VW Beetle as dinghy?

I think Scott (Fire Up) got it right on!!!

And my personal opinion, for what it's worth, never expect a straight answer out of VWofA on any subject. I really like their products, but not VWofA. And I don't understand what VAG puts up with them!

ezgoin wrote:
I know VW has no vehicles listed in the dinghy tow guides, but why would a manual tranny not be towable 4 down? I hear Blue Ox makes base plates for the Beetle. Does anyone have any experience or info regarding towing one?

I ask because the DW says a Beetle is the only thing she would consider getting to replace her 2008 Mustang, which is not towable without a Remco drive shaft coupling.

I guess I could always go the Remco route, but the Mustang is too nice to tow.

ezgoin,
We've talked with many, many "New" Beetle toad owners out there. I've discussed at length, what they did to setup their late model Beetles. About 50% of the men I talked with in camp sites that had the new Beetle said they by-passed the service writers at their local VW dealerships and went straight to the transmission techs.

Every one of those techs told all those men that absolutely NOTHING would happen to that transmission if and when those models would be towed. They did say however that, they could not be "quoted" as saying so, as they worked directly for VW of America who, as you know, does not authorize any of its fleet to be flat towed.

Most of them had several thousand miles on them and absolutely NONE of the folks I talked with had any issues what so ever with their Beetles. And, I've also talked with quite a few "Jetta" TDI owners that are also towing them and, yes, those too are stick transmission versions. So, good luck.
Scott

Tom/Barb wrote:
We towed our type 1 beetle many many miles no problem.

Yep. Made my own tow bar that hooked to the front bumper mounts and it worked just fine.

We towed our type 1 beetle many many miles no problem.

The origianl line of VW Bugs w/std trans could be flat towed using a simpe quick connect drawbar that used the lower torsion tube.

Not certain about the resurrection.

Posts with Beetle in them

A Beatle was a musician.

ezgoin wrote:
why would a manual tranny not be towable 4 down?

Because its design does not allow for proper lubrication of the moving parts without input from the engine drive shaft.