I am a absolute beetle fan, but I love the 2CV also. A very impressive car, which is sometimes better designed as the beetle. So I agree with you, a beetle fan does not have to hate the 2CV and vice versa!
They were built for two different purposes. The 2CV was meant as a farmer's car, the VW was meant to give reliable transportation on the new Autobahns to get people on side with Hitler's road building program. The VW was a roaring success in the United States because it could be driven on the interstate highways without much fuss. A 2CV with a top speed of 45 mph ( the early ones) just weren't suited for North America and they never had a great dealer network where VW did. Also, a 2CV was designed to not need much maintenance but the beetle needed its valves adjusted every 3,000 miles or the number one exhaust valve breaks off and goes through the top of the piston due to its not getting enough cooling air. I've owned both, both are great but they aren't really competitors.
@@zeon5323 It's been a lot of years since I owned a VW, but I am referring to the left front cylinder, front meaning facing the front of the car. Is it number one or number three? I know that when I adjusted the valves on my 62, that one exhaust valve was always tighter than the others.
@@lawrencelewis2592 here in Brazil, the VW air-cooled engine was way common (and still common), the country is hot, population's maintenance culture was always very poor, and even this there's no fame of "exaust valve breakin' off and going through the top of piston" of this engines. They are pretty reliable!
The VW was my first car (1975), the 2CV the second (1978). As stated in a previous review, I also broke an exhaust valve on the VW, never had a problem with the 2CV. Braking on the VW tended to heat up in the mountains (fading). The 2CV for its part was too slow uphill. In terms of use, the 2CV needs much less gazoline and was much more versatile (removable seats, removable roof, flat floor, larger trunk). In terms of feeling and fun, the 2CV wins hands down for young people but the VW is much closer to actual standards. If we look in detail, conceptually the 2CV is much more advanced while being minimalist. The VW for its part benefited from a robust and neat manufacture.
Great video, but it doesn’t show how you can take out the back seats of the 2cv and slide the trunk panel to have a pick up and load stuff like a washing machine within 2 minutes (did it this summer). Seems like 2cv is fun and practical whereas the beetle is more a cruiser for that time.
I went with my then girlfriend to Italy back in the 1980's, and a friend of hers living in Rome had a 2CV. At the time, I had just sold my 74 Beetle. All I remember was how very slow and softly suspended this car was. The appeal of it was really confusing to me. But I guess it had to do with the high fuel economy and the ability to handle Italian roads, which at the time, were pretty awful. I also remember that Rome was literally crawling with Fiat Cinquacentos. They were everywhere. The 2CV looked like a limo compared to those.
Because of corrosion giving it a bad image, Citroën pulled the 2CV from the market in 1990? That's both ridiculous (the car had been out for almost 45 years by then) and wrong (production stopped because it would have required MASSIVE re-engineering to meet newer safety standards, and the car's older mode of assembly wasn't compatible with modern assembly lines). As for upgrades, a small shop in France does provide a service for EV conversion and even "new" 2CV with native electric systems : they have original chassis numbers and have the original tooling to build a "modernized original" 2CV from the ground up. It's costly though.
I always thought that production was stopped in Europe because there is no way that the engine could meet emissions standards & there is no way Peugeot were going to invest money in such an outdated design.
@@skasteve6528 the engine was the easy part to fix : add a particle filter and a catalyst exhaust, compensate for the power loss with a simple injection system and you're good to go; crumple zones and reinforced chassis are another matter entirely, and ABS was completely impossible at the time on such a suspension system.
Do you have contact information for these 2CV companies that you mention? I have a friend who may be interested- he has about 6 2CVs plus Meharis and Amis.
@@skasteve6528 that's the easy bit. There were plenty of then modern, clean and efficient engines to put in the 2CV. But getting it past crash tests was impossible due to it being from the 40s.
I had a Mini a long time ago, always thought I would get one again, but lately I've been thinking about getting a 2CV or a Beetle instead. Objectively, the Beetle is the better car, but the comically soft suspension, the quirky technical solutions, it being a ragtop, usually lower prices and cheaper parts... pull me towards the 2CV.
I've owned both, my 1959 2CV - AZ was a fun and reliable car but *much* slower than any Beetle ever made . Both are death traps in collisions, I've had several serious collisions and a rollover at 80MPH in my 1953 Split Window Beetle, I don't think I would have survived those collisions on a 2CV. I still have and enjoy a putt-putt 1959 Beetle survivor with 3t horsepower engine, it';s not speedy but easily goes on the freeway and never overheats the engine in Death Valley because there's always unlimited FREE COOLANT . Keep either one stock and you can drive it flat out all day and night . Hot Rod either one and engine life will be drastically short if fun while it lasts . -Nate
The thing that makes the 2CV loveable is its apparent flimsiness of construction and the feeling that it could fall apart any moment and that you could repair it with duct tape or glue. That is also the thing that puts it against the functionality and toughly engineered but easily maintained Beetle. Both have character, both are loveable but they are so different I couldn't really compare one to the other. We are sadly missing fun cars in today's market.
The last cars made in this line of thought were the Twingo mk1 and the soon to be dead Lada Niva. Unfortunately there's too much demand for things in cars that aren't really what makes a car, from scrotum massager seats to voice assistants telling you your defunct mother-in-law's cats birthday and a warning light to tell you your fly is unzipped.
@@rrs_13 I'd make an argument that a Chevy Express could be classified the same way, but the engines have certainly grown more complex than the platform it's bolted to...
@@rrs_13 Get yourself an old series Land Rover. You'll get the same enjoyment as with a Beetle or 2CV plus 'go anywhere' ability, carry nearly anything capability and it's simple enough to repair yourself when it goes wrong. Mine is old enough to not have seatbelts and when it came out of the factory indicators were an optional extra, as was a heater!
@@koitorob I know what you're saying. But I enjoy offroading a bit more than fixing the vehicle, that's why I own a Land, but the superior version: the Land Cruiser heheh just poking fun, I still love the defender in the 90 wheelbase, or even a 3 series, but I wouldn't trade it for the simplicity, reliability and ruggedness of my FJ40.
I had three 2CV's. The first wrecks nearly falling apart. One barely had breaks, acceleration by a bushel line etc. The last one a new 2CV Charleston. I loved them all and regret we now only have moving eggy bubble gums. The world at that time was beautiful. Only being an old fool.
6:29: The German term "Verarbeitung" does not translate as "processing" in the context of automotive engineering. The correct term is "fit and finish" or "build quality".
My dad had a beetle for 14 years went round the clock and sold it for its original price! Ran it in the heat and cold winters in Iran brilliant reliable car learnt to drive on it too!
@@Cacowninja yes back in the sixties cars in Iran then carried 1200% tax! Best Buy my dad ever had. My Best Buy? The current Vauxhall Viva bought for £8460 new and now just over three years old been offered £7600. Will keep it as our second car.
i just love todays german cars technology, but 2cv it's just a dream for any car gig. so much innovation, so much design. its just awesome, the suspension desing!!!! man that car its just awsome. one of the best cars ver made by far
The suspension is good for ironing out bumps but has no lateral roll control. I've had mates following me when i've been 'pushing on' and they've sworn they were about to see me roll the car. As the driver you soon don't notice the roll, not so the passengers 🤣🤣🤣 I've had them screaming at me to slow down, or just scream! The funny thing is, i could corner half as fast again in a modern car and they wouldn't even look up from playing with their phone...
@@koitorob It's been demonstrated many times that no matter how fast you go and how hard you corner it's virtually impossible to roll a 2CV. It may lean over a frightenly amount but it will stay upright.
Je suis Français. Jusqu'à mes 18 ans, mes parents avait une 2CV dans le garage, une édition France 3, en rapport avec un voilier de l'époque je crois. Ce n'était pas une voiture de collection, c'était la seconde voiture. Ma mère l'utilisait souvent. J'ai appris à conduire sur cette voiture, à tenir le volant sur les genoux de mon père, puis à tout faire seul. Mes parents absents, je piquais la voiture et allais me balader dans le village, invitant mes amis à une balade.. J'avais a peine 14 ans!! C'était une voiture tellement merdique. Pas de puissance, pas de freins, pas de sécurité, pas de confort... horrible!!! Mais à mes 18 ans, avec le permis en poche, j ai pu la conduire légalement... Et en été, le toit découvert, avec mes amis, à rouler doucement à travers la campagne française, de village en village, de bistro en bistro... c'était magique. Le bruit, le vent, les rires... Je ne pense pas qu'une Renault Zoë puisse en faire autant.
Pas de freins?... le freins de la 2cv sont superbes... Pas de puissance = securité. Je ne suis de part car je suis italien. Beetle, prinz, mini, 500 sont toutes belles mais ne peuvent rivaliser avec le projet de la deuche.
The reason the beetle had a bigger engine was not because of efficiency, it was because of speed. The beetle was designed to go highway speeds on the Autobahn. While the 2CV was designed for fields and towns. A 1500sp beetle(60s era) in stock form will still keep up with modern highway traffic.
I've got a beetle with the 1600 engine and it easily keeps up on any European highway around 120km/h and even up to 160 if you really push it. Gas consumption goes through the roof at that point but it's really funny to see the faces of other drivers seeing you bypass them in a car that is probably older than their parents.
@colonelsmith7757 exactly. On the gas mileage front; The earlier carburetors, like pict 30/31, used to allow for adjustment in order to be more efficient in the higher end.
@@Iskelderon If you look at its engineering then you will see that it can put to shame Bentleys. Not for luxury or looks although this is like the Beetle, it is another lifestyle and look. Even recently, my daughters went for a ride in one and found so amusing and pleasant as the rise is so smooth and holds the road better then most sports cars of the 50s. Its suspension is one of most ingenious as you cannot fail their road holding. The car not tilt on bumbs as the front and rear suspension are cleverly connected. So on roll happens but you get used toit. Unibody, front wheel drive, independant suspension. The car was as good as any 4X4 off-road, making this car perfect for farmers. Indeed, rust has been an issue on Citroen until they became part of Peugeot and it has long been solved. I say that Ford are still the cars which rust quite fast and this has been so for years. But rare are the companies that could match Citroen's comfort even in its small democratic cars.
The shared cylinder head of the vw was bad and cracked, had poor economy, cramped, comparitively hard to work on, poor off-road performance. The 2cv was a design masterpiece, it's low weight, genuinely robust engine, large wheels making it a far better people's car than the vw.
@@lucrolland7489 I owned a Dyane and for you to say a 2CV is as good off road as any 4x4 is total rubbish! Yes it's good on rough ground in the dry, but when grip is needed, with road tyres and only two wheel drive it will ALWAYS be beaten by four wheel drive! That said, when the entire workforce bitched and moaned about the speed humps that were put in at work to slow cars down going into the car park, i could still happily glide over them at 30mph with ease, and often did! Which was odd because i would never have driven that fast into the car park before they put them in. I just did it because i could, and to upset the management.
@@koitorob My dad used 2CV and 2CV fourgonnette a lot and it was pretty capable offroad or in the snow. It is of course not as efficient as a Toyota Land Cruiser or Hilux (we had one as well as long as a 504 Pick-up Dangel), but it may do the job easily as good than most Audi quattro or SUV that we see too much in the streets nowadays.
5:30 Bit of a correction here; The 2CV started out with 9 horsepower, worked its way UP to those 29 in 1980. The beetle STARTED with 30 and eventually got up to 58 in the later 70´s. Fuel consumption was always better in the 2CV, yes, but the power of the beetle was a good bit more. the first design was intended to comfortably get a family of 4 around the autobahn at 100kph (60 mph) at less than 8l/100km of fuel consumption while the 2CV was intended as a farmers-car, usable on less proper streets and as easy as possible to maintain.
What always surprised me about the 2CV is that despite being a farmer's car the wheels were always extremely narrow, even in the later models. I know it's very light, but didn't it get stuck in the mud all the time?
@colonelsmith7757 narrow tires are generally better for mud and snow, as long as youre not trying to go down hardcore offroad trails but rather badly maintained roads, loose snow in moderate amounts, and so on. They cut through whatever slush is up top and get to the firmer, more compacted surface below. Remember, this is from a time when tread patterns and all that were VERY basic, so your best bet was just to reach traction.
The two cars along with the Italian Fiat 500 Bambino, spoke of their national characters. France... Vive La difference with comfort, unique style and engineering solutions. Germany... A great appliance and unkillable, as per the video. Italians... Squeezey, cute and endearing plus sometimes a little tempremental. The thing that killed the 2CV was compliance.. Crash tests, side impact and emissions. French built 2CVs were of a higher standard than the Portuguese models in 1988 to 1990, where rust was a real issue. 2CVs were dynamically very safe with tenacious road holding, fabulous ride, steering and brakes. Bettles before the Super Bug were inherently unstable, leaving the road backwards or turning turtle if pushed that little too much. A Bettle had a more durable body, but you could unbolt every bit of a 2CV to replace it, including the chassis. And the seats clipped put for picnics or heavy loads. Hey I am a teency bit biased. 3 new 2CVs. 1978, 1982. 1990 and 550,000 kms of making friends everwhere across the globe over 43 years... C' est Manifique.
I'm curious about the statement of portuguese models being of lower standard than the french models. Do you have anything to back that up? I have worked on quite a few 2cv, and the only true issue I've noticed is Portuguese ones tend to be owned in seaside areas (I think the portuguese people mostly live in coastal areas), but the sea is a problem for every car. On the other hand, a lot of 2cv from France are usually way more rusty, and rusty in worse places, since the climate tends to be more humid and roads are salted during winter in some places (whereas in Portugal they dont do it). But this is a conservation issue, not a factory issue. I've seen a lot of them completely stripped (that is sandblasted\dipped), and I cant say I've noticed any construction difference between the two. I'm also a little biased: while the 2CV is trully a simplicity genius, as an automobile the Beetle was superior (and as a little city car the 500 was better, since you mentioned it). I never like these comparisons because each car was the best answer for the necessities they tried to fulfill and the buyers they were aiming to.
@@rrs_13 My parents had a Citroën dealership back in the day, and I can confirm that the Portuguese 2CV were built more sloppily. I remember hairs in the paint job, which you would not have seen in a French 2CV. I think today you won't find much of a difference any more as those parts will likely have been replaced by now.
@@madearl That is a rather disapointing fact! Really odd to know something so obvious passed quality control. Portuguese factories aren't usually known for poor quality, sometimes quite the opposite. There's a reason VW has had such a long presence in producing cars in Portugal, and a lot of the famous Toyota Hilux and Land Cruisers were\are built in Portugal. But the 2cv portuguese production does coincide with a period where strikes were common, and some production quality declined (comparatively with their near-german perfectionism of the dictatorship times). As a curiosity, portuguese made H&K G3 rifles are considered on par in terms of build quality with the originals made in germany. Anyway, it's nice to know these curiosities, mainly from someone like yourself, which witnessed the state of the cars arriving at the dealership. Cheers
@@rrs_13I have owned two new French built 2CVs 1978 Club 1982 Charleston. 55,000 KMs, then 200,000 KMs. My Paris delivery Sept 1989 Charleston I used in Europe for 3 months before bringing it home to Australia. No rust problems with either French built cars. Portuguese Charleston has a new front floor replaced under warranty at 5 yrs, as rust was a known issue on these. Replaced the chassis after 20 years. The spare roof I bought in 1990 as soon as production stopped was a little narrower than it should have been and had NO centre clips to slide onto the lugs on the body. I have a Portuguese 2CV for 34 years and a wonderful Portuguese partner for 26 years. Love. Them both.
I rented a Citroen 2CV in Lisbon, Portugal in 1985 & my family & I drove it up to Fatima & back! I didn't request it, but that is the car that they had available! The car ran well with four passengers & had an unusual gearshift system in the dashboard, which took a little getting used to! All in all, it was a 'fun' experience, but not to own permanently!
Deux modèles différents qui finalement montrent un art de vivre spécifique et similaire : lorsqu'on roule en 2 CV ou en coccinelle, définitivement on préfère une voiture pas comme les autres ayant un très fort pouvoir d'attraction. merci pour le partage.
It's not the engaging but the driving reverse and then braking on the motor. There is a locknut on one of the axles that is self tightening but in reverse it can come loose when motor braking. So best is to drive reverse at low speed (boring) or engage the clutch an brake normally
Here are the names related to the ancient beetle. VW KÄFER (Germany) VW CAROCHA (Portugal) VW FUSCA (Brazil) VW FUSCA Classic VW FUSQUE VW FUSNACAR VW BESOURO VW BETTLE (England and States United) VW SEDAN (México) VW COCINELLE (France) VW BETTLE AND KAFER (Spain)
The german guy in the begining is wrong. The two cars had very differant goals. The 2CV was designed as a low maintenance off road farmers car. The idea was to replace the horse in rural France. The cars had to be minimalistic while offering very high level of engineering to reach the goals. Front drive engine for off road capabilities. Air cooled flat twin engine cast in aluminium body like sportscars. for easy maintenance and high weight/power ratio. It was a sustanable product, with autonomy as a priority. The VW on the other hand was design to rely on two networks. The VW dealerships (one in every village as said in the film) and the roads and highways build by the nazis. At that point we enter political considerations. When the French say it?s not a car, it's "un art de vivre" that's what they mean : Citroën was selling freedom. The 2 CV does not need a road. Does not need a technician. Does not ned oil. Burns modest quantities of gas. VW was selling lots of services and an entire infrastructure of highways, dealerships, garages. Not a car. There is no freedom in the concept. The beetle is not an off road war despite what the film tries to suggest. In fact it has all the flaws we are trying to correct now with the sustanable economy : Looks and social status rather than efficience. Low level of performance due to rear drive and rear engine. Lack of practicality (low storage, 2 doors. Lack of comfort. Needs paved roads. Needs technicians. Burns a lot of gas.
true, except the first 2cv who had a aluminium body (1939 model, never sale) , had a water cooled engine.The air cooled engine came only with the definitive 1948 2cv, completly re-ingeneered to reduce overall costs...
Low levels of performance !. . .I guess you've never seen a beetle on a drag strip then Needs paved roads !. . . .guess you've never seen Baja racing either Needs technicians !. . Nope, just a 13mm spanner
@@jamesleakey247 The performance part i don't really understand either tbh, maybe the fact that the handling could be seen as tricky and dangerous in more situations that the handling of a 2cv? a Baja racer has been modified extensively to go offroading while a bog standard 2cv will go places that a normal beetle couldn't even dream of reaching and even most currently sold offoraders will struggle to get to. Plus the 2cv is more comfortable offroad than a Beetle, way, way, way more comfortable in fact. The part about needing technicians isn't really true either, but it's still easier to fix a 2cv than it is to fix a beetle.
@@jamesleakey247 sure, if you think severely lifting, modifiying suspension, putting way bigger offroad tires on, making them slightly more powerful, adding skidplates and all of that stuff aren't modification, then yes, i guess a stock beetle can be as good or even better than a 2cv offroad, but bog standard? no chance at all.
You may not be able to kill a beetle but be sure that early ones will try and kill you, I have had them spin round 180 degrees at really slow cornering speeds, later ones were a bit better. They both rust, the beetle hides it better but by the time it shows it probably needs a new shell - the running boards fall off and are cheap to fix. Both are the result of thinking that labour would always be cheap and materials would be the main expense, Both had to be produced elsewhere in the last years. Both are interesting and may be the basis of of future motoring if there is a future for it. My summary, VW - like a proper car with some amazing design decisions, like putting the engine at the wrong end and 2 doors? Pity Mexican taxi drivers. 2CV cheap and cheerful, terrific grip in corners, 4 doors and the ability to vanish into a pile of rust, but of the two no doubt which is more fun - far more than the sum of it's parts.
Should have said : "...crumple-zone crash protection, air bags, ABS, stability control, disc brakes, and the two iconic cars would be right up-to-date." Great video on the comparison of selling points of the two iconic cars. I owned a '61 VW Convertible and was a real dream. Some of that engine noise was not noticeable with the top down!
if anyone knows exactly, what year is the Volkswagen Beetle. My first thought was 63 but looking at it I'm not to certain if you do know please respond
6:34 that has nothing to do with durability/rust/reliability, but with two other major factors: - The 2cv was designed to be built by hand, robotisation was not realistically possible. This made the 2cv expensive to build relative to the other small cars they made, while it was supposed to be a very cheap car. With sales dwindling (by 1990, japan made cars as cheap but much more comfortable and luxurious) retooling the factory was not an option anymore. - A 1940s carbureted engine can't realistically be made to adhere to the new emissions laws. In theory you could, but developing a whole new injection and catalytic system would be an investment that couldn't be recouped. - Other safety issues. The 2cv was the last car without a double, separate brake system on the european market. In the 40s or 50s they managed to be excempted to that rule, but all newer cars had to adhere to it. It has a single brake system, which means that one single punctured brake line will cause all brakes (except for the hand brake) to stop working. Selling that in the 90s... Yeah. Bad idea. 2cv brakes are not that failure prone, though :) but still... Rust was considered a nuisance, but the 2cv was a 'disposable' car and people didn't care too much about their super cheap car rusting away in 5 years time.
2cv had a dual brake system sinze the 70' + front disk brakes, and it's possible to fit a lambda regulated injection+ cat on each engine, the only problem was the air cooling who made the emission regulation difficult (was the cause for water cooled Porsche 911!), but for your information the all first 2cv produced in 250 ex. in 1939 had a WATER COOLED engine, but this 2cv was never sale because the war.The last 2cv like engine, was the 652cc "visa" (1978) who use the surprising modern technology of nicasil coated aluminium cyclinder (invent by Mercedes Benz for the Wankel engine)+ electronic ignition and this engine was at base good in emissions (with a modern "unpollued" carburetor) and easy to upgrade to injection, but a injection did cost too much in that times for a low price car, so was the 2cv and clones stopped in 1990
@@leneanderthalien small addittion about the electronic ignition, it wasn't juet electronic but also had differen Ignition mapping depending on the circumstance, which was really special even back then.
No, wrong. The beetle before 1960 produces 30DIN/CVpk. USA HP is different than European din/pk. The 36hp is 30pk, the 40hp 1200 is 34pk, the 1300 singleport is 40pk, 1500cc is 44pk, the 1600 dual port is 50pk or the later versions 54pk.
The 2CV has far more character than the VW. Both are great cars, but the Deux Cheveux has that "lost puppy" look and feel. It's on my list of "cars to own before I die."
I was thinking about buy VW Beetle many years ago but for me the most important thing in a classic car is reliability and design. The Citroën 2CV won, maybe because I had 4 Citroën cars in my live and Citroën for me means a lot of fun in my live :) With the 2CV you can have fun, and also you can fix everything in place. The engine is very reliability, you can purchase everything here in Europe, and when I say everything, that's mean everything, chassis, body, new engine... This is a big plus!!
I had a 72 Beetle. One day I was at the dealer's parts department to pick up an accessory tachometer. In a display case I saw another thing that I decided that I needed - a trim piece shaped like a Lightening Bolt that had pins on the rear that allowed it to replace the "Volkswagen" trim on the engine lid. I got and installed it and had my own official VW Lightning Bug.
In the 70’s, they were everywhere in south America with other cheap cars like Fiat 500, 600, Renault 4, Morris mini etc. Although Brazilian built beetle were more than half of cars on the road. My family’s car was an German built orange colored 74 VW 1303S while my friend’s was an Argentinian assembled Citroen Ami 8 which I think it was upgraded version of 2CV. We couldn’t keep from not laughing riding Citroen. This car was real joke, it only had 2 cylinder air cooled engine buried somewhere deep inside engine compartment, 3 lug nuts behind tiny hub cab per skinny tire, 1 spoked steering wheel, primitive turn signal lever without return mechanism, manual gearbox with L shaped bent gear shifter sprouting from dashboard, seats with almost no padding, very narrow width floor pan without hump in the middle, emergency engine cranking "Z" lever etc. It took a lot of patience to get up to maximum speed of perhaps 30mph. At the turn, the Citroen would tilt drastically passengers had to hold onto something to not be thrown ourselves away. Back then both of our cars didn’t come from manufacturer with seat belts or headrest for car seats. In one occasion, someone fender bended driver side rear fender of Ami 8 at a parking stall. I was curious how we would manage to change the wheel because the rear fender lack wheel opening and enclosed more the half of the wheel. After loosening 3 lug nuts, we did lift the car using emergency jack then pulled the tire from hub as much as possible, then tilted the wheel to clear the fender. It was doable but more difficult than typical cars. Both of our car had whirling air cooling fan blades sound, but Citroen’s engine sounded more pathetic like dying monkey would whistle…^^
The beetle was not based on the Tatra, many pioneering automotive designers at the time were experimenting with aerodynamic designs which inevitably lead to cars looking smooth and bubbly like the beetle and the Tatra, but the former was not based on the latter, that's a myth. It would be equally ridiculous to suggest that the 2CV was based on the beetle just because they have a generally similar look.
The bug eats gas while the 2CV is the most fuel efficient car ever made. Also, being FWD and able to run on bad roads makes the 2CV much more convenient. If you want to go classic in 2022, restore a 1991 2CV.
The two iconic cars would be never be right up to date because they would fail the crash test. Also, at the end of the war, Germany's technology was divided up among the USA, UK & USSR. The Volkswagen was one of those possible transfers to the Soviets, but Ivan Hirst, a major in the Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers spotted the potential. Neither the Soviets or the US were interested in the Wolfsburg factory, thinking it ruined. Major Hirst investigated it & found that the staff had disguised a small production plant to look like a ruin but were able to make a few models. It became a REME workshop, both repairing military vehicles & producing new cars under REME direction. The REME worked with the management to getting production up & running. The factory was handed over to the West German government in 1949. In Wolfsburg, there is a Major-Hirst-Straße, named in his honour.
Both have a unique charm, I'd throw in the Fiat 500 for that comparison. Compared to girlfriends, I'd go to the beach with the 2CV, to a party with the 500, and I'd marry the beetle.
I think the 600 would be a better comparison. More similar in size, really for 4 people, and preceeding the 1957 Nuova 500 by a few years. The real comparison is between the 500 and the Mini though, and between the Beetle, 2CV, 600, 4CV and 4L/3
The British never said that, on the wiki page of the beetle its says "Knowing Germany needed jobs and the British Army needed vehicles, Hirst persuaded the British military to order 20,000 cars" that was just after the British took control of the company, that old boomer wasn't even part of the company when the British where in control.
The 2CV has more character and is more fun in some ways, but the Beetle eventually got a reasonable amount of power. By the 1960's, you could cruise at 70 mph on a highway in a Beetle, something that no 2CV can ever do. And the Beetle has a full convertible model, which was quite nice to drive in. The Beetle (or Austin Mini) could replace an larger car. Not so much with the 2CV, unless all of your driving is in the City.
Yes the 2CV was designed for small countryside roads, because highways didn't exist in France, at the time they were designed. Highways started to be built only at the end of the 1960s.
The beetle was well engineered , the flying dustbin was just made , the beetle was relatively safe with good brakes the dustbin fade after couple of stops . The
I'm not trying to be argumentative...each to their own....but re the engines of beetle and 2CV...some years back there was a much admired motoring correspondent named L J K Setright. He was referred to as the doyen in that field, and certainly he wrote entertaining and learned articles. One month he wrote a long piece with engineering drawings in which he described the 2CV motor as bar none the finest mass production car engine ever. He backed that up with data and information on the fine tolerances and longevity. Coming clean here, I've owned several flat twin Citroens and have never even driven a beetle. Thus my opinion on their relative merits is worthless. However, I've owned and/or driven 2CVs, Dyanes, a Bijou (an experience beyond dreadful!), an Ami 8, a Lomax three wheeler and in 2008 co-drove a 2CV for a month in Raid Australia in the WA desert. Perhaps 200,000 miles in total. I never experienced a breakdown. A flat battery a couple of times but never a mechanical. Beetles might be equally reliable but they'd be hard pressed to be better I reckon!
Everyone pretends that VWs didn't all have rusted out runningboards and heater channels. And that you had to carry an ice scraper to clean the inside of the windshield in the winter. And, if you lock your door with the engine running you can't get in without breaking something (ask me how I know).
I always hated the 2CV, but it has grown on me, and honestly think its the superior car of the two today. Beetles looked alot less flimsy though, but was it really? These are all long gone now, wish I could have had one when I had a chance. 2CV doesnt do much for a teenegers image though.
I own the oldest 2cv in the USA, 45 miles per hour is the absolutely top speed and will probably damage the engine if sustained, mine is all original, non-restored, driveable example, it's not a bug, but it's not supposed to be
A big disadvantage of the VW beetle was the completely useless heating... in winter you needed a co-driver to de-frost the windscreen from the inside, as no heat arrived in the front row. In addition, the Citroen 2CV was designed to be operable in the former French colonies in Northern Africa, where it worked reliable... Though not designed for winter, the 2CV with it thin & big wheels and front wheel drive (and heating of the front row...) and lightweight ( -700kg- correction: 560kg empty vs -1500kg- correction: 760kg of the beetle) was especially in winter time the better choice to the beetle, where you had no chance without a co-driver if you got stuck in the snow... The regarding to requirements crushing superior design of the 2CV in almost every aspect over the almost senseless design of the beetle didn´t convince the customers, though. The cute look of the Beetle together with the image of being undestroyable and never breaking down (if true or not) counted more than comfort & usability.
@@End_Domestic_Violence Thank you for the correction! 560kg for the 2CV, which provided 4 doors, 4 full-size seats, a trunk, a working heating, an effective front-wheel drive… less fuel consumption, better cold start possibilities, no need for a co-driver as the 2CV never got stuck… quieter engine… too many advantages over the beetle to list
In design, I prefer the 2cv, but in quality I chose the beetle. The beetle could last for more than 20 years, while I heard that the 2cv had many quality problems and many of their cars are hard to see on the roads, while the beetle is still normal to see on the streets as any Corolla or Civic. En Lima, México city, LA, Cairo, You can always found one on the street.
I’ve owned both cars and loved each of them. I think I had the most fun from the 2CV.
I am a absolute beetle fan, but I love the 2CV also. A very impressive car, which is sometimes better designed as the beetle. So I agree with you, a beetle fan does not have to hate the 2CV and vice versa!
I had a beetle n never had a duck , but from what I hear , the duck is a better car by far. Am still hunting a duck ! 🤠
I love both cars, and wish one day to own either one of them, just for the fun of it.
@@XB10001 I keep my fingers crossed for you.
@@doliwsef 👍
They were built for two different purposes. The 2CV was meant as a farmer's car, the VW was meant to give reliable transportation on the new Autobahns to get people on side with Hitler's road building program. The VW was a roaring success in the United States because it could be driven on the interstate highways without much fuss. A 2CV with a top speed of 45 mph ( the early ones) just weren't suited for North America and they never had a great dealer network where VW did. Also, a 2CV was designed to not need much maintenance but the beetle needed its valves adjusted every 3,000 miles or the number one exhaust valve breaks off and goes through the top of the piston due to its not getting enough cooling air. I've owned both, both are great but they aren't really competitors.
All correct, except for the VW it was the #3 cylinder that ran hot because of the oil cooler.
@@zeon5323 It's been a lot of years since I owned a VW, but I am referring to the left front cylinder, front meaning facing the front of the car. Is it number one or number three? I know that when I adjusted the valves on my 62, that one exhaust valve was always tighter than the others.
@@lawrencelewis2592 You refer to #3.
@@zeon5323 Got it!
@@lawrencelewis2592 here in Brazil, the VW air-cooled engine was way common (and still common), the country is hot, population's maintenance culture was always very poor, and even this there's no fame of "exaust valve breakin' off and going through the top of piston" of this engines. They are pretty reliable!
The VW was my first car (1975), the 2CV the second (1978). As stated in a previous review, I also broke an exhaust valve on the VW, never had a problem with the 2CV. Braking on the VW tended to heat up in the mountains (fading). The 2CV for its part was too slow uphill.
In terms of use, the 2CV needs much less gazoline and was much more versatile (removable seats, removable roof, flat floor, larger trunk). In terms of feeling and fun, the 2CV wins hands down for young people but the VW is much closer to actual standards.
If we look in detail, conceptually the 2CV is much more advanced while being minimalist. The VW for its part benefited from a robust and neat manufacture.
Great video, but it doesn’t show how you can take out the back seats of the 2cv and slide the trunk panel to have a pick up and load stuff like a washing machine within 2 minutes (did it this summer). Seems like 2cv is fun and practical whereas the beetle is more a cruiser for that time.
I went with my then girlfriend to Italy back in the 1980's, and a friend of hers living in Rome had a 2CV. At the time, I had just sold my 74 Beetle. All I remember was how very slow and softly suspended this car was. The appeal of it was really confusing to me. But I guess it had to do with the high fuel economy and the ability to handle Italian roads, which at the time, were pretty awful. I also remember that Rome was literally crawling with Fiat Cinquacentos. They were everywhere. The 2CV looked like a limo compared to those.
Because of corrosion giving it a bad image, Citroën pulled the 2CV from the market in 1990? That's both ridiculous (the car had been out for almost 45 years by then) and wrong (production stopped because it would have required MASSIVE re-engineering to meet newer safety standards, and the car's older mode of assembly wasn't compatible with modern assembly lines). As for upgrades, a small shop in France does provide a service for EV conversion and even "new" 2CV with native electric systems : they have original chassis numbers and have the original tooling to build a "modernized original" 2CV from the ground up.
It's costly though.
I always thought that production was stopped in Europe because there is no way that the engine could meet emissions standards & there is no way Peugeot were going to invest money in such an outdated design.
@@skasteve6528 the engine was the easy part to fix : add a particle filter and a catalyst exhaust, compensate for the power loss with a simple injection system and you're good to go; crumple zones and reinforced chassis are another matter entirely, and ABS was completely impossible at the time on such a suspension system.
Do you have contact information for these 2CV companies that you mention? I have a friend who may be interested- he has about 6 2CVs plus Meharis and Amis.
@@skasteve6528 that's the easy bit.
There were plenty of then modern, clean and efficient engines to put in the 2CV.
But getting it past crash tests was impossible due to it being from the 40s.
I would imagine it was hard to get the French to buy VWs for the first 20 years after the war.
Never owned a 2cv but adore them. Had a beetle for 9 years.
I had a Mini a long time ago, always thought I would get one again, but lately I've been thinking about getting a 2CV or a Beetle instead. Objectively, the Beetle is the better car, but the comically soft suspension, the quirky technical solutions, it being a ragtop, usually lower prices and cheaper parts... pull me towards the 2CV.
I've owned both, my 1959 2CV - AZ was a fun and reliable car but *much* slower than any Beetle ever made .
Both are death traps in collisions, I've had several serious collisions and a rollover at 80MPH in my 1953 Split Window Beetle, I don't think I would have survived those collisions on a 2CV.
I still have and enjoy a putt-putt 1959 Beetle survivor with 3t horsepower engine, it';s not speedy but easily goes on the freeway and never overheats the engine in Death Valley because there's always unlimited FREE COOLANT .
Keep either one stock and you can drive it flat out all day and night .
Hot Rod either one and engine life will be drastically short if fun while it lasts .
-Nate
The thing that makes the 2CV loveable is its apparent flimsiness of construction and the feeling that it could fall apart any moment and that you could repair it with duct tape or glue. That is also the thing that puts it against the functionality and toughly engineered but easily maintained Beetle. Both have character, both are loveable but they are so different I couldn't really compare one to the other. We are sadly missing fun cars in today's market.
The last cars made in this line of thought were the Twingo mk1 and the soon to be dead Lada Niva.
Unfortunately there's too much demand for things in cars that aren't really what makes a car, from scrotum massager seats to voice assistants telling you your defunct mother-in-law's cats birthday and a warning light to tell you your fly is unzipped.
@@rrs_13 I'd make an argument that a Chevy Express could be classified the same way, but the engines have certainly grown more complex than the platform it's bolted to...
@@rrs_13 Get yourself an old series Land Rover. You'll get the same enjoyment as with a Beetle or 2CV plus 'go anywhere' ability, carry nearly anything capability and it's simple enough to repair yourself when it goes wrong.
Mine is old enough to not have seatbelts and when it came out of the factory indicators were an optional extra, as was a heater!
@@koitorob I know what you're saying. But I enjoy offroading a bit more than fixing the vehicle, that's why I own a Land, but the superior version: the Land Cruiser
heheh just poking fun, I still love the defender in the 90 wheelbase, or even a 3 series, but I wouldn't trade it for the simplicity, reliability and ruggedness of my FJ40.
Exact toutes les voitures se ressemblent ! La dernière originale est la Citroën Cactus. Trop originale, elle n'existe plus !!
I had three 2CV's. The first wrecks nearly falling apart. One barely had breaks, acceleration by a bushel line etc. The last one a new 2CV Charleston. I loved them all and regret we now only have moving eggy bubble gums. The world at that time was beautiful. Only being an old fool.
You’re right
2CV's and Beetles in a Dakar rally would make it truly interesting. I'd watch the whole thing.
Why not in the beetle rallly also know as the Baja 1000 in the north of Mexco.
There was a 2cv in a dakar rally.
In 2005 or 2007
Take a look at the 2cv Sahara . But even a conventional 2cv is very good on sand and even snow .
Had a 2 CV for 3 year's, thrashed the life out of it, sold it for the same as I paid for it, loved it.
6:29: The German term "Verarbeitung" does not translate as "processing" in the context of automotive engineering. The correct term is "fit and finish" or "build quality".
My dad had a beetle for 14 years went round the clock and sold it for its original price! Ran it in the heat and cold winters in Iran brilliant reliable car learnt to drive on it too!
So your dad got the car new, used it for 14 years and sold for the same price?
@@Cacowninja yes back in the sixties cars in Iran then carried 1200% tax! Best Buy my dad ever had. My Best Buy? The current Vauxhall Viva bought for £8460 new and now just over three years old been offered £7600. Will keep it as our second car.
@@sevesellors2831 So your Dad sold a used car for the price of a new car because the tax was so high on the original purchase?
@@Cacowninja no just the way prices were back then it was a bargain compared to the latest models and prices.
i just love todays german cars technology, but 2cv it's just a dream for any car gig. so much innovation, so much design. its just awesome, the suspension desing!!!! man that car its just awsome. one of the best cars ver made by far
"German technology" is as absurd as the term "honest thief"
The suspension is good for ironing out bumps but has no lateral roll control. I've had mates following me when i've been 'pushing on' and they've sworn they were about to see me roll the car. As the driver you soon don't notice the roll, not so the passengers 🤣🤣🤣
I've had them screaming at me to slow down, or just scream!
The funny thing is, i could corner half as fast again in a modern car and they wouldn't even look up from playing with their phone...
@@koitorob It's been demonstrated many times that no matter how fast you go and how hard you corner it's virtually impossible to roll a 2CV. It may lean over a frightenly amount but it will stay upright.
Je suis Français. Jusqu'à mes 18 ans, mes parents avait une 2CV dans le garage, une édition France 3, en rapport avec un voilier de l'époque je crois. Ce n'était pas une voiture de collection, c'était la seconde voiture. Ma mère l'utilisait souvent. J'ai appris à conduire sur cette voiture, à tenir le volant sur les genoux de mon père, puis à tout faire seul. Mes parents absents, je piquais la voiture et allais me balader dans le village, invitant mes amis à une balade.. J'avais a peine 14 ans!! C'était une voiture tellement merdique. Pas de puissance, pas de freins, pas de sécurité, pas de confort... horrible!!! Mais à mes 18 ans, avec le permis en poche, j ai pu la conduire légalement... Et en été, le toit découvert, avec mes amis, à rouler doucement à travers la campagne française, de village en village, de bistro en bistro... c'était magique. Le bruit, le vent, les rires... Je ne pense pas qu'une Renault Zoë puisse en faire autant.
Pas de freins?... le freins de la 2cv sont superbes...
Pas de puissance = securité.
Je ne suis de part car je suis italien. Beetle, prinz, mini, 500 sont toutes belles mais ne peuvent rivaliser avec le projet de la deuche.
The reason the beetle had a bigger engine was not because of efficiency, it was because of speed. The beetle was designed to go highway speeds on the Autobahn. While the 2CV was designed for fields and towns. A 1500sp beetle(60s era) in stock form will still keep up with modern highway traffic.
I've got a beetle with the 1600 engine and it easily keeps up on any European highway around 120km/h and even up to 160 if you really push it. Gas consumption goes through the roof at that point but it's really funny to see the faces of other drivers seeing you bypass them in a car that is probably older than their parents.
@colonelsmith7757 exactly.
On the gas mileage front; The earlier carburetors, like pict 30/31, used to allow for adjustment in order to be more efficient in the higher end.
Bringing a Citroen 2CV into a Volkswagen car show is like being an imposter in Among Us.
The VW was Teutonic robustness and the 2CV was Gallic refinement.
The finest rust and rattling France had to offer!
@@Iskelderon If you look at its engineering then you will see that it can put to shame Bentleys. Not for luxury or looks although this is like the Beetle, it is another lifestyle and look. Even recently, my daughters went for a ride in one and found so amusing and pleasant as the rise is so smooth and holds the road better then most sports cars of the 50s. Its suspension is one of most ingenious as you cannot fail their road holding. The car not tilt on bumbs as the front and rear suspension are cleverly connected. So on roll happens but you get used toit. Unibody, front wheel drive, independant suspension. The car was as good as any 4X4 off-road, making this car perfect for farmers.
Indeed, rust has been an issue on Citroen until they became part of Peugeot and it has long been solved. I say that Ford are still the cars which rust quite fast and this has been so for years. But rare are the companies that could match Citroen's comfort even in its small democratic cars.
The shared cylinder head of the vw was bad and cracked, had poor economy, cramped, comparitively hard to work on, poor off-road performance.
The 2cv was a design masterpiece, it's low weight, genuinely robust engine, large wheels making it a far better people's car than the vw.
@@lucrolland7489 I owned a Dyane and for you to say a 2CV is as good off road as any 4x4 is total rubbish! Yes it's good on rough ground in the dry, but when grip is needed, with road tyres and only two wheel drive it will ALWAYS be beaten by four wheel drive!
That said, when the entire workforce bitched and moaned about the speed humps that were put in at work to slow cars down going into the car park, i could still happily glide over them at 30mph with ease, and often did! Which was odd because i would never have driven that fast into the car park before they put them in. I just did it because i could, and to upset the management.
@@koitorob My dad used 2CV and 2CV fourgonnette a lot and it was pretty capable offroad or in the snow. It is of course not as efficient as a Toyota Land Cruiser or Hilux (we had one as well as long as a 504 Pick-up Dangel), but it may do the job easily as good than most Audi quattro or SUV that we see too much in the streets nowadays.
Two of the most beloved European cars for a gazillion reasons.
5:30
Bit of a correction here;
The 2CV started out with 9 horsepower, worked its way UP to those 29 in 1980.
The beetle STARTED with 30 and eventually got up to 58 in the later 70´s.
Fuel consumption was always better in the 2CV, yes, but the power of the beetle was a good bit more. the first design was intended to comfortably get a family of 4 around the autobahn at 100kph (60 mph) at less than 8l/100km of fuel consumption while the 2CV was intended as a farmers-car, usable on less proper streets and as easy as possible to maintain.
What always surprised me about the 2CV is that despite being a farmer's car the wheels were always extremely narrow, even in the later models. I know it's very light, but didn't it get stuck in the mud all the time?
@colonelsmith7757 narrow tires are generally better for mud and snow, as long as youre not trying to go down hardcore offroad trails but rather badly maintained roads, loose snow in moderate amounts, and so on.
They cut through whatever slush is up top and get to the firmer, more compacted surface below. Remember, this is from a time when tread patterns and all that were VERY basic, so your best bet was just to reach traction.
The two cars along with the Italian Fiat 500 Bambino, spoke of their national characters.
France... Vive La difference with comfort, unique style and engineering solutions.
Germany... A great appliance and unkillable, as per the video.
Italians... Squeezey, cute and endearing plus sometimes a little tempremental.
The thing that killed the 2CV was compliance.. Crash tests, side impact and emissions.
French built 2CVs were of a higher standard than the Portuguese models in 1988 to 1990, where rust was a real issue.
2CVs were dynamically very safe with tenacious road holding, fabulous ride, steering and brakes.
Bettles before the Super Bug were inherently unstable, leaving the road backwards or turning turtle if pushed that little too much. A Bettle had a more durable body, but you could unbolt every bit of a 2CV to replace it, including the chassis.
And the seats clipped put for picnics or heavy loads.
Hey I am a teency bit biased.
3 new 2CVs. 1978, 1982. 1990 and 550,000 kms of making friends everwhere across the globe over 43 years... C' est Manifique.
I'm curious about the statement of portuguese models being of lower standard than the french models. Do you have anything to back that up?
I have worked on quite a few 2cv, and the only true issue I've noticed is Portuguese ones tend to be owned in seaside areas (I think the portuguese people mostly live in coastal areas), but the sea is a problem for every car. On the other hand, a lot of 2cv from France are usually way more rusty, and rusty in worse places, since the climate tends to be more humid and roads are salted during winter in some places (whereas in Portugal they dont do it). But this is a conservation issue, not a factory issue. I've seen a lot of them completely stripped (that is sandblasted\dipped), and I cant say I've noticed any construction difference between the two.
I'm also a little biased: while the 2CV is trully a simplicity genius, as an automobile the Beetle was superior (and as a little city car the 500 was better, since you mentioned it).
I never like these comparisons because each car was the best answer for the necessities they tried to fulfill and the buyers they were aiming to.
@@rrs_13 My parents had a Citroën dealership back in the day, and I can confirm that the Portuguese 2CV were built more sloppily. I remember hairs in the paint job, which you would not have seen in a French 2CV. I think today you won't find much of a difference any more as those parts will likely have been replaced by now.
@@madearl That is a rather disapointing fact! Really odd to know something so obvious passed quality control.
Portuguese factories aren't usually known for poor quality, sometimes quite the opposite. There's a reason VW has had such a long presence in producing cars in Portugal, and a lot of the famous Toyota Hilux and Land Cruisers were\are built in Portugal.
But the 2cv portuguese production does coincide with a period where strikes were common, and some production quality declined (comparatively with their near-german perfectionism of the dictatorship times).
As a curiosity, portuguese made H&K G3 rifles are considered on par in terms of build quality with the originals made in germany.
Anyway, it's nice to know these curiosities, mainly from someone like yourself, which witnessed the state of the cars arriving at the dealership.
Cheers
@@rrs_13I have owned two new French built 2CVs 1978 Club 1982 Charleston. 55,000 KMs, then 200,000 KMs.
My Paris delivery Sept 1989 Charleston I used in Europe for 3 months before bringing it home to Australia.
No rust problems with either French built cars.
Portuguese Charleston has a new front floor replaced under warranty at 5 yrs, as rust was a known issue on these.
Replaced the chassis after 20 years. The spare roof I bought in 1990 as soon as production stopped was a little narrower than it should have been and had NO centre clips to slide onto the lugs on the body.
I have a Portuguese 2CV for 34 years and a wonderful Portuguese partner for 26 years.
Love. Them both.
@@rrs_13also paint finish was inferior on the Portuguese car
I still drive a beetle and love it.
I rented a Citroen 2CV in Lisbon, Portugal in 1985 & my family & I drove it up to Fatima
& back! I didn't request it, but that is the car that they had available! The car ran well
with four passengers & had an unusual gearshift system in the dashboard, which took
a little getting used to! All in all, it was a 'fun' experience, but not to own permanently!
Deux modèles différents qui finalement montrent un art de vivre spécifique et similaire : lorsqu'on roule en 2 CV ou en coccinelle, définitivement on préfère une voiture pas comme les autres ayant un très fort pouvoir d'attraction. merci pour le partage.
Yes, it's very nice that you got Bill Hader to do the voiceover on the german bits, but I would have preferred original sound anyway.
Iconic small cars, on the 2 CV there is an advantage in suspension, charm and cost of production, beetle in aesthetics and performance.
IMHO they reflect the culture of their origins
@@Prestone44 really, they did a lot with little
I have owned both, absolutely preferred the 2CV!
PLEASE DO a video on Panhard-Levassor.
Owned both still have a Beetle which wins hands down. Be careful engaging reverse on a 2CV it easily wrecks the gearbox happened to me twice.
It's not the engaging but the driving reverse and then braking on the motor. There is a locknut on one of the axles that is self tightening but in reverse it can come loose when motor braking. So best is to drive reverse at low speed (boring) or engage the clutch an brake normally
Only if you go to fast. Every 2cv owner knows this.
@@KingOfRotterdam16 ☝️ he knows what its about….. basic knowledge to any A-model owner 😉
Is there no synchro rings on the reverse gear?
Best 2CV license plate ever - "WOW OUI"
The 2cv is superior in every way but cuteness.
It's more reliable, way more confortable and more practical.
Yeah not sure why a beetle would be considered more reliable, they are notoriously unreliable/high maintenance.
@@romteb "bUT GeRMaN qUaliTy"
What's the background music?
2 of the most iconic cars ever .
Here are the names related to the ancient beetle.
VW KÄFER (Germany)
VW CAROCHA (Portugal)
VW FUSCA (Brazil)
VW FUSCA Classic
VW FUSQUE
VW FUSNACAR
VW BESOURO
VW BETTLE (England and States United)
VW SEDAN (México)
VW COCINELLE (France)
VW BETTLE AND KAFER (Spain)
try Beetle
2cv is fun for a calm sunday drive, but i still prefer the beetle. Its robuust, reliable and more fun to drive.
Er... Have you driven a 2CV? It makes the Beetle seem like a joke on the road.
I had a 1961 2 CV , bright orange ) most fun car i ever owned , especially with the top off
The german guy in the begining is wrong. The two cars had very differant goals.
The 2CV was designed as a low maintenance off road farmers car.
The idea was to replace the horse in rural France.
The cars had to be minimalistic while offering very high level of engineering to reach the goals.
Front drive engine for off road capabilities. Air cooled flat twin engine cast in aluminium body like sportscars. for easy maintenance and high weight/power ratio.
It was a sustanable product, with autonomy as a priority.
The VW on the other hand was design to rely on two networks. The VW dealerships (one in every village as said in the film) and the roads and highways build by the nazis.
At that point we enter political considerations.
When the French say it?s not a car, it's "un art de vivre" that's what they mean :
Citroën was selling freedom. The 2 CV does not need a road. Does not need a technician. Does not ned oil. Burns modest quantities of gas.
VW was selling lots of services and an entire infrastructure of highways, dealerships, garages. Not a car. There is no freedom in the concept.
The beetle is not an off road war despite what the film tries to suggest.
In fact it has all the flaws we are trying to correct now with the sustanable economy :
Looks and social status rather than efficience.
Low level of performance due to rear drive and rear engine.
Lack of practicality (low storage, 2 doors.
Lack of comfort.
Needs paved roads.
Needs technicians.
Burns a lot of gas.
true, except the first 2cv who had a aluminium body (1939 model, never sale) , had a water cooled engine.The air cooled engine came only with the definitive 1948 2cv, completly re-ingeneered to reduce overall costs...
Low levels of performance !. . .I guess you've never seen a beetle on a drag strip then
Needs paved roads !. . . .guess you've never seen Baja racing either
Needs technicians !. . Nope, just a 13mm spanner
@@jamesleakey247
The performance part i don't really understand either tbh, maybe the fact that the handling could be seen as tricky and dangerous in more situations that the handling of a 2cv?
a Baja racer has been modified extensively to go offroading while a bog standard 2cv will go places that a normal beetle couldn't even dream of reaching and even most currently sold offoraders will struggle to get to. Plus the 2cv is more comfortable offroad than a Beetle, way, way, way more comfortable in fact.
The part about needing technicians isn't really true either, but it's still easier to fix a 2cv than it is to fix a beetle.
@@aaaabababa try googling 'Baja 1000 score class 11'! Unmodified standard VW Beetles.
@@jamesleakey247 sure, if you think severely lifting, modifiying suspension, putting way bigger offroad tires on, making them slightly more powerful, adding skidplates and all of that stuff aren't modification, then yes, i guess a stock beetle can be as good or even better than a 2cv offroad, but bog standard? no chance at all.
You may not be able to kill a beetle but be sure that early ones will try and kill you, I have had them spin round 180 degrees at really slow cornering speeds, later ones were a bit better. They both rust, the beetle hides it better but by the time it shows it probably needs a new shell - the running boards fall off and are cheap to fix. Both are the result of thinking that labour would always be cheap and materials would be the main expense, Both had to be produced elsewhere in the last years. Both are interesting and may be the basis of of future motoring if there is a future for it. My summary, VW - like a proper car with some amazing design decisions, like putting the engine at the wrong end and 2 doors? Pity Mexican taxi drivers.
2CV cheap and cheerful, terrific grip in corners, 4 doors and the ability to vanish into a pile of rust, but of the two no doubt which is more fun - far more than the sum of it's parts.
With rear engine cars you just need to not lift the throttle when cornering. 911 Turbos would famously spin like that too
@@Supcharged Or - just an idea - you could put the engine in the right end?
@@petercrosland5502 why does the modern day 911 manage to be both more practical and performant than most of its rival with similar power output?
@@Supcharged Really no idea, never had one, never wanted one. Subject was the beetle not a demented beetle.
Should have said : "...crumple-zone crash protection, air bags, ABS, stability control, disc brakes, and the two iconic cars would be right up-to-date." Great video on the comparison of selling points of the two iconic cars. I owned a '61 VW Convertible and was a real dream. Some of that engine noise was not noticeable with the top down!
"This is a such an informative video!" * inserts Schuko into Type 2 socket @6:50 *
One of the cars has twice the number of doors for half of the fuel consumption, plus actual roadholding.
Plus one looked great, had an open top and was glorious fun to drive while the other sounded like a farting fog and drove like one.
Mini edit after 2 months I get tech tutorial about 2cv suspension and I def fall in love with cv now let me update mini + cv
if anyone knows exactly, what year is the Volkswagen Beetle. My first thought was 63 but looking at it I'm not to certain if you do know please respond
I like them both...
Nice video, but I prefer the VW Beetle.
I saw a video about a 2cv doing some insane suspension rolling, wich I doubt the Beetle would handle that
Think Ill keep my old school bugs…soooo much fun to drive!!! Love the ‘ 62 in this video!!
6:34 that has nothing to do with durability/rust/reliability, but with two other major factors:
- The 2cv was designed to be built by hand, robotisation was not realistically possible. This made the 2cv expensive to build relative to the other small cars they made, while it was supposed to be a very cheap car. With sales dwindling (by 1990, japan made cars as cheap but much more comfortable and luxurious) retooling the factory was not an option anymore.
- A 1940s carbureted engine can't realistically be made to adhere to the new emissions laws. In theory you could, but developing a whole new injection and catalytic system would be an investment that couldn't be recouped.
- Other safety issues. The 2cv was the last car without a double, separate brake system on the european market. In the 40s or 50s they managed to be excempted to that rule, but all newer cars had to adhere to it. It has a single brake system, which means that one single punctured brake line will cause all brakes (except for the hand brake) to stop working. Selling that in the 90s... Yeah. Bad idea. 2cv brakes are not that failure prone, though :) but still...
Rust was considered a nuisance, but the 2cv was a 'disposable' car and people didn't care too much about their super cheap car rusting away in 5 years time.
Actually, the 2cv got a dual circuit brake system in the mid seventies!
And the 600cc engine isn't from the 40s...
and it was normal even for luxury cars like a mercedes /8 to rust away after 5 years of normal use.
2cv had a dual brake system sinze the 70' + front disk brakes, and it's possible to fit a lambda regulated injection+ cat on each engine, the only problem was the air cooling who made the emission regulation difficult (was the cause for water cooled Porsche 911!), but for your information the all first 2cv produced in 250 ex. in 1939 had a WATER COOLED engine, but this 2cv was never sale because the war.The last 2cv like engine, was the 652cc "visa" (1978) who use the surprising modern technology of nicasil coated aluminium cyclinder (invent by Mercedes Benz for the Wankel engine)+ electronic ignition and this engine was at base good in emissions (with a modern "unpollued" carburetor) and easy to upgrade to injection, but a injection did cost too much in that times for a low price car, so was the 2cv and clones stopped in 1990
@@leneanderthalien small addittion about the electronic ignition, it wasn't juet electronic but also had differen Ignition mapping depending on the circumstance, which was really special even back then.
Yes these cars were great, what about the Morris Minor? were they any good?
The 1.2L VW engine produced 40 HP, not 30 as stated.
No, wrong. The beetle before 1960 produces 30DIN/CVpk. USA HP is different than European din/pk. The 36hp is 30pk, the 40hp 1200 is 34pk, the 1300 singleport is 40pk, 1500cc is 44pk, the 1600 dual port is 50pk or the later versions 54pk.
My last VW was a 1.3L 1966 with 50HP.
I've driven both, the VW is better. The 2CV is too slow for modern traffic, the Beetle is acceptable in it.
I loved my bettles, red 59 sedan, yellow 60 convertible, red 65 convertible, orange 66 sedan.
The 2CV has far more character than the VW. Both are great cars, but the Deux Cheveux has that "lost puppy" look and feel. It's on my list of "cars to own before I die."
Deux chevAux 🐎🐎
(Deux cheveux = two hairs) 😁
Bertoni's design of the 2CV is still beautiful
Does someone know where to find the footage at the begging
I was thinking about buy VW Beetle many years ago but for me the most important thing in a classic car is reliability and design. The Citroën 2CV won, maybe because I had 4 Citroën cars in my live and Citroën for me means a lot of fun in my live :) With the 2CV you can have fun, and also you can fix everything in place. The engine is very reliability, you can purchase everything here in Europe, and when I say everything, that's mean everything, chassis, body, new engine... This is a big plus!!
The lovely beetle vs the ugly duck. Literally...
VW should come back with an all-electric Beetle and call it the ‘Lightning Bug’
Rest assured, an electric Beetle is on the way ...
I had a 72 Beetle. One day I was at the dealer's parts department to pick up an accessory tachometer. In a display case I saw another thing that I decided that I needed - a trim piece shaped like a Lightening Bolt that had pins on the rear that allowed it to replace the "Volkswagen" trim on the engine lid. I got and installed it and had my own official VW Lightning Bug.
2CV hands down.
Beetle hands up
In the 70’s, they were everywhere in south America with other cheap cars like Fiat 500, 600, Renault 4, Morris mini etc. Although Brazilian built beetle were more than half of cars on the road.
My family’s car was an German built orange colored 74 VW 1303S while my friend’s was an Argentinian assembled Citroen Ami 8 which I think it was upgraded version of 2CV.
We couldn’t keep from not laughing riding Citroen. This car was real joke, it only had 2 cylinder air cooled engine buried somewhere deep inside engine compartment, 3 lug nuts behind tiny hub cab per skinny tire, 1 spoked steering wheel, primitive turn signal lever without return mechanism, manual gearbox with L shaped bent gear shifter sprouting from dashboard, seats with almost no padding, very narrow width floor pan without hump in the middle, emergency engine cranking "Z" lever etc.
It took a lot of patience to get up to maximum speed of perhaps 30mph. At the turn, the Citroen would tilt drastically passengers had to hold onto something to not be thrown ourselves away. Back then both of our cars didn’t come from manufacturer with seat belts or headrest for car seats.
In one occasion, someone fender bended driver side rear fender of Ami 8 at a parking stall. I was curious how we would manage to change the wheel because the rear fender lack wheel opening and enclosed more the half of the wheel. After loosening 3 lug nuts, we did lift the car using emergency jack then pulled the tire from hub as much as possible, then tilted the wheel to clear the fender. It was doable but more difficult than typical cars.
Both of our car had whirling air cooling fan blades sound, but Citroen’s engine sounded more pathetic like dying monkey would whistle…^^
The beetle was not based on the Tatra, many pioneering automotive designers at the time were experimenting with aerodynamic designs which inevitably lead to cars looking smooth and bubbly like the beetle and the Tatra, but the former was not based on the latter, that's a myth. It would be equally ridiculous to suggest that the 2CV was based on the beetle just because they have a generally similar look.
The bug eats gas while the 2CV is the most fuel efficient car ever made. Also, being FWD and able to run on bad roads makes the 2CV much more convenient. If you want to go classic in 2022, restore a 1991 2CV.
The two iconic cars would be never be right up to date because they would fail the crash test.
Also, at the end of the war, Germany's technology was divided up among the USA, UK & USSR. The Volkswagen was one of those possible transfers to the Soviets, but Ivan Hirst, a major in the Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers spotted the potential. Neither the Soviets or the US were interested in the Wolfsburg factory, thinking it ruined. Major Hirst investigated it & found that the staff had disguised a small production plant to look like a ruin but were able to make a few models. It became a REME workshop, both repairing military vehicles & producing new cars under REME direction. The REME worked with the management to getting production up & running. The factory was handed over to the West German government in 1949. In Wolfsburg, there is a Major-Hirst-Straße, named in his honour.
Both have a unique charm, I'd throw in the Fiat 500 for that comparison. Compared to girlfriends, I'd go to the beach with the 2CV, to a party with the 500, and I'd marry the beetle.
I think the 600 would be a better comparison. More similar in size, really for 4 people, and preceeding the 1957 Nuova 500 by a few years. The real comparison is between the 500 and the Mini though, and between the Beetle, 2CV, 600, 4CV and 4L/3
"Give the car back the Germans, its worthless" LOL
The British never said that, on the wiki page of the beetle its says "Knowing Germany needed jobs and the British Army needed vehicles, Hirst persuaded the British military to order 20,000 cars" that was just after the British took control of the company, that old boomer wasn't even part of the company when the British where in control.
@@snsayy Knowing the brits and their pride, I believe that oldtimer's version more.
I´ve had both of these great cars, but the best was my Volvo Duett -64. Far ahead of time - SUV, pickup and travel car in one.
The Beetle vs the Duck.
1:52 Anyone catch the sketch looking exactly like a Range Rover?!
In the UK the 2CV was known as the "tin snail"
Corrugated tin snail.
I have over 50 years of driving experience, honestly the French, Italians and Japanese have better vehicles than the Germans
The guy said something about the 2CV being the simplest car ever designed, I guess that guy has never seen a Model T.
I do love both!!!
Two favourites of mine ❤
Understanding both english and german, it was very cinfusing to losten to the interview! XD
Yes! :-) I should send a link to a friend. He speaks also French :-)
Fascinating comparison. Thanks!
The 2CV has more character and is more fun in some ways, but the Beetle eventually got a reasonable amount of power. By the 1960's, you could cruise at 70 mph on a highway in a Beetle, something that no 2CV can ever do. And the Beetle has a full convertible model, which was quite nice to drive in. The Beetle (or Austin Mini) could replace an larger car. Not so much with the 2CV, unless all of your driving is in the City.
There are alot of stock 2cv's that will do 70.
Mine does alot more😜
Yes the 2CV was designed for small countryside roads, because highways didn't exist in France, at the time they were designed. Highways started to be built only at the end of the 1960s.
The beetle was well engineered , the flying dustbin was just made , the beetle was relatively safe with good brakes the dustbin fade after couple of stops . The
Ww is ultimate,there is no comparison of Beatle, it was king.
And the winner is.......... The Fiat 500!
Yay! Bring 'em back!
Beetle held up better over time imo, it looks more modern, has a better motor, better quality.
I'm not trying to be argumentative...each to their own....but re the engines of beetle and 2CV...some years back there was a much admired motoring correspondent named L J K Setright. He was referred to as the doyen in that field, and certainly he wrote entertaining and learned articles. One month he wrote a long piece with engineering drawings in which he described the 2CV motor as bar none the finest mass production car engine ever. He backed that up with data and information on the fine tolerances and longevity. Coming clean here, I've owned several flat twin Citroens and have never even driven a beetle. Thus my opinion on their relative merits is worthless. However, I've owned and/or driven 2CVs, Dyanes, a Bijou (an experience beyond dreadful!), an Ami 8, a Lomax three wheeler and in 2008 co-drove a 2CV for a month in Raid Australia in the WA desert. Perhaps 200,000 miles in total. I never experienced a breakdown. A flat battery a couple of times but never a mechanical. Beetles might be equally reliable but they'd be hard pressed to be better I reckon!
@@peterdelmonte9832 Holy Moly😸.. and boy are they FUN.. Beetles are not so fun.
Os dois são bem carismáticos!!!
Vc fala como se o cara do vídeo fosse entender a nossa língua
The issue with my beloved deuche against the Beetle is definitely the crash test...
I was out the other night in our Duck and happened to be at a red light with a hopped up Beetle . We raced and I beat him twice ! 1800 cc vs 602 cc ?
1800 isn't standard for a beetle, but beating 1200 with 600 is still a good job.
I want to go to Mexico, buy a 2003 Beetle and drive it back to the US listening to The Beatles on the radio.
Legendary cars, I have a soft spot for the 2CV but both are great.
we have some citroën LNA's. great cars, and some with a 2cv engine. very reliable
I like both but have to admit that The Beetle was a better car .
Everyone pretends that VWs didn't all have rusted out runningboards and heater channels. And that you had to carry an ice scraper to clean the inside of the windshield in the winter. And, if you lock your door with the engine running you can't get in without breaking something (ask me how I know).
🤗Both are cute and fun. You forget Austin mini, Fiat 500 and Renault 4😊. So funny cars.
I always hated the 2CV, but it has grown on me, and honestly think its the superior car of the two today. Beetles looked alot less flimsy though, but was it really? These are all long gone now, wish I could have had one when I had a chance. 2CV doesnt do much for a teenegers image though.
2 CV sur la neige y a pas mieux !
Clairement ! Il ne faut quand même pas oublier de mettre le petit cache calandre .
I own the oldest 2cv in the USA, 45 miles per hour is the absolutely top speed and will probably damage the engine if sustained, mine is all original, non-restored, driveable example, it's not a bug, but it's not supposed to be
2cv forever
A big disadvantage of the VW beetle was the completely useless heating... in winter you needed a co-driver to de-frost the windscreen from the inside, as no heat arrived in the front row.
In addition, the Citroen 2CV was designed to be operable in the former French colonies in Northern Africa, where it worked reliable... Though not designed for winter, the 2CV with it thin & big wheels and front wheel drive (and heating of the front row...) and lightweight ( -700kg- correction: 560kg empty vs -1500kg- correction: 760kg of the beetle) was especially in winter time the better choice to the beetle, where you had no chance without a co-driver if you got stuck in the snow...
The regarding to requirements crushing superior design of the 2CV in almost every aspect over the almost senseless design of the beetle didn´t convince the customers, though.
The cute look of the Beetle together with the image of being undestroyable and never breaking down (if true or not) counted more than comfort & usability.
760kg for the Beetle
@@End_Domestic_Violence Thank you for the correction!
560kg for the 2CV, which provided 4 doors, 4 full-size seats, a trunk, a working heating, an effective front-wheel drive… less fuel consumption, better cold start possibilities, no need for a co-driver as the 2CV never got stuck… quieter engine… too many advantages over the beetle to list
There's no comparison. One is the most beautiful car ever produced. The other is another try on economy, purchase price, etc.
Did the narrator keep calling it “the duck”? That would be DKW...
That's how Germans call the 2CV, just like French people call the Beetle "coccinelle" (sometimes even "cox"), ladybug.
@@chucku00 Thanks for letting me know - you learn something every day!
In design, I prefer the 2cv, but in quality I chose the beetle. The beetle could last for more than 20 years, while I heard that the 2cv had many quality problems and many of their cars are hard to see on the roads, while the beetle is still normal to see on the streets as any Corolla or Civic. En Lima, México city, LA, Cairo, You can always found one on the street.
Between, say, a 1955 VW Type I and a 2CV, I'll take that Volkswagen all day every day....
I agree, the Citroën 2cv is a piece of sh*t on wheels.
Always loved the beetle Great little car in it's day