Volkswagen Beetle Engine Performance

The Volkswagen Beetle is now officially referred to as the Volkswagen New Beetle due to one major redesign: its engine. Instead of being placed in the back, the engine now sits up front. The New Beetle's engine is designed to perform according to the car's status as an economy car.

Engine Design

The Volkswagen New Beetle has a 2.5-liter inline five-cylinder engine, with the cylinder blocks and heads made of cast iron and aluminum alloy, respectively. It has a double overhead camshaft valve train configuration, with four valves per cylinder. The engine has a 10-quart water cooling system.

Other Engine Specs

The New Beetle engine has a bore and stroke of 3.25 x 3.65 inches, a displacement of 151 cubic inches and a compression ratio of 9.5 to 1. The oil capacity is six quarts.

Engine Output

The New Beetle's engine generates 150 horsepower at 5,000 revolutions per minute (RPMs). It also produces a maximum of 170 foot-pounds of torque at 3,750 RPM.

Fuel Economy

With the engine paired with an automatic transmission, the New Beetle has a fuel economy of 20 miles per gallon (MPG) in the city and 29 MPG on the highway. For vehicles with manual transmissions, the fuel economy is 20/28 MPG. The New Beetle has a 15-gallon gas tank.

Speed

The top speed of the Volkswagen New Beetle is 125 miles per hour (MPH). Those with manual transmissions are better at acceleration than their automatic counterparts. The former can go from 0 to 60 in 8.4 seconds compared to the latter at 8.6 seconds.

References

• Volkswagen: New Beetle Complete Specs