Comments on: Mexico City getting rid of VW Beetles

By: beatusmongous

beatusmongous — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:53:09 +0000

I guess it won’t be as much fun to play Slug Bug when I go to D.F. anymore…

By: jayjc08

jayjc08 — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:40:56 +0000

C6Racer- I remember reading about the proposal maybe three or four years ago. They didn’t offer to buy any, there were talks about it however. Most of the article I read was speculation over the air quality in Mexico City, and it had been proposed that the government bail out a bunch of Taxi drivers and their vochos. It was directly related to a proposal by the state, or something a long those lines. This is the first time I’ve heard the proposal actually out there though.

By: angelo

angelo — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:54:01 +0000

For $1,500, I’ll take it! It’d be a hilarious car to drive around Indianapolis. Any info on buying one of these for the US? This is funny stuff, I’ll drop an old 911 engine into it and have a heck of a fun car…

NYC is getting rid of the Cown Vics, they’re like 4-years away from having an all-hybrid fleet.

By: shaver

shaver — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:27:06 +0000

They should go to donkey carts.

By: C6Racer

C6Racer — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:55:04 +0000

Well, Vosotros, is there a time of day when they all hide or take a siesta? I went there about 5 years ago and I saw VERY FEW. I went there with my family to visit the Basilica de Guadalupe, and, well, all I saw were the Nissan Tsuru’s. I was very surprised because, two years before that, literally half the cars in Mexico City were vochos. I know what I saw, so I don’t know where on this earth they were hiding if, in fact, they are still there. I realize they do have a very long way to go, but I remember reading a magazine article back when I was in high school, from which I graduated 5 years ago, about the government offering to essentially buy the old beetles off the taxi drivers and planting more trees. Besides, your screen name implies that you are Spanish. Last time I checked Mexico City is in Mexico.

I’m sorry about your ‘Roo, tasteyorange. My 5,000lb truck gets 12-13 mpg city and 20-22mpg on the highway.

By: tastyorange

tastyorange — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 15:46:32 +0000

wish they’d stop quoting manufacturers claims when it comes to city mpg.

you got that right. My Subaru Outback said 22 mpg city. Try 14-16 mpg city.

By: Vosotros

Vosotros — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:15:32 +0000

C6Racer, are you kidding? I was in Mexico City less than three weeks ago for work (I was there for a week… usually there once a year for a week). Easily 9 out of 10 cabs are vochos. And in talking to some of my colleagues in Mexico, the Beetle removal is a very new thing done by the current leftist govt in D.F. They’re very, very environmentally conscious… but as anyone who has been there in the last, oh, 50 years, knows, they have a LONG way to go.

By: Stinky007

Stinky007 — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 10:58:02 +0000

I’d like to see which taxis get 34mpg in Mexico City…
I wish they’d stop quoting manufacturers claims when it comes to city mpg. For crowded cities, the “estimate” is usually off!

By: tastyorange

tastyorange — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 22:22:53 +0000

Now if they could only do something about all those headless bodies lying around!

By: Rafa LL

Rafa LL — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 20:37:47 +0000

The thing was not the color but the beetles. It is exactly like NYC without yellow Crown Vics.

By: yarddog82abn

yarddog82abn — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 18:32:05 +0000

I have look but I can’t find no ware that says which U.S. automaker is the one making the big push to turn green, I did read that the new cars will run for about $15G’s each….

By: yarddog82abn

yarddog82abn — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 18:23:47 +0000

Forget about the color, It’s about Big U.S. 3, taking care of business south of the border, 5 of Mexico’s biggest taxi company’s are getting all new American cars, and get a “peace” of the ca$h of the old bugs headed for the scrapyard, that’s 80,000 bugs at $1,500.00 that the Mexican Government is paying, that’s $120 Million, Lets say each bug is worth $3,500.00 in metal scrap, that’s $2,000.00 going in to someones pocket, the U.S. auto maker that will sell the new taxi’s to the 5 taxi company’s and will not pay Federal import fees nor any Tax in Mexico, if you can read Spanish you’ll find most of this info on Mexico’s news papers, and knowing how my people work, TRUST ME!!! there’s a lot more to this story, not just what color the bugs are.

By: C6Racer

C6Racer — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:42:15 +0000

Well, I guess there’s a chance they didn’t feel like posting this story until now. In that case, the first sentence is false because the last time I went to Mexico City, about 5 years ago, I saw maybe a few Beetles. All the cab drivers have switched over to Nissan Sentra’s which are called the “Tsuru” in Mexico.

By: C6Racer

C6Racer — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:27:43 +0000

Are you kidding me?? It’s been over 6 or 7 years since Mexico started doing this and LLN is just now getting word of it?? WOW

By: jayjc08

jayjc08 — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 13:14:48 +0000

Not to mention the fuel economy…

By: jayjc08

jayjc08 — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 13:12:47 +0000

… I guess kidnappings are part of the landscape they don’t wanna get rid of too…

I don’t think they could modify them to run more efficiently, that’d be a huge but pretty cool project. That would be another cool thing, to have a four door New Beetle for taxi’s, or even just a fleet of a few thousand. I as well have always thought the New Beetle was too expensive, and the Beetle convertible? Wow.

By: howsmydriving

howsmydriving — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 06:18:34 +0000

Ya no quiero VW Beetle.

By: VWgrouP

VWgrouP — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 04:10:45 +0000

Everywhere you go in Mexico you see a Beetle. They could just modify them to fun more efficiently. Or do what they do where im from. Make classic VWs, like the first gen. Golf and Beetle, brand new.

By: calamar

calamar — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 01:46:12 +0000

Hey, I’m a proud Mexican living in Mexico City. For us, the white and green “vocho” as we call them is not part of the landscape, but part of our urban culture since we’ve had them for a long long time. To cardude: it would be great to have new style beetles, but they are around 180,000 pesos (about 17- 18k dollars) and most of the taxi drivers belong to the low class or the middle low class. Consider that you can buy an old beetle for about 300 dollars and a new engine for 400. Honestly, who would want a 18 k car if with a thousand you can have a useful one that will bring money to your house? Even though we have even some Suburbans, they belong to a private company and are lent to the drivers. To Jordan: it’s curious, even though you have a point, almost all of our cabs were two door ones. What the taxi drivers do is that they take the passenger seat off and now you have an easy entrance to the back haha, it’s funny, but that’s what they do. What 1c3d0g said about the color combination is just rubbish, so please avoid stupid comments that honestly don’t lead to a damn thing and it only shows your incompetent ignorance. Greetings from beautiful Mexico

By: Jordan

Jordan — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 00:29:01 +0000

cardude: probably because two-door vehicles usually make poor taxi cabs.

By: cardude

cardude — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 23:10:54 +0000

Why dont they just replace them with new style beetles and paint them green and white?

By: 1c3d0g

1c3d0g — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:54:28 +0000

Like projectzr1 said, whining about some stupid color combination and that it’ll “ruin” the landscape is pretty ridiculous. This initiative is good for the environment, and that’s the bottom line.

By: andy

andy — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:35:56 +0000

go hummer or go home mexico, we gotta ditch them somewhere

By: yarddog82abn

yarddog82abn — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:56:10 +0000

I heard about this the other day by a Spanish news outlet, it’s a big push by a “State Side” auto maker, the good old politics of Mexico did not allowed a Asian auto maker get in one the deal, and the Mexican government is selling the old bugs for scrap to a refinery here in the states, there’s more business here then just going green, but hay all the tree lovers will be happy.

By: projectzr1

projectzr1 — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:30:22 +0000

Easy solution if it fits the landscape that well… Get another more fuel efficient car and paint it green-and-white.

Simple