The Volkswagen New Beetle was once a trend leader. It was one of the poster cars of the neo-retro era and grabbed attention with its cute, colorful, and happy vibes. That’s great, but you know what’s even better? Making a cute-as-a-button Beetle ferocious. That’s just what the prolific HPA Motorsports did when it built this twin-turbo VR6-powered 2001 New Beetle GT6. Now it can be yours, so you can own one of the ultimate Volkswagen sleepers.
It’s no secret that we’re all big fans of the Volkswagen New Beetle around here at The Autopian. The New Beetle was a huge deal when it debuted in late 1997. It was the modern, water-cooled successor to one of the most beloved cars of all time. But instead of just making a car that was a nod to the icon of old, Volkswagen cranked the cuteness up to 11. These cars even came with flower vases! Our friends at the Lane Motor Museum say that Volkswagen sold 1.17 million of them by the time Volkswagen killed all Beetle production in 2019. Sure, that’s nothing like the original, but the newer Beetles were popular for a while.
Sadly, the Beetle isn’t looked upon with fondness by many today. We’ve all heard the exhausting claims that the New Beetle was a “girl car” or that it was a Golf, but worse in every conceivable way. If you’re still a naysayer about the Beetle after so many years, I think there’s a Beetle that nobody can hate. It’s this glorious 2001 Volkswagen New Beetle GT6 on Bring a Trailer, which was modified by Canada’s HPA Motorsports to have 500 HP. The car’s running on less power today, but the 357 ponies under the hood will be more than enough to surprise the other car at your next stoplight drag.
The Heroes Of The VR6
HPA Motorsports is currently known for being the savior of the (wait for it) legendary Volkswagen VR6 engine. For those of you not in the know, for over three decades, Volkswagen built V6 engines with bank angles so tight that the engines had only a single head, like an inline engine. “VR” is an abbreviation for Verkürzt and Reihenmotor, which to our American eyes equates to V-inline engine.
VR6 engines are fabled machines. Their compact size allows for V6 power in packages that normally fit four-cylinder engines. Tuners have found VR6 engines capable of building mountains of power while producing exhaust notes that sound like the screams of a Wookie. In my experience, the VR6 is also shockingly robust; easily one of the most reliable Volkswagen gasoline engines of the modern era.
The VR6 was killed off in the West when Volkswagen tossed it out of the 2024 Atlas for a 2.0-liter turbo four. But HPA of British Columbia wasn’t ready to give up on the mill yet, and sourced truckloads of unused German-built VR6 engines that were destined for Chinese VW models. Here’s some more info about HPA from my last piece on the company:
If you have no idea what HPA is, I’ll give you a quick rundown. The shop was opened in a garage in 1990 by Marcel Horn. As Horn explains, in 1987, before he could even legally drive, Horn was introduced to Volkswagen, which sparked a love that has remained ever since. In 1991, the company branded as Highwater Performance Autostyling before just shortening to HPA Motorsports.
Since then, HPA has gained fame for some serious VR6 builds. The company’s twin-turbo Volkswagen Golf R32 got a Gran Turismo Award for “Best in Show” in 2004′s SEMA show. That car also found its way into the media via Gran Turismo 4, Gran Turismo PSP, Gran Turismo 5, and Gran Turismo 6. HPA won a Gran Turismo Award ‘Best in Show’ again in 2007 for its nutty 565 HP Audi TT.
HPA’s exploits go as far as creating cars for Volkswagen itself, which include the Jetta RGT, Passat RGT, and Touareg RGT. Of course, these crazy quick builds all featured VR6 engines. This is all to say that HPA is known for making already great Volkswagens even better.
HPA has a reputation for creating builds with silly amounts of power while maintaining reliability and fit and finish that’s the same or better than the factory. Basically, buying an HPA build is about the closest you’ll get to buying a factory Volkswagen hot rod.
In 2002, MotorTrend reported on HPA’s then latest exploits. Per the publication, HPA told them that so many parts are interchangeable between VAG A-platform vehicles that a talented shop could turn pretty much any Beetle, Golf, or Jetta into a twin-turbo V6 all-wheel-drive beast.
Warp Speed Beetle
HPA says it started its GT6 program in 1999, and it’s the project that helped put the tuner on the map. MotorTrend described the work that went into building the Beetle GT6:
Sadly, you can’t get a Beetle with a (VW 4-Motion or Audi quattro) Haldex all-wheel-drive system from VW. The solution is found in its platformmate, the Audi TT quattro. According to HPA’s thoroughly hospitable president, Marcel Horn, the operation sounds far more invasive than it really is. Total time to make the floorpan transplant, including adding in the all-wheel-drive pieces, is about 80 hours. And in case you suspect a TT driveline can’t handle 500 horses, HPA has confirmed Audi AG’s testing of it up to 800 hp without failure. Yes, it’s that hardy, and the 34 brutal acceleration launches we made in this Beetle (in one morning!) made us believers.
Again, you can’t get a Beetle with a V-6-yet. It takes HPA an additional 16 hours to install a 2.8LV-6 engine in a Beetle (either a Euro-spec 204-hp/ 24-valver as this car has or U.S.-spec 174-hp/12-valve VR6) and two KKK turbos good for an additional 304 hp, bringing the total to an amazing 508 hp. Of course, those giant wheels (Porsche Turbo 993-spec) can’t possibly fit under the stock Beetle’s fenders, so HPA installed a subtle Dietrich Wide Body Cup Kit, as seen on Beetle Cup racers. The other major body mod is a Kersher carbon-fiber wing.
Rounding out this tester are KW adjustable coil-over Competition suspension upgrades front and rear, proprietary HPA/HGP reprogrammed Bosch Motronic ECU with port fuel injection, VW Motorsport/Sachs race clutch, HPA/HGP 3-in.-diameter T-304 stainless-steel exhaust, a paint job, matching rollbar, and a gauge package. The best part is the use of so much factory stuff that already bolts together, speaks the same electro-mechanical language, and looks right-because it is right.
As for how it drove? Well, it was one quick Bug, from MotorTrend:
At the track, a tentative 3500-rpm launch produced a bit too much initial bog out of the hole and “slow” 0-60-mph runs in the mid 5-sec range. Horn instructed us to be much more aggressive: Rev it up and dump the clutch. We settled on a throttle-blipping technique (rather than a constant rpm) from 5000 to 5500 rpm to get the turbos really spooling up, followed by a seriously violent clutch release. Suddenly, it was a completely different car that felt like it could do a wheelie. Everything hooked up and VeeDub’s blunt nose rose up 3 in. and stayed there the entire way down the quarter mile. Our best 0-60 run of 4.25 sec is the quickest we’ve seen this year, with a less impressive quarter mile of 12.99 sec at 102.41 mph.
We suspect the GT6 is even quicker and could probably achieve a 4.0 and 12.55/109, respectively, had it been filled with either the Canadian 94-octane gasoline it was raised on or been driven for a day to let the computer recalibrate for the oxygenated 92 we’re forced to use here in California. Due to the fuel, the ECU was doing its job and insisting on an ever-lower rev-limiter before each gear-change: First to second was fine at 6400 rpm, but the 2-3 shift had to be made at 6000, 3-4 at 5500, and so on. Horn was pleased the car was “protecting itself” by pulling the timing down to prevent detonation, and at the same time disappointed, as we both knew it was even faster.
The GT6’s handling is as stunning as its acceleration, executing a 65-plus-mph wiggle between the slalom cones. Built-in understeer is easily overcome with a generous application of throttle. The AWD vector correction takes place so effortlessly you feel like rally champ Walter Rohrl. And you’d better be holding on tight as HPA’s Porsche Turbo disc-brake conversion halts the Beetle in a throw-out-the-anchor 115 ft from 60 mph.
That’s right, a Beetle GT6 running “slow” still hit 60 mph in the 5-second range. With a good driver, you could probably stomp out some modern sportscars! MotorTrend likened the GT6 to getting nearly the speed of a Porsche 911 Turbo for half the cost.
This Mighty Bug
The 2001 Volkswagen New Beetle HPA GT6 currently up for grabs on Bring a Trailer sounds like a real treat.
The vehicle has had all of two owners in its life, with the second owner getting the vehicle in 2014. It’s said that the vehicle was converted to HPA GT6 specification under previous ownership. That conversion included a 2.8-liter VR6 with a pair of KKK 404 turbochargers, two intercoolers, a Bosch Motronic ECU, and a dual exhaust system. As with other HPA builds, the GT6 also features a 4Motion all-wheel-drive system, and the sauce is delivered through a six-speed manual transaxle.
This particular GT6 is slightly different from the others. A service record from 2015 indicates discovered engine damage. The engine’s long block was replaced in March 2016. Other changes include the Bosch Motronic ECU being replaced with a Link TTLink TTX ECU in 2024 and one of the turbos being swapped out for a BorgWarner K04 unit in the same year. Something that’s pretty neat is that the buyer gets a decade of service records, which detail about $55,000 of work done to keep the car in good shape over its life of about 20,000 miles.
Sadly, this New Beetle GT6 doesn’t make the silly 508 HP as was advertised by HPA. Instead, it’s making 357 horsepower and 363 lb-ft of torque measured at the wheels. A 2001 New Beetle rolled out of the factory with a 1.8-liter four-cylinder good for 150 HP. So even though this isn’t making the magical 500 HP, it’s still twice as powerful as a standard Beetle.
What’s also great is how well the swap was integrated. Comfort features like the air-conditioner and cruise control still work as they should.
I also love the smaller touches like the Sparco seats, 18″ Turbo Twist Porsche-style wheels, the Porsche brake calipers, and the Dietrich Wide Body Cup kit. Toss on the Techno Blue Pearl and dare I say, this New Beetle is a gorgeous little ride. Oh man, I think I have a new dream car. I’m picturing myself rolling up to a light, blasting Weird Al, and just launching like a rocket.
The price for a New Beetle HPA GT6 was $65,000 in 2002, or about $118,387 in 2025. As of publishing, this 2001 New Beetle HPA GT6 is bidding at $25,000 with five days to go on Bring a Trailer.
Is that a ton of money to spend on a New Beetle? Sure is. Would I buy this if I had that kind of cash floating around? You bet! But I don’t, so maybe this Wookie-powered beast can be your next dream car. I know I’m already making this car into a background on one of my devices.
Top photo: BaT
Also, if anyone has ever complained about headroom in a car before, you need to try one of these. It’s like sitting inside a school bus (I’m 6’2″).
I still like the look a lot better than the later NB, which was trying too hard for the retro look. That’s an unpopular opinion, but I haven’t budged on it.
One of the best deals on performance oriented VWs right now is the New Beetle Turbo S. Most casual VW enthusiasts are aware of the R32 and the 337, but the Turbo S was also special; same 180hp 1.8T as normal turbo models, but ….
Basically, it’s the 337 GTI but in Beetle form. Price of a clean 337? $8-10k. Price of a Turbo S? $4-6k for a nice one.
We’ve had one for a decade, it’s been a fantastic car. It’s chipped with a stage 2 unitronics package, and it now makes 235hp, 275ftlbs…. thing seriously moves.
Anyway. Performance New Beetles are rad.
OK, the Porsche wheels are actually a brilliant choice!
I was trying to figure out why I loved the look of it so much. Nailed it!
Porsche Twists are some of the best of all time. IIRC, they had different bore/lug sizes and required a lot of adaptor work to make them fit on VWs.
Makes perfect sense, they were designed for the flowing, bulbous, colorful 911s from the early 90s. This is just a continuation of that, IMO.
I’m sorry Hammond, but I can’t see why you’ve come all this way to tell me about a fast Beetle.
T’isn’t a Beetle, it’s a Porsche!
They made a super-limited-run VR6 New Beetle called the RSI. I don’t know if any made it to the States, but I do recall an article some years ago (on Jalopnik maybe?) documenting how a bunch of basically mint condition cars were still sitting in Mexico.
Even the semi-rare 1.8t Beetles were sleepers, doubly so if you spent that whopping $400 on a chip (at the time, it was soldering only; so you had to be without your ECU for a week or more, buy a second ECU, or just take it to a physical shop).
My old man is about to list his 40k-mile R32 on Dougiebay, and I’m really sad to see it go as his daily driver for over 20 years. The benefit it has for things like the HPA conversion is that it already has the 4mo drivetrain place (even if us Torsen people look down on Haldex as the Beginning of the End of “real AWD”).
I’m tempted to buy it from him, but the value is currently pushing $30k and paying that much for a 20+ year old VW with a very thin availability of parts (single-year model) is not a great idea.
Interesting…40 K in 20 years? That’s 2,000 miles a year and yet it was his daily driver? I used to average 10K a year on my cars and even that was below the national average of 14K (I think). And now I’m averaging ~8K a year and that’s only because I’ve made several 1500-mile round trips to help my mother.
Anyway, I hope you got to drive it and put some of those miles on it. From what I’ve read, they sound pretty good. Not what I’d want to drive all the time, but it’d be fun at a track day. Perhaps a go kart for adults?
And you’re right… most 20+ year-old German cars are likely be pricy to keep running. Although I think (most) VWs will be cheaper than a BMW or M-B. I used to be such a Mercedes fan boy, but I’ve never owned one and their current stuff just makes me sad. I had two BMWs and they both literally lived up to the “Break My Wallet” acronym. My ’01 Jetta TDI wasn’t too bad over 16 years and 165K miles, but I’m happy to be driving something newer (’17 Accord V6).
Now I need to look up “Haldex vs Torsen.” I believe the CR-V we used to own was more of the former.
What makes you a Torsen person? The CR-V was great in the snow/mud. Never got stuck.
Is it a high performance and all-time thing or ?
The mileage was more like 10k/year for 2 years, then retirement, and the car became just something for local errands. It’s never been on a roadtrip (and probably not a great idea with the stiff suspension and short wheelbase).
Torsens are fuel hogs, but they’re engaged 100% of the time and my Passat is 50/50 in normal driving (up to 75/25 F/R if needed, plus passive braking to further send power to a single wheel on each axle). The Haldex systems are usually something like 90/10 F/R, with newer ones fully disconnecting the rear under normal driving. Some people complain that even a few milliseconds to re-engage the rear can be too long under hard driving.
The R32 (original 2004) was really just like a luxury GTI, a little quicker, with much better seats and power. And if you like avoiding attention, it definitely blends in better than a WRX or Evo (which were its main competitors)
I think the CR-V was normally 100% FWD until wheelspin was detected and then it started sending power to the rear. Probably not as sophisticated as some powertrains but always got the job done.
My friend’s Ford Fusion died years ago, and he found a mid 2000s Beetle that he thought might be fun. He ended up loving that car. When his kiddo became old enough to drive, he bought an SUV and gave her the Bug.
He was hoping she’d get bored or not like it, nope. She loves the thing! It seems to have been fairly maint free minus some headlight housing issues.
I remember a black Beetle with a manual sitting at a fly-by-night dealership near my work that was cheap. It almost became a rallycross car, just needed some Rockstar vinyl.
I am a bit bummed that the Jalopy Jeff review/drive video wasn’t included in the article. Gives a really good idea of the sounds that this thing makes.
The VW/Audi nerd in me loves this thing. The (former) VW tech in me says to run in the opposite direction. The New Beetle was fraught with silly problems, and the added complexity of a VR6 shoe-horned in that engine bay and then the added-added complexity of twin turbos chills me to the bone.
Without AWD, this would have been awful.
My V6 Accord with only FWD and I think its 276 HP and a similar torque figure is borderline ridiculous. What it can do to front tires is brutal. (I’ve only done it a few times, once it was broken in.)
The power is nice when you really NEED it to get out of a bad situation, whether it’s of your own making or someone else’s, is nice. But I so rarely use it.
Around town, it’s not particularly efficient, but on the highway, it gets ~40 mpg.
That New (Neue?) Beetle has obviously been lowered, and I saw a fair amount of Porsche parts applied. And very well. I like the wheels and the brakes. And I would take this over a $100K + new or used Porsche.
However, I am not that kind of driver anymore. (Not sure I ever was. I’ve always been too cheap to burn that much fuel. In cars or airplanes.) And short of a track day, there is almost nowhere you can even legally use its manifest talents.
But congrats to whoever wins the auction.
One of my friends used to have a 2016 (?) Accord V6, and I was shocked at how readily it roasted its front tires. It was hilarious because you just don’t expect something like an Accord to have such firepower hidden within.
Well first of all, great article and I love your writing. As a former newspaper reporter, sometimes I don’t even know how you do so much research and type so many words in a day. Thank you for your response! I love this site.
Anyway… Yeah. I’m sure V6 Camrys are the same. At least the 2WD versions, but I believe they were also available with AWD.
When I bought what I have now, it came with crappy Goodyear Eagle OEM tires which my ’01 Jetta TDI, oddly also came with and I hated those tires both times.
But once broken in, I went to a vacant straight road in SE Texas on a fairly warm day (not optimal for performance runs) and explored what the Accord could do.
If you just stomped on it, both front tires would spin furiously but also get moving pretty quickly and spin again when the auto transmission went to second and then chirp going into third. And by then you were into “you’re going to jail, son” velocity. C/D says 60 comes up 5.6 seconds. I didn’t time it, but I’ll take their word for it.
The fact that it gets 40 mpg at 70 on a flat highway is remarkable. The trip from Seattle to Sacramento, over the Siskiyous nets 38 mpg. Doing at least 5 mph over the limit, most of the way.
Because I don’t want to pay for a new transmission or rebuild now that I’m out of warranty, I only floor it to get out of the way of something going on behind me.
Mostly, I waft gently around on adequate torque, enjoy the suspension tuning on imperfect roads and know that I can sprint when I need to.
I remember that car being featured in one of the VW magazines at the time. Like many car articles, it had a “pros and cons” sidebar. One of the pros was something like “challenging a Porsche to a drag race at a stoplight, and actually winning.”
Wasn’t that the RSi Beetle that was all over the magazines?
“Suddenly, it was a completely different car that felt like it could do a wheelie.”
You mean like Herbie?
Going bananas.
Maybe this VW should be nicknamed the Dung Beetle in honor of the expletive that’s most likely to be heard when one mats the throttle.
You made me laugh out loud with this one!
Monty Python: “What’s brown and sounds like a bell?” “Dung!”
The New Beetle also spawned Beetle Adventure Racing for the N64, which was originally intended as a Need for Speed game. It plays like one with some silly/fun powerups added and the multiplayer is fun. Genuinely great game. Especially if you unlock the cop car version and all your opponents pull over for the lights and siren.
That game is seared into my brain forever. That was an evergreen Blockbuster rental. It’s the main reason I’ve always liked the New Beetle!
I’m midly annoyed (but not at all surprised) it’s not on Nintendo Switch Online, or I’d probably be playing it right now. I have it on an emulator on my PC at home because (surprise!) the N64 with that, Hydro Thunder, and Conker’s Bad Fur Day that was promised to me disappeared before it made it into my hands.
My Steam Deck is my emulation machine. I always loved Hydro Thunder’s blue cartridge!
I still have my N64 and cartridge of that game. There were only like five or six tracks but they were ENORMOUS. They had some insanely elaborate shortcuts too – in the Egypt one, you had to drive off the road onto a platform, fully stop atop a large octagonal altar, and then wait as an elevator brought you down to a secret underground rope-bridge path used for absolutely nothing else in that level. The shortcut was good enough to bring you all the way back into the running if, like young Zeppelopod, you got hopelessly lost.
Yep, I remember renting it and recognizing the Ford/Chevy horn borrowed from the OG NFS games.
It should be required by law that any post about the history of the Volkswagen VR6 give at least a passing nod to Lancia.
Ok. I’ll bite. What’s the missing Lancia reference?
I don’t think Lancia invented the idea, but their narrow-angle V-4 with a single cylinder head was the first mass(ish) production use of this design. I would find it absolutely impossible to believe that Volkswagen’s engine designers weren’t (at the very least) aware of the Lancia design, and quite likely studied it in the creation of the VR engines.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancia_V4_engine
Yes. It’s very unlikely they hadn’t seen that. And as you said, it’s likely someone came up with that idea or something like it, even earlier.
But the older I get, the more amazed I am with stuff engineers figured out.
I even think God Himself, sometimes goes, “Whoa, how did they figure that out?”
I especially think that about computer hardware and software (because that was the second half of my career), but physical bits aren’t easy either. And that’s what I learn more about here.
Not that there isn’t computer hardware and software with cars anymore. I used to be able to tune-up my cars in a driveway or a parking lot with nothing more than a dwell meter and a voltmeter. And I didn’t really need either one.
And now, I have a car expensive (not very, < 35K) and complicated enough that I’d take it to the dealer, or at least a really competent mechanic. Fortunately, all I have had to have done is routine maintenance. (It’s an eight-year-old Honda.)
I usually do that, but to prevent this from being a 3,000-word deal, I just linked out to my story explaining VR6 history. 🙂
https://www.theautopian.com/its-finally-the-end-for-volkswagens-legendary-vr6-engine-heres-why-it-was-so-great/
Love this so much but $55k over 10 years on a car with 20k miles on it suggests it’s not quite as robust as Motor Trend would have us believe
No kidding, wouldn’t a nice sensible Ferrari be cheaper to operate?
Right? That’s nearly $3/mile of repairs/maintenance. I’ve owned/operated cheaper airplanes.
That’s what happens when you routinely abuse a car that already has the grenade pin JUST BARELY still hanging in there. This thing was not being driven back and forth to church by a sweet little old lady.
Not the silliest modified beetle that’s been up for sale: https://www.ronpatrickstuff.com/