Most reliable older VW

I like the realy 1980's VW Rabbit the best (I drive a 1989 one) But I suggest you to buy an after 1983 rabbit, since they have better anti-rust protection.

The midlate 1980's golf is the Golf type II and that isn't nearly as beatiful as the type 1 (on which the rabbit is based)

this is my car:

hope you got convinced now ;-)

Greetings,

-= Roy =-

Although I love my GTI, I've always felt that most of the Japanese brands offer better reliability. Although I feel that the basic design is sound, I have to say that the build quality of my GTI could have been better (it was built in Westmoreland, PA, USA a few years before the plant was shuttered). You'll find used VWs in the US that were built in Germany, USA, Brazil, and Mexico (where did I miss?), and I think most will tell you that you should look at the German-built models first. I think the Fox was built in Brazil. Overall, I have found in general that the '80s and early '90s VWs are fairly easy to work on, are readily tuned for improved performance, and parts are relatively cheap and plentiful. There are also a large number of competent mechanics who are very familiar with these cars.

It's my experience that you either get VWs or you don't. Drive a bunch of different cars including VWs to see if you get IT. If you do, enjoy IT and don't worry about reliability.

I have an '86 Cabriolet which has been very reliable, but has led a very sheltered life and has only 20K miles. The build quality of this German-built car is decent, probably better than the Pennsylvania and Mexico cars of the same vintage.

Still, if reliablility is a high priority, I'd recommend a Toyota or Honda, even though I personally like VW's and have two of them, the '86 Cabriolet, and an '04 Jetta Wagon TDI (also from Germany.)

Without a doubt the Japanese cars are a better bet for reliability and less maintenence. BUT VW's are cars have a soul while Hondas are appliances.

Older VWs are relatively simple and very well engineered and have very solid well-proven engines. As long as it wasn't abused and was maintained, it should be a decent car.

But in looking at any older car, make sure that for the mileage that things have been replaced as needed. Things still wear out, even on VWs, but the basic engine and transmission will probably be sound.

I'd put the Rabbit last because it'd be the oldest and any one you find will have close to or more than 200K miles on it by now.

The Golfs you're talking about are the 1985-1992 models and they're very sound vehicles. Try to stay as new as you can though.

Foxes are also very well made and usually are the simplest (I don't think they even had power steering). Foxes were in our market from 1987-1993 but got a freshening for 1991 (taillamps and nose styling). They're basically the platform of a VW Dasher with a different body and a Golf/Jetta 1.8L engine. People love to diss Foxes because they're from Brazil, but they were actually rated slightly higher in reliability than Golfs and Jettas of similar vintage. Foxes are also a little bit lighter and with a few simple exhaust mods (the easiest/cheapest being removing the restrictor that VW put in), they are just as peppy, if not slightly more so, than a Golf or Jetta.

The only bummer about Foxes that I've seen is that used examples seem to have been beat on a bit more. Since they were the least expensive model in VW's lineup at the time, I think buyers tended to treat them in a little more abusive/disposable manner than other VWs.

What i've noticed from friends and parents of friends who own older Japanese cars is this... After years and years of driving with only routine service the cars basically just stop working... All of a sudden one really expensive component kicks the bucket and it's worth more then the whole car is... so they have to buy a whole new car (usually Japanese again).

Don't think you won't have to maintain a Japanese car either... they need brakes, their exhaust systems are made of pretty flimsy metal, Toyota transmissions on the old Camry's don't seem to last forever, you will need a new alternator/starter on them too at some point.

The most common car i've seen around here with a broken axel, and the wheel further down the road - the early 90's style Honda Accord sedan (the boxy one that actually looked good IMO)

You will basically not have body work that is in good condition on an early

90's Japanese car... Even Acura/Infinity suffer this fate - not so bad on the Lexus' tho.. they really do seem like damn fine cars.

They may run, but the smaller Nissans/Honda's/Toyota's don't seem particualrly safe anymore... and there are some interesting noises that come from them...

My 91 Golf never made any more noise then it did in 1991 (save for a heat sheild rattle that I fixed in 20 minutes in my driveway), and the body still looked decent - you couldn't see the badly faded paint on the roof unless you were in an SUV... Hardly any rust for its age... and only surface corrosion, no holes or anything affecting the structure of the car.

Well, I really was thinking about buying a Rabbit. Call me crazy, but I really love the size and shape of the Rabbit. There's a guy in my town who is selling an '84 Rabbit that's in top notch condition. It has 68,000 original miles on it and he really took good care of it. It has a new paint job and the interior has been recently restored. The only thing wrong with it is the passenger window crank is broken. I've heard nothing but good things about Rabbits, so I think it would make a good vehicle for me. He did say he could let me have it for a good price. I don't know if it would be a wise decision to purchase this car or not...

In that case, go for it. A 68K mile Rabbit is a rare find (and not typical of a vehicle that age). I was speaking more in generalities about most Rabbits that are at least 20 years old by now.

May want to take the 68K with a grain of salt. If the odos on Rabbits were as failure prone and as easily tampered with as those on A2s, no telling how many miles are on this car. 68K miles on a 20 year old car sounds way too good to be true, so it probably is. May want to give the car a good looking over by a trusted mechanic and let the condition speak for itself.

Jim B.

Let's just say in theory, that the 68K was the true original mileage like the owner states. Would this be considered low for a VW Rabbit? I'm not sure what's considered low mileage for any VW. Oh, and is there anyway to tell if the odometer has been tampered with?

68K miles on any 20-year old car is rare, why would it need to be considered differently for a VW rabbit? While they are nice cars, they dont fall into the collectible car craze like muscle cars or rare exotics.

My 89 rabbit has 100K miles...

It is often so that convertables are stored for the winter and driven in the summer........even vw rabbits :-)

Roy

Buyer beware. I'd definitely consider 68K on a 20 year old Rabbit to be low, but you need to consider it in conjunction with the overall condition of the car. I think such low mileage clearly raises a flag unless you have reliable information considering the history of the car, or it's very obvious that the car has been driven lightly and stored welled. The fact that the car has been repainted and has a restored interior makes me VERY skeptical that the indicated mileage is correct. In fact, I'd bet good money that it isn't. Why would a car with only 68K miles need to have the interior restored and the exterior repainted unless it has seen some violence, in which case you'd have another good reason to wonder about the car's condition? The paint and interior on my GTI certainly didn't need restoring after only 68K miles, and it was driven fairly hard and not always parked inside.

As far as tampered odos are concerned, I'm only familiar with the mechanical odos in A2s such as my GTI. The instrument clusters are easily removed and disassembled. If someone takes some care, the instrument cluster can be removed, disassembled and reinstalled without any obvious indication that it's been done. I've heard that a significant number of A2 odos simply stop working at some point; the gears in the odo starts to slip on the shaft. The only way to repair this is to disassemble the odo section and stake the gears back to the shaft. At this point, it would be a very simple matter to dial the mileage to any number desired.

Again, I'm not certain if the Rabbit odos are as easily tampered with as those in A2s, but I suspect they are. If I was in the market to buy a used GTI such as mine, I would never consider the numbers on the odo to be a reliable indicator of the condition of the car.

I don't think the IP mentioned what sort of clime the car has lived in, so it is unclear whether it was stored during winter or not. Also, we in the States tend to drive more often, and travel farther distances by car than you folks. You said yourself that you take the bus once in a while; most Americans would rather have a root canal than take mass transit.

I still say a 68K mile Rabbit with a restored interior and new paint is damn suspicious.

Ofcourse I use the bus sometimes, gets me where I need to go in the same timespan. Over here that is different indeed.....takes me about 4 hours to reach the other side of the country, about 400 KM :p I live 15 KM away from school, and 20 km from work :-p And believe me, if you where a student and have a car with a mileage of 16.5 MPG (and about 5 USD per gallon) you would consider the bus as well ;-)

But indeed, either this car was owned by a lover or is fooled with.

Roy

There's no such thing as low miles per car model. There's just low miles.

68K miles on a 20 y.o. Rabbit is 3400 miles a year. Most people average at least 15K a year, so that car theoretically should have 300K miles on it by now.

So yes it's low. WAAAAY low.

Not that I know of by the car itself but go to carfax.com and spend the $20 for a report. You'll need the VIN.

His price is $1550. I called this guy earlier and asked some more information. I asked why he was selling it, and he said that he has too many cars at it is, and he needs to unload a handful of them. I asked if he would allow my mechanic to inspect it, and he said "I suppose, but why would you want to?" He went on about how the car has been babied since day 1, and how he performed all the regular maintenance on time. The car comes from a climate where it is extremely cold in the winters and very humid in the summer. He claimed he only used it from Spring through Fall. I asked why the car was repainted. He said he likes his things looking new. I see nothing wrong with that. I asked why the interior was redone. He replied by saying that the car is 20 years old and that interiors don't stay in mint condition in that length of time and need to be redone at some point in a car's life. The Rabbit he is selling is fuel injected.

All and all, this seems like a decent car, but I do find it suspicious how he rather I did not have my mechanic take a look at it. "Caveat Emptor" as they say...

Not nearly.