Eugene was once a safe haven for Foxes; no longer. They’ve been thoroughly exterminated except for a few cowering in the bushes. But here’s one that came out in broad daylight. It’s a bit worse for wear, but it seems to be in loving hands. Quite likely because this is by far the most desirable of the species: a last-year GL, which means it had the five speed transmission.
The Fox, which was a Brazilian VW Gol exported to the US starting in 1987, arrived as a low-price alternative to cars like the Hyundai Excel and such. It came only with a four speed stick, as an automatic was never mated to this car. The 1.8 L VW four gave it quite brisk acceleration, but the lack of an overdrive fifth gear made it less than ideal for extended highway driving. Power steering was also not available; very 1970s, like in the Audi Fox of that era. The VW Fox/Gol is built on a shortened version of the B1 platform.
I’m not exactly sure what year the GL model arrived, but I strongly suspect it was 1991, when the front end was also cleaned up a bit with flush aero headlights as well as other minor changes to make it look a bit more 90s than early 80s.
As this shot shows, rear seat room was a bit skimpy if the driver used the full range of his seat’s travel. The interior was a mix of good quality materials, like this upholstery, and some rather nasty hard plastic bits too. But all in all, it was quite serviceable. And it was a simple and rather rugged machine, which explains why there were so many hereabouts: Eugenians like that sort of thing. The Brazilian Corolla.
The Fox gave VW a cheap car to sell, and that worked reasonably well for the first few years. But sales started to droop towards the end, and a car without an available automatic or power steering had no future in the US.
In addition to the two and four door sedans, there was also this two-door wagon, which I shot a few years back. That was a major 1970s throw-back too, as genuine two door station wagons were long gone by this time. The VW Nomad.
We’ve covered the Fox and Gol in more depth before:
I sold a number of these as a VW salesman back in the day and I still feel guilty.
The quality control on early exports of these was poor because of labor problems,
an issue which Japanese transplants seem to have largely avoided, regardless of location. The Canadian rollout was delayed because the initial shipment was deliberately sabotaged by putting alcohol in them, instead of the dead dinosaurs they were designed for.
BTW that 4th on the earlier ones IS an overdrive, just like the 3+E ’82 Rabbit I had. AFAIR there was a huge ratio gap between 2nd and 3rd.
I really wanted to like these when they came out. There was a part of me who might have liked one of these had it been equipped in the style of my GTI. A slightly hotted up engine, a 5 speed and some added sporty touches (both inside and out) and this would have been an interesting ride, perhaps much more in the spirit of the original GTI than the Golf-derived Mk II was.
But alas, it was nothing but a cheap car – that turned out to be not very cheap, as I remember.
VW did make a Voyage Sport for South America very much in the style you describe:
A friend of mine had the wagon version. He had a 5sp so it must have been one of the later ones.
What a hokey fuel system they had. There was a low pressure in-tank pump that fed a surge tank and another pump to actually feed the engine.
Volvo had that same set up. The main pump was outside the fuel tank and a ‘helper” pump was located in the tank. This helper pump was supposed to keep the main pump from being overworked. Both pumps were connected to the fuel system. However the helper pump tended to die and that made the main pump work harder.
Of course as a Volvo 240 owner, you learned to keep extra fuses and a extra fuel pump relay in the glove box
My old GTI had the same problem usually after rain and the relay would get wet from a leak where the antenna came in over the fuse box. I would put in a spare relay and wait for the other one to dry out. $40 for a seimens one at the time made it a good find at the wreckers. By the end of that car Chinese ones could be had for $5. And trying to find those fuses for a while was a bit of a pain.
I had a 93 Wolfsburg edition with the 5 speed. Bought it from my sister who was scared to drive it after the hood flew open on the expressway to work one morning. Due to rust the latch gave way and the hood flew up against the windshield Miraculously she got the car to the side of the road where a Samaritan helped her remove the hood and place it along the side of the road. That hood stayed their all winter. She had a new one installed and sold the car to me for use as a winter car. It had the seatbelts attached to the door to meet passive restraint requirements and at times the interlock would fail not allowing the car to start. It could be started by popping the clutch however. I learned to park it away from other cars and usually if possible with slope in front of me. The car was so light I could do it myself. Open the door put the car in neutral, start pushing, jump in push clutch in, place in first gear and pop the clutch and drive away.
I currently have a 93 fox and the interlock kills me, always fails when I park it in a flat surface, work on a hill or when its cold. Made a extra switch that connects to the starter motor, problem solved. But would like to fix the interlock.
I believe the GL arrived for 1990, as it’s mentioned in the 1990 Consumer Guide Auto Book.
I bought a new 1988 GL in Toronto Canada in March 1988. Nice car. The GL only came with the 4 door model. Very nice inside compared to the base model.
I bought a 1987 GL sedan here in Seattle the first year they came to the US. IIRC all the two doors were the base model and all wagons and sedans were GLs, with nicer upholstery, body colored sections under the bumpers, nicer bodyside moldings and full wheel covers, among other things. But it didn’t come with AC, which sucked when I lived in Vegas. But I drove the crap out of it delivering pizzas, 120k miles in 5 years, with nary a problem. 28mpg in the city and one tank on flat ground in Utah produced 37MPG. The only issue I ever had was with the cooling fan switch, which was supposed to cool the notebook paper-sized radiator necessitated by the north/south orientation of the engine. It went out a couple times and the second time I didn’t pay attention and blew the heater core 🙁
Ca. 1987 a coworker was in the market for a new car, and the Fox was on the shortlist. I mentioned that it was built in Brazil, not Germany. I don’t know how much that factored into my coworker’s decision, but he ended up getting a Corolla.
I recall the GL being offered in the U.S. right from the start, on 4 door sedans only. Can’t remember if all sedans were GLs, or for that matter if “GL” was the designated trim level identifier, but the sedans were a bit more plush than the coupes (which were the lowest-priced version for advertising purposes) or the wagon which likely would have been too expensive if offered in upmarket trim. Seemed odd to me at the time that the next step up pricewise was the Golf which was shorter.
Had no idea these didn’t have an optional slushbox though. Was this the last non-sporty car in the U.S. not to offer an automatic?
Not US but the Lada Niva was sold as a manual only until 1998.
IIRC at launch all 4-doors and wagons were GL. That meant velour seats instead of tweed-and-vinyl, and full plastic wheelcovers instead of little chrome hubcaps.
Finding one with that interior in such good state is quite difficult even in Brazil today. The Gol derivatives received different names in Brazil, the Fox was called VW Voyage and the Nomad, VW Parati.
Here in Argentina the sedan was called VW Gacel and with the restyling was renamed VW Senda. We never got the station wagon of this generation.
Oh yes, I used to see some of them in the cities of Foz do Iguaçu and Cascavel – PR in Brazil. As I remember, the Gacel and Senda was only available with 4 doors, right? In Brazil the 4 doors were very rare. The word Senda has the same meaning in portuguese, but what means Gacel?
Yes, only available as a four door. A vintage characteristic of the Argentinian market was that two-doors sold poorly. This changed in the 90s with the VW Gol, the Fiat 147/Spazio (all Fiat 127 derivatives), the Renault Clio, etc.
No clue about the Gacel name. it sounds similar to gazelle (Gacela).
VW of Argentina had a think for odd names. The worlwide-known Santana was rebadged as Carat, inspired by the value of gold carats. Apparently because the name Santana was registered in Argentina by the importer of Spanish Land Rovers.
Was the Audi version originally made in Germany? I remember reading a road test in Car and Driver and I was smitten with the idea of a smaller, efficient, fun to drive sedan, with the cachet of an Audi. I preferred the Fox’s styling over the Audi 100 or whatever the model that had been imported earlier. It was kind of like the later Acura Integra, an honest car with a higher status badge. I constantly look on Craig’s list for that little Audi, but haven’t seen one in years. I did like the two door wagon from VW, I didn’t know that they had so many problems or were so cheaply made.
If you mean the Audi Fox, that was a different car from the VW Fox.
I had a 2 door, white with tan tweed seats. Functionally, the only thing that bugged me was that the dashboard above the instrument cluster was close enough to the steering wheel that my hand would rub if I wasn’t careful.
Cheap, nasty little car I paid $400 for, drove it for a couple of months and sold it for $750 to a kid in Southern IL who put a maroon racing stripe on it…I saw it periodically after that.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a later Fox with flush headlights in the wild. I do like the wagon, though – wish it could have been a better car.
For being a model or two above the stripper, the GL pictured has a fair amount of “blank” switches.
Jose Delgadillo:
I owned a 74 Audi Fox that I bought new. It was a fun car to drive, a friend of mine always wanted to borrow it to “run to the store”. However, I had the impression that Audi dealers felt it was beneath them to have to service them. Which was ironic as they were not so great in many ways. The switch that controlled the engine’s cooling fan would fail every 10,000 miles. If you didn’t catch it you could cook the engine. The jack for changing the tires looked like the same type used in pre WWII prototypes of the original VW beetle. I managed to have my car fall of the jack 2 different times, luckily while jacking up the car.
And like the Brazilian Fox, the German Fox had a 4 speed manual transmission for the 1st few years before switching to a 5 speed.
Over the course of my lifetime, there have been a great number of cars whose design I liked, but I felt that they were manufactured without quality, and thus I’ve never owned them.
The VW Fox wagon is one of them.
Pat Bedard of C&D wrote years ago that VW was the king in protected markets
i.e. Latin America. That made a lot of sense to me and instantly imparted more
knowledge of world trade economics than a whole semester at school.
The Japanese up to the time of writng had been largely kept out. VW had no incentive to improve quality or be competitive.
My father looked at one of these in 1988. He worried about the price of parts and service so he ended up with a base 2dr Ford Tempo L. Probably the one time a Tempo was the right choice as Foxes did not seem to last in large numbers very long.
I still love the intent and styling of these. And the console is the proper size, if it has to be there.
My PITA downstairs neighbor had one of these, but wrecked it and it was replaced by a gold Jetta.
It must have given her a satisfying ownership experience as she obviously didn’t jump ship to another brand.
A nice design let down by overall abysmal quality control. A friend of a friend had one in high school. It was only about seven years old but had perforation rust throughout. I remember liking the reasonably firm seats but that the plastic trim on the dashboard was only about as good as the concurrent Lada Samara (which was also available in Canada at the time). It lasted her about seven months until the head gasket went. She got an older Olds Cutlass Ciera wagon which proved much more reliable.
I may have expressed my theory about the Fox in one of the other VW threads: it’s sole mission was to suck people into the showroom with a low price, so the people could then be sold up to a Golf or Jetta.
Being a derivative of the B1 platform an automatic transmission or power steering from the B1 Passat/Dasher should have been a bolt on fit. Only reason to not offer those options would be to open the door to an upsell when the customer objects to them not being available on the Fox.
As for the cheap plastics in the interior, well, it was a cheap car, in an era when cheap cars really were cheap, not the shrunken luxury cars with armloads of power assists that cheap cars have now.
A Fox wagon turned up at the Gilmore’s German show a few years ago. I immediately walked over for a look see. Had to be the worst paint job I have ever seen, with holes rusted in the floorpan.
An ex girlfriend had one a 4 door sedan. It served her well other than having to replace an alternator which failed. Having owned a couple of golfs and Jetta’s at that point made me scratch my head when I popped the hood and saw the engine pointing front to back not transversely. I was also confused by a French alternator as opposed to the usual Bosch unit found in the golf’s.
I really liked the style of the wagon but never bought one which was probably a good thing.
She replaced the fox with a golf which she updates with a newer one every decade or so. Luckily for me I don’t get the calls anymore to fix them, she tried once after we broke up and I told her to get her new boy to fix it for her.
Haha! Good call.
We’ve owned three VW’s over the years- a Golf Cabrio, a Eurovan Camper with the VR6, and a Jetta tdi Wagon. Of the three, I dearly miss the Eurovan. Like all VW’s, it had it’s quirks, but the unique benefits it offered by far overshadowed the occasional trips to the Service Dept. You never seem to see them on the road, until you go down the Columbia Gorge, up to Mt. Hood, or up to the San Juan Islands (they’re everywhere!). I may get brave enough to put a COAL together on it someday.
One of the couriers we use had a non turbo diesel eurovan for sale here on Vancouver island a couple of years back. I was sorely tempted but he wanted to much for it. It was a cargo van with no windows. It was a good thing I didn’t pull the trigger as his son wrecked the transmission (5 speed manual I think) about 6 months later delivering some tables for the shop.
Ah- that’s the version we never got. Prices on those Campers are through the roof. I actually sold it for more than I paid for it seven year later (!), but prices seem to have climbed since then. It was unique- not many RV’s you could park in a garage, drive to work, and take into remote locations you wouldn’t dream of attempting with a conventional RV.
We’re headed for Orcas Island tomorrow- I’ll wave!
I never heard of this car.
Always nice to become acquainted with something new here on CC
A 1988 2dr Fox was my first car bought brand new (000008 miles on the odometer). 4 speed. Two options, metallic silver paint and a/c. I added a stereo cassette radio later. Transaction price $5845.
I drove it more than 150,000 miles in 8 years (I remember because it was my first car where the odometer had 6 digits), and it and I were just tired. The A/C compressor broke and whined terribly so I just cut the belt and did without. The valve cover gasket kept leaking (known problem according to the early internet VW groups) so I bought a Bentley manual and a torque wrench to be able to keep up with it. Someone failed to yield making a left turn at an intersection in Ann Arbor, MI, and I had the fender repaired and the frame straightened. I have no stories of poor assembly or operational difficulties, on city or or highway. At its best I got 38 mpg. I wish I could buy one now. Instead I have a Scion (Yaris) (Mazda2) iA.
I owned a 1988 Volkswagen Fox, and to this day it is still my second favorite car.
Ironically, it is the polar opposite of my Favorite car, which was a 1979 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale with the gutless 301 Pontiac V8 ( only installed in ’79 models, interestingly enough.)
My Fox, Klaus, was terribly fun to drive, on road and off. I discovered that he was narrow enough to fit down four wheeler/ ATV trails and had surprisingly decent suspension travel. After I eliminated the thermal switch for the fan with a manual toggle, he did just fine in all manner of traffic. He was not too fond of gridlock in Detroit during the height of summer. My best friend and I cut louvers into the to alleviate the heat issue.
Despite the known fuel issues, he would always start, even in the bitter cold of 2003 in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ontario. ( Klaus and I perambulated about quite a bit in the Great White North.) I had many (mis)adventures with hime, and still regret his passing.
Paul, you are quite correct on the gearing. First was blisteringly fast, and I could roast the tires through first gear, bang-shift into second and continue the squeal, then you grab third and : “bluh”. Took a bit to wind out and fourth was meant for highway speeds.
Man, I miss that little car. Thanks for the reminiscing.
Hi! I’m from Brazil and recently wrote an article about the Fox. The GL trim was always available, but for the first months it was only available in four-door sedans. The Wagon was GL only. One thing about the research for the article: Volkswagen of Brazil was totally useless! In the other hand, Volkswagen of America was really kind and even sent some info and pictures.
If anyone is interested and speaks portuguese, here’s the link:
https://revheadblog.com/2017/12/04/brasileiros-na-america/
Ain’t going to judge the qualities of this boxy VW known as a fox in North América. ( yes foxxy was the Brazilian VW company who dared to export this car to the US and Canada markets) but i think North América wasn’t its natural ambiente since Volkswagen in the extreme South of the continent has an interesting challenge : 3 boxy contenders or concurrents who fighted then very hard to get the first place in the market share for a niche that is primarily focused in the whole LatinAmerica: little notchbacks derived from originally little liftbacks , a formula that’s pretty succesful whether in México whether in Argentinia or Colombia. This is where the Volkswagen Fox / Voyage / Gacel / Amazon was worthed to be seen ,. having direct competitors that were the reason for gaining customers : Renault 9 Alliance and Fiat Duna (unknown in the US at all ) , all of these three resembling the dame structure ( boxy little sedans above all, althought VW Fox’s interior ergonomics was cramped and tight ). Most curious results, none of these 3 econoboxes was the best selling leader in the Latin subcontinent since VW Fox , Renault 9 Alliance and Fiat Duna sold in such a succesful way that each shared nearly 33% of the total to this special niche which them belonged to .
Omg this is my car! Still own it. Now with the turn signal on. Still has the body damage but that just adds character to the car. In caring hands indeed, it has gotten polish and waxed and has even won 3rd place in Pacific Waterlands, biggest vw car show in the PNW.