Volkswagen New Beetle 2.0 i
VW Performance Conversions | Cylinder Head | Unichip Power Tuning

The 'Bug' - Volkswagen's venerable Beetle - was reincarnated and introduced as the New Beetle, capturing the unmistakable charm of the original, while gracing it with the latest in style, equipment and safety.

But while the car has road presence second to none, in standard guise it certainly cannot hold its own when the lights turn to green and the pocket rocket set are keen to play.

Powered by the same 2,0-litre eight-valve engine employed in the Volkswagen Golf and Jetta, it has to make do with a humble 85kW of power and 170Nm of torque.

As a result, the performance of the Volkswagen Beetle can be described as nothing more than sedate.

As one of SA's leading performance specialists, Steve's Auto Clinic recognised that the VW Beetle needs an added bit of get-up-and-go in the performance department in order to match its trendy character.

An in-depth development process was undertaken to find the ideal solution, with the emphasis on increasing top-end power, as the standard engine is too heavily biased towards providing low-down torque, ultimately sacrificing outright drivability.

SAC designed a special camshaft profile that is not too far from standard, while also introducing an enlarged and gasflowed inlet manifold, and gasflowed cylinder head with larger inlet valves.

One of the easiest means of increasing power is by changing the exhaust system, and various attempts were made to do so without impacting too severely on interior noise levels.

But with the VW Beetle's plastic body parts and minimal insulation, the noise levels recorded with a modified exhaust were too high, and it was decided to keep the system standard, aside from removing the catalytic converter.

The fuel tank intake was adapted accordingly to make it suitable for using 93 octane leaded petrol.

The final piece in the puzzle was the fitment of the UNICHIP piggyback computer, which is wired into the car's existing electronic control unit (ECU) and is used to adapt any facet of the engine's performance according to different driving requirements.

Factors such as achieving the best possible fuel consumption, driving additional injectors, controlling the idling and engine timing, as well as removing electronic speed governors can be controlled with the UNICHIP. 

According to SAC, the standard car produced 65,3kW of power at 4 774 r/min at the wheels on the dynamometer, rising to 84kW at 5 919 r/min following the conversion.

The engine's 85kW at 5 200 r/min has increased to around 100kW at 5 700 r/min, with torque leaping from the normal 170Nm at 2 400 r/min to roughly 213Nm at 4 000 r/min.

The performance edge of the SAC Beetle is evident from the moment you drive the car, with the standard version's lethargic responsiveness - particularly at the upper reaches of the rev range - a thing of the past.It feels a lot more eager to be driven, although it's much the same in low to medium speeds.

Push the car hard though, and it responds with the kind of urge that will not have you searching for excuses at the pub.And the performance comparison clearly emphasises these traits.

The straight-line acceleration tests show massive improvements, with the 0-100 km/h time in particular improving by 1,64 sec, and the 0-120 km/h run being cut by an astounding 3,55 sec.

The 1/4-mile and 1-km sprint runs show similar improvements.

But it's the top speed that is possibly the most notable of all, jumping from 181,3 km/h to 192,8 km/h.

While the fourth gear tractability figure remains the same, the fifth gear time is slightly slower - but is still more than acceptable - due to the torque peak being moved significantly higher up the engine speed range.

With the SAC conversion, including SAC's six-months/20 000km warranty, the VW Beetle has gained some measure of credibility in the performance stakes.

And it no longer has to simply rely on its good looks to be credited as a worthy successor to the original Bug.