As he often tends to do, Brian sent me a message the other night that consisted solely of a YouTube link and the words “Look at the link that I just sent”. Even though I know Brian and have been burned by this trick before, I did so anyway.
Color me surprised when, instead of some horror from the depths of the internet as per usual, I was presented not only with a VW Beetle, but a Beetle powered by a Subaru WRX STi engine to boot!
I could have sworn that Brian installed a browser plug-in that prevented old VeeDubs from showing up in his search results, but perhaps it was disabled that day or he secretly shares a love for small and oddball automotive freaks like I do (Come on over to the dark side, Lohnes; we’re open late and the beers are cheap).
I’m going to get flamed either way, so no point in hiding it: I love this kind of stuff. Not that I’m a fanatic for old Beetles as I know almost nothing about them, but the car itself seems to have a pretty cool “street fighter” vibe with the matte paint job, what looks to be sixteen inch wheels, and a set of white letter tires. Yeah, it’s still ugly, but that’s the point. The interior is neat as well with the OMP steering wheel, gutted interior, and the factory Euro/JDM STi gauges stuffed into the dash. One thing that I’m questioning is the front suspension as it creaks like an old ship when turning at low speed, but hey, it’s a Beetle so you knew something still had to be broken.
The real star is the engine itself, which is the Subaru EJ207 that was offered in the STi everywhere else in the world but the United States; us fat Americans were stuck with the EJ257 because Subaru of America thought that we would value more low end torque over an 8000 RPM screamer. Thanks guys.
Details on the motor itself are a little thin other than a simple claim of the boxer motor being fed around 20 lbs of boost (Which I believe is close to what the stock turbo churned out, although there is no mention of the turbo used) and putting out “325+” horsepower. With the Gentleman’s Agreement of a max of 276 horsepower still in effect at the time in Japan and the EJ207 well known as underrated due to that agreement, this may be a relatively stock engine. Either way, a Beetle from that time period weighed about 1800 pounds, so even 276 horsepower would be more than enough to get the People’s Car moving in a hurry. I’m a little curious about ground clearance with the oil filter as the last EJ-swapped Beetle that I saw had the filter precariously close to Mother Earth (Talking an inch or so here).
Long story short, I love the sound of a boxer motor at full tilt (Although I could have done without the Fast and Furious blow-off valve) and the owner/driver doesn’t fail me in this regard as he uses all of the 8000 revs available during what appears to be a shake down run of the car. This is actually going to be a twofer as I’m embedding videos from both inside and outside of the car. If anyone has more info on the car, feel free to post in the comments.
CLICK BELOW TO WATCH VIDEOS OF THIS HOT ROD BEETLE IN ACTION
Very Cool! I’d like to see some better video of it…
Nice sleeper as long as the intended victim doesn’t notice the exhaust.
You just have to love wheatgrass of any stripe. Very cool car.
Wheatgrass my ads. Should be Gearhead!
These are all previews from the upcoming movie, “Herbie Grows a Pair”.
What’s not to like about that? Cool
I like it. But, loose the blow off valve, makes it sound stupid!!
Some people don’t care for blower noise or blow off valve noise and that’s OK. Real motorheads notice those sounds right away and know something cool is going on. That VW is a real sleeper. I’d hide the tail pipes and muffle the blow off valve and go Mustang, Camaro or Challenger hunting with it then…..
Not new.
There are at least 2 like this racing NASA here on the West Coast.
I want to build one!!
I have a friend who has a subaru powered dune buggy. most of us run vw powered buggies. Another friend had a turbo subaru buggy. The oil pan should not be an issue as it only rides about an inch lower than the stock 1600 vw motor. The question I would have is what Tranny is he running? I saw the non turbo suby motor scatter a 3 rib bus tranny. That guy since moved up to a BUILT 6 rib bus tranny. I just wonder what is hiding in this sweet beetle here.
From the description in the first video it looks like a Porsche G50 transmission.
Not cheap from what I’ve found in a few quick online searches.
Hope this helps!
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