[lincpimp]

Have fun with it... Strange that a car with 69k miles needed a water pump. Somehow my 02 f-150 with 180k miles has not needed it, or anything else...

My advice, do not wreck it, as "snaptite by vw" do not take well to be taken apart and reassembled. Everything clips together, and the front bumper alone has 2 dozen parts, each costing 100 bucks or more. For an "economy car" they certainly went over the top with design, guess that is what the germans do (see bmw and m-b).

I almost ended up with a turbo 4 banger gas jetta, but the oil seal in the turbo let go (car did have 75k miles...) and I had a destroyer style smoke screen laying down as I drove thru palm beach fl... Luckily the guy took the car back and all I lost was 500bucks for the deposit and $800 for the plane tickets, got to sleep in the airport too, bonus!

However that 1300 bucks was change compared to what vw charges (gouges) at the dealership. So better get good at fixing that beast!!! Parts are uber pricey too, I always cringe when I think what a new beetle side mirror costs to replace, plus you have to buy it piece meal (cha ching) and assemble it yourself (not easy even after a few).

I did drive a stock version of your ne ride, and it was very solid feeling and accorsing to the owner he could get 47mpg combined hwy/city if he was easy on it. So that is good stuff. Not sure if it offsets the cost of ownership, but at least it is green.

At least you did not buy a new beetles, those are huge piles of crap.