Let’s All Take a Minute To Appreciate the 2001-2003 VW Beetle RSi

Photo: Volkswagen

Volkswagen’s New Beetle doesn’t get a lot of respect. This is especially true with the exceedingly cute and twee first generation, but there’s one Beetle from this generation that deserves all the respect, and that’s the Beetle RSi.

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If you’re not familiar with the Beetle RSi, it’s understandable. VW only made 250 of them for the entire world, and while that sounds like the recipe for a sweet homologation special, the RSi wasn’t homologated for anything. Instead, the RSi was a limited production testbed for the MkIV Golf R32. The R32’s VR6 engine first saw duty in the RSi. The Haldex-based all-wheel drive system did, too, and it sort of goes on from there.

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So, the headline figures for the Beetle RSi are as follows: 221 horsepower, a six-speed manual gearbox with a very short short-shifter, fixed-back Recaro racing bucket seats, a standard Remus twin-tip exhaust system, a widebody kit, a huge spoiler on the back, some dope OZ Superturismo wheels and the word round the campfire is that Porsche handled the RSi’s suspension tuning.

During the car’s production run from 2001 to 2003, it sold for $80,000, which would be equivalent to roughly $138,000 today. That’s clearly not chump change, but the RSi wasn’t a chump’s car. Instead, it’s a great example of Volkswagen at the weird, wild peak of its power, and it makes the cavalcade of boring box crossovers we get from the brand today seem even sadder.

So, let’s pour one out for the gnarliest Beetle that the factory ever churned out, and one whose like we’ll never see again.