h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

... to the left hand side of the steering wheel in all of the new Volkeswagen Beetles?

It's just wrong you know

It's really a very small cupholder

No, I think that it is marketed as a flower vase. It's one of those quirky things that they just decide to include in the overall package.

Basically it makes VW Beetle the second girliest car on the market after the Ford BabyShit

Ford BabyShit?

Ka

Flowers in the house, office or at a real push in your hair (assuming you are a girl) but in your car? No its just wrong - unless you are a hearse that is.

It's all part of the retro package 'feel'. It harks back to the 60's hippy culture and 'flower power'. The Beetle and the Type 2 camper van were hippy favourites back then.
Incidentally, they don't give a flower away with it any longer. At least not in the UK.
DK

There is a car locally that has flowers all over it. There are little vases all along the dashboard and flowers hanging from every possible vantage point inside the cabin. The bodywork is splattered with loads of big colourful flower decals all over it.

But it's not a VW Beetle, it's Toyota Corolla. So therefore it's very wrong on both counts

Well, for the discerning owner, new Beetles are currently being offered with flower decor or psyco.., pschodee..., jazzy patterns all along the sides as an optional extra. You may see one soon.
DK

There's at least one flower on this VW:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lomokev/42772212/in/set-87060/

> "Why the little flower vase..."
Perhaps it's a precautionary bowl-of-petunias measure.

> "It's just wrong you know"
Which could be why it's on the sinister left.
VW's just this car, you know. (That'll be 6 million Altairian dollars.)

Sounds like a vast improvement over the Citroen AX and its wine bottle racks in the doors. How very French!

Ford BabyShit

I my Ka!

Hmmm - Ka's are reported to have the design defect that in a head on collision both doors become un-openable.

I don't intend having any head-on collisions.

My Ka has served me well for the last 3 years. Uses b*gger-all petrol too

Oh and regarding the flower vase - it's because its a cissy car.

Good plan GB. Also in its favour is good side impact protection. - If in doubt - hit it sideways.

Speaking of collisions, that reminds me of something that happened to a friend in college. She was struck broadside in the drivers side door by a vehicle that ran a red light. She was driving a Hyundai (this was in the late 80's when they were a new car brand in the states.) The collision pushed her vehicle over the curb and onto the pavement (sidewalk here). This tore the floorboard out from under her feet. The car was totalled but she walked away with minor cuts and bruises. She claimed the car saved her life because it was so well built.

The vehicle that ran the red light was a small motorcycle doing perhaps 30 mph. The rider had fewer injuries than she did. Her vehicle looked like it was hit by a wrecking ball. Her vehicle probably saved the cyclist's life.


(Not that I wouldn't recommend a Hyundai now, mind you... this was their first model.)