Volkswagen ‘Bumble Bee’ Beetle: Manual trans’ swapped for the added thrill of driving!

A manual Volkswagen Beetle in India? That’s like finding pani puri with sparkling water – unexpected but intriguing. Yet, here it is. This is Jigar’s Beetle, a car with a story as wild as its transformation. Once a humble, chauffeur-driven school car, this Bug is now a flame-spitting, manual-shifting beast. Let’s rewind a bit. Jigar got his hands on this Beetle the moment he earned his driver’s license. But this wasn’t just any second-hand Beetle, it was his Beetle – the one he grew up with and it was daily driven by his driver. Most of us would’ve left it at that and kept the car for nostalgia. But for Jigar, nostalgia wasn’t enough, he wanted adrenaline. Enter a donor Mk1 Skoda Octavia RS and a dream to turn his school-day companion into a proper performance car.

The Volkswagen Beetle’s design dates back to 1930. Adolf Hitler was the one who commissioned a car to be designed for the masses – a simple, inexpensive machine. The Beetle is now an icon. By 2009, this generation of the Beetle rolled into India. Everyone dubbed it ‘too feminine’ but honestly, that just made it stand out in a sea of average looking sedans. Love it or hate it, you can’t ignore it.

From the outside, Jigar’s Beetle still looks vaguely like the stock car he once rode to school in – if you ignore the flame-throwing side-exit exhaust, matte PPF and 16-inch Borbet wheels nicked from the Octavia RS. As stock, the Beetle housed a 2-litre MPI engine that pushed out 114bhp and 172Nm, and was mated to a 6-speed automatic. But as soon as you pop this Beetle’s hood open, you will see a Mk1 Octavia RS. The stock engine has been swapped with a 1.8-litre turbo-petrol engine, codenamed the EA113. This is the same powerplant that drove cars like the first-gen Audi TT and the Mk4 VW GTI. In fact, the entire front end has been pulled out of a Mk1 Skoda Octavia RS – manual transmission, axles, subframe mounts, hubs, suspension, radiator and fans.

The engine gets a stage 2 ECU tune by Code6, and now pushes out 240bhp and 360Nm. It also gets a transmission swap and instead of the automatic, it now sports a 5-speed manual ’box. The engine gets Audi R8 style red top coilpacks, NGK BKR-7 spark plugs, an upgraded low pressure fuel pump from Bartek and a Gates Racing, Kevlar timing belt. Breathability has also improved with a custom cold air intake and a K&N air filter.

On the inside, the Beetle ditches its dated stereo system for an 8-inch Android screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There’s also a GPS speedometer because factory odometers are notorious for being too optimistic. And unlike certain other German coupes (yes, that’s right 911, we’re looking at you), the Beetle’s rear seats are actually usable. In a world where most cars are bought pre-owned with intent of tuning, Jigar’s Beetle stands apart.

It’s rare to see someone hold onto a car for over a decade and then go all-in on a transformation. Big props to Sameep of Code6 Nagpur, the mastermind behind this build. If his name rings a bell, it’s probably because his BMW 535i also made waves in evo India’s September 2024 issue. Jigar’s Beetle is proof that with a bit of vision and a lot of passion, you can turn a nostalgic icon into a high-performance machine. A bug that bites? Oh, absolutely.