"Volkswagen Rabbit returns"

lol Golf or Rabbit? What's in the name if the vehicles are the same? I don't think Europe ever had 'Rabbits' since they called them 'Golfs'.

OK who remembers the Rabbits? Was a fond memory or did you have problems with your Rabbit?

First 1980 Rabbit I bought in 84 with 50,000 miles on it needed a catalytic converter. Maybe twice. I silver soldered the AC condensor once. Other than that it was a fairly good car. Brushes failed in that car or its replacement. I had just gotten new brushes but I did not make it home. Radiator cooling fan came on at the railroad tracks and that pulled the battery down enough to stall the car. I think I had over 200,000 miles on it before I wrecked it. It had scuffed cylinders which I suspect happened before I got it.

Replacement was an 84 GTI with 129,000 miles on it. It was farirly reliable except for a dirty connector at the hall snesor. It ran fine after I Tarnxed it and greased it. I sold it with 289,000 miles on it. I had pitted cyclinders which I suspect was because the car was stripped with no hood or gas cap. I did have a bit more fuel injectin problems but no cap can screw things up.

I was nervous to buy my 2003 TDI wagon with a manual tranny but it has run fairly well. 2 non warranty parts so far. I suspect the Rabbits were a bit more reliable but it could be faulty memory. I did knock myself out when I totaled the 80 Rabbit. Really screwed up short term memory for a while. I forgot how long short term memory was messed up is ironic. But that accident was probably 15 years ago. I have not removed the head off theTDI but it only has 140,000 miles on it.

Sounds like you had some GOOD experiences with the old Rabbits Jim. I too have owned several of them and have had good experiences with them.

1975 Rabbit 4 speed that got pretty close to 40 mpg with a very good looking body but the floor had been repaired because of rust. I bought it for $100........hmmm or was it given to me??? Well I put in a new clutch drove it for 1-2 years and sold it for $200. New owner loved it!

My first three VW's I owned in Cleveland Ohio. The first 1966 was owned by a little old lady down the street. It dropped a valve. I learned VWs on that in High school. Used head, rings and such. New brake line when it blew out racing up and down the driveway with three buddies. The panic stop at the end of the driveway does not work so swell when a cingle circuit master cyclinder blows the tunnel brake line. Not the first tunnel brake line I replaced. Second was 1967 from California that suffered 3 years of Cleveland salt. Petty good shape but it did suffer. Painted it. Replaced noisy transmission and other stuff over the years. The third was a 1966 Georgia Squareback. That was pretty solid before a drunk highschool kid rear ended it. Our family bought it from my high school buddy. I straghtened the back end and painted it. That car had wicked oversteer. I probably never had enough air in the rear tires.

Thing went downhill when I moved to Atlanta,Georgia. You can drive a car forever if you do not wreck it. No real rust happens if your car does not sit out every night in the dew. Even the dew takes 20+ years to cause significant rust. Unless you have an American made truck bed on your Toyota. My bed is rusting out on my 1987 Toyota. The only thing American on the truck. Of course the car would have been recycled my now if it was up north.

Not that many Rabbits >Sounds like you had some GOOD experiences with the old Rabbits Jim.

I won't mention all of the Beetles that I have owned. ;-) I do miss the convertibles............sometimes. ;-( I did not really drive my '88 Rabbit Convertible since I sold it before putting it together.

Chicago = Rust big time until the metal treatments got much better.

later, dave (One out of many daves)

Just went to the dealer to see this new Rabbit (rebadged Golf). Cute trick and I have always liked the name "Rabbit". ;-) Well it is priced decently at possible under $16,000 with a lot of standard features and a 5 cylinder (1/2 Lamborghini 8 cylinder) engine. I would not want those steel rims and wheel covers though. VW does not even show them in the Rabbit Brochure. lol

If I had time I would have test driven one or two to test the manual and automatic transmissions.

Well, I'll be darned.

Because 8 / 2 = 5!

:)

It uses a similar head design as the Gallardo but to say it's 1/2 of the engine is a bit much...'cause it's not 1/2 the hp, 1/2 the torque, etc. either.

OOPs my bad! lol maybe it was the V10 engine. 8^o Glad you caught that Matt B! ;-) Or maybe an I-10 engine huh?

Well my IH Scout used a 152 engine (1/2 of the 304 V8 engine), so I thought it was possible but now I need to double check my math in the future. ;-)