Yeah, they kind of ruined it. The New Beetle was probably (for me) the high water mark for German auto styling and a solid improvement over the original (although if it was styled by Mays does that count as German? Globalism is funny like that). The new one looks like a tall Porsche and in so doing gets a double dose of the ugly/awkward stick. Yo is right about the cultural image versus reality of the original Beetle - this one should feel right but doesn’t. Interesting how that worked out.