*EPIC* 600hp 1000kg Tesla powered Beetle ! [In-Depth Review and Drive]

On the old

beetle

s, when I was dragged running with them, there used to be a little problem with the engine not to twist them like that, yeah, so what we've done is triangulate these two frame horns. Up here and up there, so essentially there's no way they can flex now because they're essentially triangulated, so we've also reinforced them so the entire back is locked in place. The motor is still rubber mounted, so it is not rigidly mounted. It's still on rubber mounts, but it gives us the best chance that the entire back end doesn't break. Yes, tell me about

drive

shafts.

What do you know other than the fact that some have broken? Well, before you broke down quite a bit. some on the bus and that was 450, so yeah, so this has more torque, yeah, it has wider tires and stickier tires, it's lighter than the bus, so we did a learning exercise on the

drive

shafts, it's okay you broke quite a bit yeah so I think this is the third set of driveshafts now so what about the driveshafts and the CV joints are the instantaneous torque so you got the maximum torque so What does Newton mean? Meters of torque from zero rpm so as soon as you put your foot down, squeeze um so you gotta put in nice thick driveshafts so the driveshafts that we have.

They are now built to the same specifications as the driveshafts in Tesla models, yes, and that means they are nice and thick, they are made of a very strong metal, but also the heat treatment is extremely important, so they actually they shoot up. There is only one company in the whole world. the UK who heat treat to that spec, so they heat treat and then they come back and then we fit Porsche 930 CV joints, so a Beetle CV joint is probably about big, a Porsche 944 CV joint o type 2 o The VW Bus is a little bit bigger and the Porsche 930 is bigger again so every time the CV joints go up that is little force and what we have also done is we have CV joints of port 938 930 race spec, meaning the cages on the CV the joints are built from, you know, something very special, get it exactly, it's not even chromoly, it's something above chromoly, now I forget the name, um, but the whole CV joint is a race spec CV joint that's made for um uh, low-end racing and people like that in the states, um, and I haven't been able to destroy them, yeah, I've tried well so far , they are moggy proof, like if anything is moggy proof, that's pretty impressive, yes exactly, there should be a seal like Intel. inside it must be moist and that's, there's some mark there for you, my friend, yes, exactly, so that so far they are good, they have uh, but you know, the days the day is young, that's yes, well , should we see if?

We can break them, no, no, you need to be on a track to be able to brake, yes, exactly, so the car loses traction before they break, but at some point I want to try to break them well. But not today, no, I took my brave pills and put on my brave big boy pants. You realize we're getting old, we have to make noises while we get into this and when you get out, yeah, and all your knees start. going bankrupt dear unfortunately obviously we are in a covert time so we have masks for anyone who is complaining because we have masks you can make one right now maybe you have a brand name one I just look like some you need some. classic electric car brand I look like a nurse like I should have brought my nurse costume oh no wait no that's different that's a different movie mate that's a different movie now I'm going to do it freely I've never been in a

beetle

before, yes it's mine, so no clutch, just put your foot down and go, there's no power steering, it's the man the steering, the right steering, the right steering and that's it.

As for the suspension, we have a lot of things that we have done with the suspension. To make it handle right, first of all, it's a 1303 beetle, yeah, uh, that is, first a 1303 hazmat and a strut suspension in the front, yeah, a lot of beams, suspension, yeah, so there you're starting with some suspension that has the ability to handle. better than beam suspension, yes beam suspension is pretty good, but the first one is better, so we have lower springs in the adjustable front perches, Bilstein shocks all around, yes, bigger anti-roll bars front and rear um yeah so I've gone to town to make sure the suspension is up to the job of cornering yeah and what range you would get in terms of there's a difference between how you drive it like any car what range would get. out of this or what would a normal person get out of this so 20 mile range that's good yeah yeah not a good day and about 50 mile range on the tires now if I drove it normally uh just sitting in traffic and eating. driving normally say probably 125 to 130 miles okay not bad it only has a 30 kilowatt hour battery yeah yeah which is you know the problem is the right foot it's always been a problem with me Yes, my right foot. it's a lot heavier, you probably see me walking with a limp just because my right foot weighs a lot more than my left foot, yeah, so at any time you can just put your foot on the ground and it just moves.

I always have to look at the speed as soon as possible. while you're doing that you literally turn into an old beetle stuck next to me you're like searching oh look there's a nissan gtr hello bye wow that's cool yeah but the handling is great too so I mean if I make it to this round here now and hopefully there will be enough traffic. I can also show you how it handles because yeah, it's lovely, so I go into this round, you know, a good speed and just, oh, it's like a go go. you leave the roundabout but it will be on your roof spinning around.

The only thing you can notice is the wind noise that's happening because the shape of the body was not designed to go that fast right now, at 140 miles per hour. time on that track a couple of weeks ago I thought one of the windows was open one of the questions since the TV show came out a lot of people saw, you know, you put these electric motors in and they said it's not just that, it's all the other things. things around it is the braking, it's the handling, it's the balance and that's why these cars end up being so much better, it's like some of all the parts of it, yes exactly, a lot of people focus on the performance aspects of electric cars because those are numbers to impress people, yes, but it's very difficult to reflect on paper or a camera how well a car actually performs, yes, you know, the old top gear is like sliding it down the track, it's rubbish, I mean, no one buys a car because it slides. smoking tires out there, but it's impressive on camera, yeah, but how can you communicate with people who are literally going like 50 miles an hour like that, like that, that's absurd, yeah, no one expects that, especially in the bmw x1 and then especially?

If you advance it now, no one expects it, so do it in the blink of an eye. That guy's face was absolutely brilliant, man. Wow, you like it. If you want to go? I wish I could go, man, go ahead, I didn't have to ask. you twice again no, actually, no, okay, so this is my first trip with a beetle. It's a good way to start. Just be easy on the accelerator. That's what I'm saying because even though this is a beetle, it's actually a fast super car, yeah, so just know. gentle until you get used to the throttle but other than that have fun I don't know about sitting in the passenger seat I just like waiting on the side of the road they definitely always overlook it I see we remember the the steering is a little heavy it's better You have to go to the gym, but once you start, it's okay, but you can drive like Miss Daisy no problem, but as soon as you know you've got it, it's amazing, it's amazing, it's about five or ten percent. oh yeah you're just struggling to stroke them yeah yeah yeah if you put your foot down you'll be easy it's funny because they drive a lot of very very fast cars and a lot of them will drive pretty well but if you just mash an accelerator you're going to get in trouble but it feels like if you crush it you're really going to get into it yeah, yeah, but yeah, do you use these cars almost as a test bed for customer cars, yeah, so with my Cars.

I try to push the technology because with a customer car you never want to push the technology because essentially it could affect the reliability a little bit but also the time frame of a customer project, so you always want to do your R&D and your banks. of testing just go ahead, yeah, um, in your own vehicles, yeah, so with this I thought, let's push it, let's see from a performance standpoint how much we can push it, we'll beep a little bit, hey, it's good at that. Unbelievable, I'm gutted, we have masks on because the look on my face at that moment was probably, my eyes just rolled, you saw your mask fall a little when you opened your mouth, what a thing, it's an absolute weapon in the On the road once you get used to it you are used to the amount of power you have and also the limit of the handling, yes this will just destroy anything on the road so having driven the Ferrari this feels a lot faster than that, oh yeah. turn around again and go up the hill because then you'll get the full impact of the torque on the hill too, yeah, so this is, oh, there we go, a little bit of traction control, you know, yeah, and that's just a it's pretty progressive actually, yeah it wasn't it's a little bit but dude I mean this is a lot faster than the ferrari and I thought that was cool well the ferrari dropped those 60 volts to 2.7 seconds, um and that's with a 450. horsepower engine in it, this um, if I fix the traction, put stickier tires on it and take it to a track, it shouldn't run to 60 in about two seconds, but I need sticky tires to do that because power isn't what it's all about right now. about traction, yes, yes, with these road tires not in 60, 3.2 seconds of repeatability, bang bang bang, every day of the week, but not in 3.2, no problem, as long as it is not bad, but to make it less than three seconds and a quarter of a mile in the tens you need.

The stickier tires on this car in the wet must be hysterical and they are quite a bit, thanks for letting me drive. I honestly didn't expect to ride because I know they were a handful, so I really appreciate it. It's evil. You like it, I love it, I can't allow it. I wanted to have this car on the canal throughout filming, when it was in pieces and there were wings on the shelves and things like when it was back on the road. I'll put it on the channel, so friend, thank you very much. That's right, do you want to do another 60?

Well, start there, that was a good way to end the movie, my friend, I liked it, friend, it's good, it's good to be back in Wales, it's always good to be back in Wales, that's right, friend, and with Silly cars like this. The path is fake, well guys, I hope you enjoyed it. If you have, give me a thumbs up. Comments below are always welcome. If you haven't already, subscribe to Petrified for lots more classic electric car content. all your Instagram and social details follow these guys, amazing cars passing through the shop right now, that's all I need to say, why else make it up? um but yeah evil thanks man no problem guys take care we're still alive we're still.

I live alone here, drive carefully as many as you want