You Didn’t Know You Wanted A Volkswagen New Beetle Until You Saw This One With A 357-HP Twin-Turbo VR6, A Manual And AWD

Volkswagen’s New Beetle wasn’t a terrible car, but it also wasn’t exactly built with enthusiasts in mind. VW basically drew up a retro-inspired design and then told its engineers to figure out how to fit a car underneath. Sure, you could get a turbocharged version, and there was that extremely small run of VR6-powered RSi models, but fast forward to today, and there aren’t a lot of enthusiasts itching to get their hands on a New Beetle. Until today, when you saw this Techno Blue Pearl Beetle on Bring A Trailer with a twin-turbo VR6 swap making 357 horsepower.

Of course, there’s a lot more to this build than just a twin-turbo engine swap, but this is the Car Internet, and the rules of the Car Internet say the people want to hear about power before you tell them about anything else. So yes, this Beetle now has a twin-turbocharged, twin-intercooled 2.8-liter VR6. And according to a dyno sheet from September 2024, it makes 357 horsepower and 363 pound-feet of torque. Even today, those are some good numbers, especially when you add in the six-speed manual transmission. 

Still, it probably torque-steers like crazy, right? Well, it would if the power only went to the front wheels, but it also has a 4Motion all-wheel-drive system that should help fix that. According to the listing, it also includes “Sparco racing seats, Stroud multi-point harnesses, KW coilover suspension, 993-sourced front brake calipers, slotted brake rotors, a stainless-steel twin-exit exhaust system, and a Dietrich Wide Body Cup kit that accommodates 993-style 18-inch Turbo Twist wheels.” Are you paying attention now?

If this were just some build that someone put together in their garage, it would still be cool as hell, but you’d probably also have some very legitimate questions about build quality. This particular car, though, was built by HPA Motorsports, which technically makes it Canadian, but it does come with some level of assurance that this car was built by people who mostly knew what they were doing. It’s still an older Volkswagen, but since HPA mostly just raided the Volkswagen AG parts bin, it probably isn’t nearly as hard to work on or get serviced as you might expect. 

In fact, back in 2002, MotorTrend actually drove one that, at the time, was tuned to make 500 hp, and Audi reportedly tested the powertrain with the boost turned up to make 800 hp. Running the 500 hp tune, MotorTrend also got its test car up to 60 mph in a mere 4.25 seconds and ran the quarter-mile in 12.99 seconds. Not bad for a New Beetle. But while this car in its current state of tune doesn’t quite make the 500 hp that MotorTrend‘s car had, it should still handle similarly. At the time, MotorTrend said: 

The GT6’s handling is as stunning as its acceleration, executing a 65-plus-mph wiggle between the slalom cones. Built-in understeer is easily overcome with a generous application of throttle. The AWD vector correction takes place so effortlessly you feel like rally champ Walter Rohrl.

I can’t imagine you were thinking you needed a New Beetle before you saw this post, but now that you have, don’t pretend it doesn’t have your attention. Against all odds, you legitimately want it, and you know what? There’s nothing wrong with that. This car is objectively awesome.

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