Anyone else seeing some Porsche styling in there?
The 2.5L 5cyl is a very old unit which is for the US market only, I suspect because in the US people want displacement over modern, smaller charged-air engines. It's got very little in common with the 5-cylinder units in the TT-RS and the RS3 (which, bizarrely, trace their lineage to Volvo/Ford - think Focus ST - but Volvo/Ford themselves acquired the technology from the original Audi Ur-Quattro 5-cyl) and is a relatively unsophisticated and fuel-hungry engine which is why it's not offered in Europe. It was also offered in the Mk5 Golf.
....Then I've fallen out of love and lust even before our first date. This Beetle would have really been something with that turbo'd RS3/TTRS engine. But not the sort of car VW ever seem to offer. Okay with our GTI engine though.
^^^^Although older, isn't the EA113 reputed to be 'stronger' than the EA888?