The Weight of a VW Bug

The Volkswagen Beetle is absolutely one of the fun cars. It is small, compact, great on gas, and has an aura of fun.

Most people see a VW bug and they think of their late teens and early twenties when life was exciting and it was all about friends, days at the beach, and parties.

How Much Does A VW Bug Weigh?

The Volkswagen Beetle is a very small car and it weighs about 1,800 pounds, give or take a few pounds.

Making the Beetle Even Lighter

When you want to use your Beetle as a racing car, or you want a lightweight “dune” buggy you might want to consider how much a Volkswagen Beetle weighs, and how can I reduce that weight?

Some of the ways to reduce the overall weight of your beetle are:

Take the rear seats out
Change the glass windows out and install windows formed from plexiglass
Remove any trim that is not necessary to hold parts on
Buy wheels that are aluminum and lighter in weight
Remove the passenger seat
Get a carbon fiber hood and replace the original one
Get a racing seat for the driver
Remove extras like the carpeting, badges and emblems, headliner, insulation under the hood, and basically anything not essential to the operation of the engine
Take the spare tire out

The Classic Beetle

Volkswagen started manufacturing the “Bug” in 1938. It was so popular that they continued to manufacture that model until 2003. That is the longest time that any make and model of vehicle has been in production.

The design for this iconic vehicle was created by Bela Barenyl in 1925. Bela was an 18-year-old student in Hungary when the design was submitted.

Easy to Modify

One of the reasons that people loved the VW Beetle so much as it was easy to modify. You could create your own unique look, and change the weight of the VW Bug by removing parts.

The majority of the parts on the bug were bolt-on parts so just about everyone had the ability to make modifications.

The VW Beetle or Bug

Volkswagen did not foresee that their little car would be so popular that almost every country would develop a nickname for it.

The New York Times is the reason why the majority of people referred to the automobile as a Beetle. Once the reference to a beetle caught on people started to call it a VW bug.

In France, the little car is known as a ladybug or a Coccinelle.

In Indonesia, they call the car a Kodak, which translates to frog.

In Bolivia, they compare the car to a turtle and call it a Peta.

Floating Car

The bottoms of the original beetles were sealed so nothing was exposed. The VW bug’s weight was low, and the result was the original bug could float, for a short period of time.

What The Beetle Represented in the ’60s

The VW bug weighed very little. It was very compact, and it took very little gas to operate it.

In the 60s the generation that gave us Woodstock and the Peace and Love movements loved the beetle and drove them in a protest against the bigger cars that drank too much gas and cost too much.

A lot of these little cars were painted with flowers and the favorite designs of the times.

FAQ‘s

How Much Does A 1970 VW Bug Weigh?

The 1970 VW Beetle weighed between 1760 and 1807 pounds.

How Much Does A 1964 VW Bug Weigh?

The 1964 VW Beetle weighed about 1600 pounds.

How Much Does An Original VW Bug Weigh?

The original VW Beetle was a lightweight car that weighed about 1,760 pounds.

How Much Does A 1971 VW Bug Weigh?

The 1971 VW bug weighed close to 1807 pounds.