Well about the beetle, well for daily driving in a traffic I don't think it will be a pleasant drive in a beetle, but otherwise its nice car to have and really easy with the maintenance. You have lots of online sites where you can learn thing to do it your self. 1300 is the normal model where you don't feel mush comfortable with the pedals and front suspension, but 1303 will do, since its comes with struts in front instead of shocks. But i guess the struts are bit hard to find, but not too hard though cause I have seen a lot of well maintained 1303s. 1303 normally came with original alternator, but if its a 1300 then it will be a Dyno. Engine timing and carb tuning is really easy with them, specially the 1300 engine. Fuel economy I would say it will do nearly 14kml in outstation, and more than 10kml in traffic.
About my lancer, I'm not sure whether its A72, but it's a a EL model which has a 4G12 engine.