Starring Role

Do you agree? Volkswagen picks the best movies starring VWs

Eileen Falkenberg-Hull
May 26, 2020, 5:19 pm

Drive-in movie theaters may be making a comeback thanks to fears over the spread of COVID-19.

Photo courtesy of Volkswagen AG

The drive-in movie theater is making a comeback. With the memory of a drive-in comes with nostalgia of movies of years past. Volkswagen recently picked their favorite movies starring VWs, vintage and modern. Scroll down to see them all.

"The Love Bug"

"The Love Bug" (1968): A down-on-his-luck race car driver and his mechanic discover a white 1963 Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of its own. Starring: Dean Jones, Michele Lee, David Tomlinson

"Footloose"

"Footloose" (1984, 2011): When a teenager gets pulled over for listening to rock-n-roll in his yellow 1972 Volkswagen Beetle, he realizes his small town is overdue for some change. Starring: Kenny Wormald (2011), Julianne Hough (2011), Dennis Quaid (2011), Kevin Bacon (1984), Lori Singer (1984), John Lithgow (1984)

"Pretty in Pink"

"Pretty in Pink" (1986): A high school misfit drives her light pink 1959 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia to the prom – a perfect accessory to her homemade, puffy-sleeved dress. Starring: Molly Ringwald, Jon Cryer, Harry Dean Stanton

"Happy Gilmore"

"Happy Gilmore" (1996): The transformation of a hockey hack into a pro golfer takes many hilarious turns, including an attack with a white 1972 Volkswagen Super Beetle. Starring: Adam Sandler, Christopher McDonald, Julie Bowen

"50 First Dates"

"50 First Dates" (2004): An art teacher suffering from short-term memory loss drives a sunny yellow 1973 Volkswagen Thing as she goes on dates around Hawaii. Starring: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Rob Schneider

"Little Miss Sunshine"

"Little Miss Sunshine" (2006): A dysfunctional family comes together as they road-trip to California in a yellow 1971 Volkswagen T2 Microbus. Starring: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear

"Horrible Bosses"

"Horrible Bosses" (2011): Three disgruntled employees plot revenge against their oppressive bosses from a silver 2011 Volkswagen Jetta. Starring: Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis

"Bumblebee"

"Bumblebee" (2018): When a teenager discovers a beat-up yellow 1967 Volkswagen Beetle in a junkyard, she unwittingly brings an extraterrestrial civil war to Earth. Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Cena

"Once Upon A Time in Hollywood"

"Once Upon A Time in Hollywood" (2019): An actor's stunt double drives a baby blue 1964 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia as he struggles to find meaningful work in the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age. Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie

"Between Two Ferns: The Movie"

"Between Two Ferns: The Movie" (2019): In his quest to earn a show on network TV, a comedian drives his 2006 Volkswagen Passat wagon across the country, interviewing celebrities along the way.

From Your Site Articles

Trending News

 
 

New off-road EV

Volkswagen will revive Scout name for new EVs

VW purchased the rights to the iconic Scout name and plans to make new EVs under the brand.

Volkswagen

Automakers bring back names and brands from the past all the time, but it's not every day that a major company purchases a brand name specifically for the purpose of reviving it. That's exactly what Volkswagen just did with Scout, the name of an ultra-popular off-road SUV that was built by International Harvester in the 1960s and 1970s.

As for the types of vehicles we'll see from the brand, we currently only have the renders to go on. The pickup truck and SUV both feature throwback styling that is reminiscent of the original Scout shapes. Beefy off-road tires and lifted suspension are the only other clues available in the drawings.

Volkswagen has its own EVs, and its other brands like Audi and Porsche have made significant progress with electric vehicles as well. That said, VW doesn't really have a solid off-road option from any of its brands at the moment, so the Scout purchase opens doors for the automaker in that arena.

The announcement sounds exciting, but we've still got plenty of time to wait before there's a Scout-branded EV on the roads. Volkswagen said the plan is to release vehicles by 2026, but it won't be sitting idle between now and then. The VW ID.4 is still very fresh and the automaker says it will launch a total of 25 new EVs in the U.S. by 2030.

Trending News

 
 

Advanced driver aids

IIHS may increase test speeds for crash prevention systems

The IIHS may increase the speeds it uses to test advanced driver aids.

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently announced that it is considering changing the speeds it uses to test vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention systems. The agency currently tests the systems at 12 and 25 mph, but says that the speeds don't accurately represent the types of crashes the safety tech is meant to prevent.

Front crash preventionwww.youtube.com

Automatic emergency braking (AEB) is designed to notify of a possible collision and help respond with automatic application of braking. Just like a human using the brake pedal, it can stop the car, but higher speeds make it difficult to stop in time. The new tests would be conducted at 35 to 45 mph, which is the range where a large number of rear-end crashes occur. As Automotive News noted, an IIHS study showed 43 percent of rear-end crashes occur at speeds of 45 mph or less, so it's important to have a test that shows how well the tech performs at those levels.

A whopping 85 percent of 2022 vehicles earned a "Superior" rating in the current testing regime, so the IIHS will remove it from 2023 testing and Top Safety Pick award evaluations. Their view is that, since the majority of vehicles meet the criteria, it's no longer an accurate way of evaluating performance. In its place, the agency introduced a night test for automatic emergency braking systems that will begin next year.

Trending News