It looks like something Humpty Dumpty might drive. Or a vehicle for a sporting Weeble, those round-bottomed characters children play with. And it most certainly has gained a reputation as a “chick car” because no self-respecting man would ever be caught dead driving a car so…round.

The Concept 1, the show car that re-introduced the Beetle to VW and its customers, was smaller, more compact, and more rakish. The car that made it into production seems as tall as a telephone booth and as wide as a truck. Granted, it has gobs of headroom (Abe Lincoln would have loved it), and the rearward driving position – despite increasing the depth of the instrument panel to minivan proportions – gives the New Beetle terrific front crash stats. Still, the New Beetle isn’t really a sporting car. And the dash-mounted bud vase doesn’t lessen this impression.

Of course, shoving a turbocharged 180-hp, 1.8-liter four-cylinder under the hood, and mating it to a slick six-speed manual gearbox goes a long way toward changing people’s perceptions. Also adding alloy trim (real aluminum!) to the steering wheel, pedals, door handles, shift knob, gauge centers – even the bud vase! – helps, as do more aggressive front and rear fascias, 17-in. alloy wheels, and an automatically deployed rear spoiler.

Let’s discuss that last item. Located above the rear window, this device rises at 45 mph, and retracts when the car slows to 10 mph or less. Only it makes one heck of a lot of noise doing so. The extension sound is mostly motor and linkage noise, while the contraction cacophony is accompanied by an almighty “thwack!” as the spoiler returns to its base. All of it is amplified by the location of the offending unit above the passenger’s heads, and the rounded “cathedral” ceiling. Couldn’t VW have placed a fixed spoiler in this position, and used the money saved to put a wiper on the large rear window? It would have been a better choice.

Picking the 1.8-liter turbo engine, however, was a good choice, mating it to the six-speed gearbox an even better one. Rated at 23 mpg city/30 mpg highway, the little motor is acceptably frugal, especially in light of its ability to produce lots of power low in the rev range. And – unlike many earlier turbo motors – a slight feathering of the throttle allows the driver to choose the propulsion level. It’s not an all-on, all-off motor.