2002 Volkswagen BEETLE

If you’ve ever fancied owning a VW Beetle - and who hasn’t? - but have been put off by thought of the increased maintenance associated with running a classic one then we have just the car for you.

Built in Mexico in 2002, this right-hand-drive, 1600cc Beetle offers all the benefits of owning and running VW’s most iconic car but with none of the drawbacks.

In the care of the vendor for the past year, this is actually the second time he’s owned it. Having been kept for a couple of years in an underground garage in Spain, he first bought it in 2014. After driving it back to the UK he kept it for a while before selling it on, and thought no more about it until he saw it advertised in his local newspaper last year. Knowing how good it was, he couldn’t resist buying it back from the nurse who then owned it. It’s since been kept in his garage and never used.

Now being offered with a very sensible reserve and an absurdly low guide price, this is a rust-free, well-maintained classic Beetle you can buy with your eyes closed. (Or while maintaining social distancing guidelines, which is the 2020 equivalent…)

The Royal Navy Blue pearlescent coachwork is in a very good condition. Discreet yet eye-catching, the modern colours suits the Beetle’s classic lines to perfection. With tight, even panel gaps and great alignment, it looks like a very, very good restored car would despite being completely original; built just one year before production ceased, we guess VW had got its eye in by the time it assembled this one.

The plentiful chrome trim is in excellent shape too, being bright and shiny and free of pitting – and there is no rust on either the chrome trim or the body panels; it really is quite remarkably well preserved and utterly solid.

If we are being pedantic then if it were ours we’d be tempted to give it a machine polish to remove some of the fine swirl marks from the metallic paintwork that mar an otherwise pristine finish. It’s not that they’re especially intrusive, because they aren’t; it’s more than the paintwork is so good that it seems a shame not to get it looking as good as possible.

And, proving yet again that Minilite-style wheels suit everything, it sits on four very clean 15-inch jobbies shod with Toyo NanoEnergy 3 tyres on the front, and Continental ContiEcoContact on the rear. All have good tread.

Work to do is minimal. We’ve spotted a rusty screw on the offside headlight’s chrome trim and the odd small patch of flaking paint on the door hinges. That’s it though, which should reassure potential bidders that this is a Beetle you can bid on knowing there are no nasties lurking under a fresh coat of paint and a thick application of underseal.

Those alert watchers out there might have noticed this Beetle, despite being a 2002 car, wears a registration relating to a car registered in 1971/2, somewhat disguising its more recent production.

While the interior might be a little more modern than the classic one we’re more used to seeing, it’s actually only modestly updated, which is all it ever needed; classic designs become iconic for a reason and you fiddle with them at your peril.

So, the steering wheel is a chunky item and sports a padded centre boss for better impact protection, the two switches for the lights and hard warning lights are modern rockers, between which is the immobilizer slot and, er, well that’s about it. The rest is standard Beetle fare and all the better for being so.

The grey fabric seats are comfortable and nicely finished in an unobtrusive pattern. They’re in great shape too with barely any visible wear and look fit to face the next 18 years with equanimity.

The same is true of the door cards, headlining, and trim; all are fresh and vibrant and in need of nothing other than routine cleaning to keep them looking fabulous. Even the painted dashboard is free of marks and the usual wear-and-tear you’ll see on even the best maintained classic example. In fact, the whole thing looks exactly as you’d expect of a car with only 22,000 miles on the clock and a series of fastidious owners under its belt.

Modifications are minimal and perfectly judged: the speedometer has been changed to a UK one that reads in miles per hour rather than kilometers, and the headunit is a modern JVC radio/CD player with a removeable fascia. The carpets, which are clean and free of damage, are protected by a set of overmats from Beetles UK and sit on top of extra soundproofing.

Oh, and there’s an eight ball as the gearknob, and while we ought to hate a cliché like that, we can’t help but think it looks bloody brilliant.

The front ‘boot’ is clean and tidy too, and home to the fuel tank and spare wheel. Lifting the carpet shows only bright, clean painted metal and absolutely no rust whatsoever.

Problems are minimal and appear to be limited to a couple of small holes on the vinyl fabric on the rear of the passenger seat and a small tear in the carpet above the accelerator pedal. Neither are noticeable in everyday use .

Freshly serviced and MOT’d on the 8th April 2020, the Beetle starts, ticks over and drives as it should. The brakes were lightly fettled at the same time and pull the car smartly to a halt.

The rear engine bay is very neat and tidy and sports an unusually clean 1600cc engine, which will come as a very pleasant surprise for those of us who grew up with oil-stained flat fours, disintegrating cardboard hoses and innumerable wiring bodges.

The underside is solid and neatly undersealed for protection.

The Beetle’s MOT certificate expires in April 2021. The online MOT history shows nothing of concern whatsoever and confirms the car’s low mileage.

The car also comes with a number of expired MOT certificates, the original owner’s instruction book, and some invoices and bills to confirm the work that has been done to it over the years. It also comes with a selection of magazines from the Mexican Brazilian Beetle Register. (No, we hadn’t come across them before either but you’ve gotta love any owner who goes to the trouble of joining and passing the magazines on to the car’s subsequent owners, haven’t you?)

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been maintained to a good standard.

NB. We know that you will be limiting your social exposure over the coming days and weeks, so please give us a call and we can shoot a personal video of the car honing in on any areas you’d like us to concentrate on.

Or, even better, why not contact us with your mobile number and we can set up a WhatsApp video call? You get to direct us in real-time, giving you a virtual personal viewing experience while maintaining the lockdown. We like to call it ‘The Market’s 2020 Vision’… (We’ll get our coats.)

There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of classic Beetles still giving faithful service to their adoring owners across the world, and there are probably tens of thousands of them for sale at any one time - and some of them are very nice indeed.

And then there are examples like this. Beautifully painted and fitted with one of the nicest interiors we have seen for a very long time, it offers modern build quality and what should be outstanding reliability in that iconic bodywork.

As such, it would make the perfect daily driver for the Beetle enthusiast, yet is in good enough condition to win more than its fair share of prizes at your local car show, and all for the same price as you’d pay for a middling modern pastiche Beetle. Makes you think, eh?

Because, despite its outstanding condition and modern-car build quality, none of its many attributes will be reflected in a huge price tag: while you and I might have fallen head-over-heels in love with it the market only values it at somewhere between £7,500 and £11,000, and with an even lower reserve, seems a ridiculously small sum for a car that will make you smile every single time you use it.

This particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.

If needed, please remember we have a network of trusted suppliers we work with regularly and can recommend: Classic & Sportscar Finance for purchase-financing, Footman James for classic car insurance Thames Valley Car Storage for storing your car and AnyVan for transporting it.

BORING, but IMPORTANT: Please note that whilst we at The Market always aim to offer the most descriptive and transparent auction listings available, we cannot claim they are perfect analyses of any of the vehicles for sale. We offer far greater opportunity for bidders to view, or arrange inspections for each vehicle thoroughly prior to bidding than traditional auctions, and we never stop encouraging bidders to take advantage of this. We do take a good look at the vehicles delivered to our premises for sale, but this only results in our unbiased personal observations, not those of a qualified inspector or other professional, or the result of a long test drive.

Additionally, please note that most of the videos on our site have been recorded using simple cameras which often result in 'average' sound quality; in particular, engines and exhausts notes can sound a little different to how they are in reality.

Please note that this is sold as seen and that, as is normal for used goods bought at auction, the Sale of Goods Act 1979 does not apply. See our FAQs for more info, and feel free to inspect any vehicle as much as you wish.