an engineer with PhD title from Stanford wants to make some improvements? A revolution in tuning. We present you a breath-taking VW Beetle Jet Powered. Yes, you鈥檙e right - jet means jet engine. So our engineers installed a jet engine from a helicopter to this three-door car without removing its original engine. As he said, he wanted to build a jet powered car suitable for traffic. Of course this engine is so big that the car is now about 150cm longer. So the car has now a big opening for jet. But you need also count with next 2-3 meters for flames? It鈥檚 not possible to turn on the jet whenever you want. You can turn it on only when you鈥檙e moving, because the engine is so powerful that it should fly away from through the front window the stopped car. It鈥檚 creator couldn鈥檛 tell us the jet car鈥檚 top speed, because it was tested only on a closed runway and it couldn鈥檛 reach its possible top speed due its insufficient length. But the creator confesses that he didn鈥檛 build this car for suicide but for fun. But he鈥檚 ready to lend the car to brave volunteers. The Street-Legal Jet powered VW Beetle was built to be used in everyday traffic, but with the highest possible performance not allowed in the streets. Something unusual and fantastic. But the result meets all ideas of the concept.
The rear seatback is also more vertical than in the Jetta or GTI, as a result of creating maximum space for storage of the folded roof, making it less comfortable. With the roof in place the rear seats are a trifle claustrophobic, although not that much worse than in most small coupes. The Eos is not a car for taking rear-seat passengers any great distance, but for cruising around town or at the beach with the top down it's a charm. Passenger safety is enhanced by an active protection system whereby a roll bar in the rear pops up within a quarter of a second when sensors sense a serious accident is about to occur. Coupled with an extremely stiff front windshield frame this helps protect passengers in a rollover. The dashboard in the Eos is similar to that found in the Jetta and GTI. It's the same layout with some changes to the trim.
That's a good thing because the interior of the Jetta is regarded as being one of the nicest in this price range. The air vents are trimmed out with thin surrounds in brushed aluminum that set them off nicely. Lux models are trimmed with a strip of walnut stretching across the lower edge of the dashboard; another piece covers the area ahead of the gearshift in the center console. We found the navigation system worked well. Unfortunately it's not as easy to view the screen it should be when the roof is open, because the screen is not shielded from the sunlight. The speedometer and tachometer are located in two nice big round gauges in a compact instrument pod. Although they are easy to read, neither is in the center of the instrument cluster, which some drivers find disconcerting. Instead, there is an LCD in the center providing readouts and warnings.
The analog coolant temperature and fuel gauges are also located between the speedometer and tachometer. The trunk is a decent size with the top up, offering 10.5 cubic feet of storage space, which is not bad for a sporty coupe. A retractable cover has to be latched in place before the top can be lowered, to be sure that no luggage or other items are intruding into the space where the folded top has to go. With this cover in place the storage space shrinks to 6.6 cubic feet, similar to that of a two-seat sports car. Think of that as the price for the hardtop with the built-in sunroof and glass rear window, and it's not too bad a compromise. When you go on long trips you'll probably need to keep the top up. A lockable door in the center of the rear seatback allows loading long items, such as skis, through from the trunk. The 2.0-liter turbocharged engine produces plenty of torque, good for gentle cruising or more aggressive driving.
