How likely would be an old rear-engined Volkswagen to be better than a modern CUV?

The present-day crossover utility vehicle, or CUV for short, may be appealing to urban customers willing to show off and pretend they live an adventurous lifestyle on the weekends, but to which point are them really better than an old-school Volkswagen when it comes to actual off-roading?

Volkswagen may not be so expressive as a high-volume manufacturer to the point of challenging the Japanese automakers in much of Asia anymore, at least not outside of China, but its old products had their days of glory when air cooling was the standard of this brand. There were times when the Brazilian branch of Volkswagen provided all sort of CKD kits not only for the Philippine distributor but also for Indonesia, with the Brazilian Transporter/Kombi being considerably cheaper than the German counterpart despite being a bit outdated. Boot access was not so great due to the intrusion of the engine compartment, plus the narrow rear hatch, but its non-sliding curbside rear doors were less maintenance-intensive on rough terrain than the first generations of Japanese vans with sliding doors. Even though the rear engine took too much space from the loading bay compared to the Japanese vans with their engine right below the front seats, it improved traction in rough terrain regardless of load condition. There was a water-cooled Diesel version in Brazil too, but most of the remaining ones are double-cab pick-up. Could've it been a good contender for the earlier Hilux back in the day?

Another former hit in the Philippines was the Brasília, a bantam shaped like a Golf would have been if it had the same Beetle driveline. Once in a while I still see one in Makati, but not sure how many remain operating throughout the country.

What would I do if I could get my hands on some Beetle or even a Brasília? Swap some horizontal single-cylinder Diesel on it and make it a cross-country vehicle which would outperform any modern mall-rated CUV on real off-roading.