AN article on WV Beetle was carried by an English daily on May 31, 2016. In the article the writer's views on air cooled automobile engines, particularly in the dusty, dirty and frequently wet or water logged roads of our sub-continent was not stated. This is a continuing problem for air cooled automobile engines particularly in this part of the world leading to frequent engine overheating. Air cooled automobiles, in the countries of our sub-continent are at a disadvantage in this respect.
This writer has a low mileage second hand WV Beetle which appeared to be at a good price way back in early 1960s. However, he had lots of problems with the WV Beetle in all weathers with the regular fouling of the air filter. Despite the lower ambient temperatures in winter, and even on a rainy day, usually a cooler day, invariably the air filter used to be clogged with rise in engine temperature followed by subsequent increase in fuel consumption. The car was always running hot because of constant fouling of the air filter. Ultimately, I sold off the car, in effect, 'passing the buck' on to another person.
All said and done, for our climate and road conditions the WV Beetle was a 'pain in the neck', needing too much care and attention and with no effective saving in fuel consumption. Disposing it off was the only and the best solution.
Engr. S. A. Mansoor
Dhaka
[email protected]
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