New Beetle: You saw it here first.

The car has a more square-jawed front end, with straight lines replacing curves. There is a wider front intake, a more chiselled front bumper and pumped up haunches housing bigger wheels that fill up the arches. LED daytime running lights complete the transformation.
From the side, the glass area is narrower and the belt-line is higher. The bulbous rear-end of the 1998 version has been replaced by a more streamlined, sporty look that includes squarer tail-lights, twin exhausts and a spoiler on sporty variants.
The cabin of the old car was criticised for its deep dashboard, which gave it a utilitarian rather than sporty feel, and the new one is more like the popular Golf. The car revealed to the world simultaneously at the Shanghai and New York motor shows has a flat-bottomed steering wheel, carbon fibre highlights, a prominent satellite navigation screen and a row of three sports-car-style dials sitting prominently on the top of the dash.
Headroom has been sacrificed for the new sleeker design but bootspace is improved from a miserly 209 litres to a more useable 310 litres. There’s also a new panoramic sunroof that Volkswagen says is 80 per cent larger than the original.
The Beetle has also dropped the “new” from its title, but the latest iteration will be available in three models, “Beetle”, “Design” and “Sport”.
In a nod to the original Beetle’s “hippy” roots, the car has a sound system developed in conjunction with renowned rock amplifier and guitar maker Fender, weapon of choice for Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards and Eric Clapton.

Engines include 77kW and 103kW diesels and three forced induction four-cylinders; a 77kW 1.2-litre turbo, a 118kW 1.4-litre turbo and supercharged engine and a 147kW version of the 2.0-litre turbocharged engine in the Golf GTI. Conventional autos, manual and twin-clutch automated manual transmissions are available.

The car will be launched in Europe in October and should arrive in Australia in the first quarter of 2012.

Memorial: Leon Jubert

I’ve been thinking long and hard today about whether to post this or not. I have obviously decided to.

Leon was a client of mine and an all-round good bloke. He  and his friend Greg were killed the night before last on his way home from a weekend riding with mates. By all reports the group were not speeding or doing anything out of the ordinary. A woman driving a red Falcon ute coming in the opposite direction, pulled out to overtake the car in front of her and plowed into the group of  bikes, head on. I have heard from more than one source that she was on the phone at the time, but I have no way of confirming this (or otherwise).

Predictably, there will be the oft-heard “I didn’t see them” from the woman at fault. Regardless of the fact that the accident happened during daylight hours and all the bikes had their headlights on.

The next driver that casually turns in front of me while talking on the phone and gives me that smug little “oops,. my bad” look, is getting their door kicked-in.

Rest in peace Leon. You are, and will be, missed by all of us who were lucky enough to know you.

http://skynews.com.au/national/article.aspx?id=602557&vId=

“Classy” doesn’t even come close.

Raise your kids right.