In the spring of 1978 I traded my well used Nova in on a new 1978 VW Rabbit. I know that VW’s in general (and Rabbits in particular) have a reputation for crappy build quality and unreliability. That was certainly not the case for the one I owned; in fact, one could make a good argument that my Rabbit was the best car I’ve ever owned. Accepted wisdom is that you don’t want a car assembled on Monday morning or Friday afternoon because at those times the line workers might not be paying their full attention. I don’t know when my Rabbit was put together but the guys in Wolfsburg got it right; perhaps it was a slow Tuesday or something.
I had made up my mind that I wanted the Rabbit so my shopping efforts were limited to finding one equipped the way I wanted and how much it would cost me. I visited several VW dealers in the Sacramento area and ended up purchasing mine from the dealer in Davis, California; I paid approximately $5500 for the car, the only options were the factory A/C and a radio/tape player combo. The Rabbit had a 1450cc four cylinder engine with Bosch mechanical fuel injection and a four speed manual transmission. Mine was a light tan color called “Dakota Beige” in VW speak and had brown Leatherette seats. Perhaps not the most attractive car ever but I was certainly happy with it.
I drove the Rabbit around the local area for the 6-7 months that I remained in California; just enough to get the car good and broken in for the trip to Kentucky. I didn’t really have many possessions to transport home, mostly clothes, books and records (remember records); I did have the side and end rails for my water bed. I was able to fit everything in the Rabbit with just enough room leftover for me to drive and shift gears. I don’t know how much all of this cargo weighed but it was not enough to seriously burden the VW. The Rabbit didn’t have nearly as much torque as did the Nova but, of course, it weighed a lot less so it always felt quick and light on its “feet”. The little four banger never felt stressed and was not buzzy, even at advanced RPM.
As it was January when I got out of the Air Force I plotted a more southern route back home; instead of going thru Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and then down into Colorado, I went south in California, planning to go through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. It was after noon when I finally finished out processing so the first day’s travel was a short one, I made an overnight stop near Bakersfield. It was raining the next morning but I didn’t give it a second thought. I stopped in Kingman, Arizona for lunch and it was snowing, lightly, but you could tell it was snowing. I overheard some people in the restaurant say that this was the most snow they had seen in Kingman since 1959.
I pressed on eastward on I10 and as the altitude increased the snow got heavier; by the time I got to Flagstaff, which is about 8000 feet above sea level, it was really snowing hard. I stopped to get some coffee and to get off the road for a while. The snow started to taper off but the road was still covered. I tried to follow the ruts made by semi-trucks but the Rabbit’s track was too narrow for that. Finally, as we started to drop down in elevation the snow stopped. I was really glad to make it to Albuquerque for my next stop.
The next morning was beautiful, cold and crisp and clear, with the sun shining brightly. I made it across the rest of New Mexico and on into Texas. My planned route was going to take me to Dallas, where I was going to stop and meet my aunt. About three hours west of Dallas it began to rain, a really hard rain that, coupled with a strong crosswind, made driving difficult and fatiguing. I did get to Dallas but was too tired to do more than find a motel and call my aunt. She offered to come and get me and take me to dinner but I declined; one of my great regrets is that I did not take her up on her offer. She died a few years after this (at much too young an age) and I never got to see her or even talk to her again.
I resumed my trip the next morning and I was determined to make it back to Kentucky with no more halts. It would normally be about an 11-12 hour drive from Dallas to my home town in western Kentucky, and I was making good time until I got about two hours from home. At that point I ran into more snow; by that time I was off the Interstates and was driving on a two lane highway. The only good thing was that the snow was keeping other cars off the road so I didn’t have to worry much about other traffic. This snow storm really slowed me up and I was on the road some 14 hours before I finally arrived at my sister’s house.
I was able to quickly settle into a routine after returning to my hometown; I found a job, moved into an apartment and went on with life. The Rabbit was now broken in for sure and continued to run well. There was a little bit of uneasiness as it started to smoke pretty badly at about 15,000 miles. It was obviously oil smoke and I was just starting to consider a course of action when I received a recall notice from VW world headquarters. Apparently there was a problem with the valve guides wearing out prematurely and, because the resultant oil smoke was a pollution issue, VW corrected the issue at no charge. I took the Rabbit to the VW dealer and a couple of hours later no more smoke.
The Rabbit was my faithful companion for nearly seven years and it never left me stranded. I put over 117,000 miles on the car and basically only replaced normal wear items. I changed the front brake pads a couple of times but the shoes on the rear (drum) brakes were still in good shape when I traded the Rabbit away. The exhaust system did finally rot away; I tried to “fix” it with some muffler bandage but finally, of course, had to spring for a new exhaust. The only other major repair I can remember is having to replace the master cylinder about 4-5 months before the trade; judging from how much this part set me back I’m sure it was made of 100% unobtanium.
I drove the Rabbit all over during my seven years of ownership; it made a couple of trips to Fort Hood, Texas for National Guard duty. I was still single when I owned the Rabbit and it was nothing for me to go to Louisville, St. Louis, Indianapolis or even Chicago on the spur of the moment. I distinctly remember one trip to Indianapolis; we decided late in the afternoon to make the trip, we ended up getting back home around 5:00 AM. On another trip we drove straight through from Henderson, Kentucky to the Tampa area; it is not easy to take a nap in a Rabbit’s passenger seat but it can be done.
During all of the time I drove the Rabbit it seemed to get around 28-32 MPG, and it didn’t matter very much whether the driving was in town or on the highway. In absolute terms the Rabbit was not a fast car but it felt quick because it was so light. It was certainly capable of keeping up with traffic and it was entertaining to drive on winding roads. The only time it felt underpowered was taking off from a stop while going uphill; you would definitely want to turn off the A/C in that situation, at least until you shifted into third gear.
By the spring of 1985 I had owned the Rabbit for seven years (and 117,000 miles) and it was starting to look pretty ratty, even if it still ran well. There were some rust spots starting to form around the rear window and up around the cowl. The radio antenna had long since rusted through and had been replaced by a length of coat hanger (I seldom listened to the radio as I had an extensive collection of tapes). In addition the paint was pretty badly faded as the little VW had never been garaged and so was exposed to the weather. The outside edge of the driver’s seat was worn through thanks to seven years of me entering and leaving. By this time I had met the woman I would later marry and, while she never actually refused to ride in the car, after several instances of her suggesting we take her car instead of mine, I could tell that things needed to change.
I had a pretty decent job by then so I was receptive to buying something else. I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted but did want something a little larger than the Rabbit. What did I end up with, stay tuned to this channel for our next installment.
Massive fan of the first gen Golf shape. Haven’t driven one but I’m pretty forgiving when I’m enamoured with an exterior. Great to read of your lack of travails.
Nothing to forgive, Don. They’re a great drive. VW could do a lot worse than to dust off the tooling and bring them back.
Didn’t they produce this body shape in ZA and maybe a couple other places until very recently? “City Golf” IIRC?
They discontinued the city Golf some years ago
Brother in law had a Golf company car when he worked at a VW dealer it got a good thrashing on weekends when he visited seemed like a fun car but then he moved to a Mazda agency and had a 323 van and occasionally one of the new FWD 323s to cruise in personally I thought the Mazdas better cars but the Golf was ok.
A good design let down by quality control. Oh- let me amend that: Some design details were so atrocious it makes one wonder what qualifications were needed to be a VW engineer; seemingly completion of Second Grade was enough.
Exhibit A: The EXTRA COST optional opening wing windows were “secured” to their pivots via wee little glue pads. Period. Naturally one day you go to open it and it all goes crashing out onto the road. And VW won’t stand behind it.
That was the day VW lost it’s mystique for me. Although I can still respect the older air-cooleds, I consider any VW from about the mid-70s on up to be junk and I wouldn’t touch one with a ten foot pole. People’s Car indeed. Now I rarely miss a chance to tell people that Friends Don’t Allow Friends To Buy VWs. Unless for some reason that person LIKES to pay premium prices for sub-standard product. :/
Exhibit B: Rust prevention, or rather the lack of it. Even “Ziebarted”, Rabbits really want to return to the earth ASAP. Around here they’re just as rare as Vegas, and for the same reason.
Too bad. They looked nice, had good driving dynamics and ergos, and the diesels got phenomenal mileage. But back then, using the diesel in cold MN winters was an adventure as the cold weather fuel management system (nothing) was not up to the job. The winter VW diesel commuter always needed alternatives- tow, ride, lodging, flexible schedules- because actually getting the thing to start was a crap shoot.
Was winter starting a diesel Rabbit any worse than winter starting a diesel Chevette or diesel Sentra?
Rust was an issue for almost all makes during this era. Living in Buffalo all my life I never found Rabbits rusted any worse than Datsuns, Mazdas, Toyotas or even Fords……Actually the Japanese cars especially Datsuns were the worst.
bufguy, Regarding rust: “Actually the Japanese cars especially Datsuns were the worst.”
I can vouch for that. I loved driving my 1978 280Z, but the fight against rapidly appearing and reappearing rust was a battle I fought and fought and lost. Daily driving in and about Manhattan NYC in the winter didn’t help.
Originally from Rochester area…. I participated in a class action suit against honda regarding premature rusting of front fenders… settled circa 1982. By the time of the CRX, they were doing plastic front fenders until they could catch up on rust resistance.
Speaking of cost cutting – and I’m not sure if this was still the case by the time the US-built Rabbits came along – the early ones lacked a fore-and-aft adjustment for the driver’s seat!
And here’s the icing on the cake: The entire adjusting mechanism was seat; VW simply left off the handle. One of the car mags realized this, and noted that the handle was available from the VW parts counter for less than $10.
For some reason I can’t edit…that should read the entire adjusting mechanism was THERE.
That’s not true. My friend bought a ’75 Rabbit, and its seat adjusted. A non-adjustable seat would have literally made the car unusable for shorter or longer drivers. it’s absurd. Let’s keep to the facts.
Maybe you’re thinking of the passenger’s seat, which might have been fixed in the stripper version.
There were a lot of Rabbits built and sold between ’75 and the ’79s from Westmoreland. And they weren’t all strippers either; all of them right fro ’75 could be had in high and low trims.The high trim version had a very nice interior.
It *was* the base model, as I recall. And you’re correct; VW interiors were generally high quality, particularly in the higher-trim models.
Might have been in Consumer Reports (which I’ll have to dig up from old issues), and maybe my memory from 40 years ago is confusing the driver and passenger seat.
A non-adjusting drivers seat is not legal in most states and provinces, AFAIK, and may be a federal standard as well.
I’m pretty sure the Ferrari La Ferrari doesn’t have an adjustable driver’s seat, but it probably has adjustable peddles to go with an adjustable steering column.
Agree 100 %.
The rust wasn’t quite as bad an issue in milder climates. I’m in Richmond, VA, and there are still a few first-gen Rabbits, and a few more Rabbit pickups, still to be found on the streets. Most of them seem to be in the hands of enthusiasts of one degree or another, but quite a lot of them seem to be in their original paint and are not garage-kept, and they’re still here.
I’ve never owned a Rabbit or Golf, but drove 2 or 3 when they were near new. My uncle had a German-built diesel, and friends traded their fuel-injected Rabbit to me for an afternoon.
I would NOT say assembly quality was bad or even lackluster on either of those cars. Both made my Pinto, and later Fiesta, seem like any run-of-the-mill car while the Rabbit was a Cadillac.
Yes, the engineering of some parts of the Rabbit was questionable. Filling the windshield pillars with expanded foam ( and perhaps other cavities?) reduced noise but caused accelerated rust when/if the windshield leaked. A jack that must have been designed by the devil, and electrical connectors that seemed bio – degradable are not what I call assembly quality problems.
It’s my experience that all the German brands have questionable engineering…..though it usually reveals itself with niggling little problems.
For that reason I lost all respect for BMW, anything VW group, and Benz too.
Except the niggling little problems actually are quite big problems. They’re all burdened with excess complexity simultaneous with a lack of robust design/materials/manufacture/assembly; add to that stew a stealership network that has no shame when it comes to billing (I wouldn’t be able to face the customers if I worked at one) and the far above normal amount of time you and your pile will spend there, and you have the recipe for a horrible ownership experience.
And VW went out of it’s way to design end-user unfriendliness in, to make sure their mechanics had to spend many hours to address even the simplest of issues. New Beetles. Timing chains. Need I say more?
Bought a mark 4 Golf second hand from a VW dealer in Adelaide around 2004. Driver’s side window glass dropped into the door which turned out to be something VW covered and this dealer fixed it for nothing, as well as gave us a mark 5 TDi for the weekend trip we had planned – no charge.
Apart from the window, we never had an issue with that mark 4 in the four years I was in a relationship with the woman who bought it. Never. It was a very enjoyable driver, 2 litre with sports seats and alloys, nothing really special. Would still consider another of the same series. VW may have its problems, but your direct experience with the marque and its dealers cannot automatically be extrapolated to cover that of all users.
It’s quite possible that VW’s Australian dealer network is held to a much higher standard than the US one. Especially if you don’t have the kind of franchise-protection laws there are in the US – basically there’s no way a manufacturer can meaningfully sanction, let alone “fire” a dealership.
I’m not extrapolating my personal experience to apply across all territories. I’ve done quite a bit of marketing for dealers, mostly GM/Holden but also Nissan and Saab and the attitude some (most) management (and staff) had towards customers seems no different to what I read on CC about the worst of the US market. I didn’t even want to buy the mark 4 from a dealer but we found a good one at a good price and ended up having a good experience as well.
The Mexican built MK4 VW’s were infamous for the falling into the door windows. Especially on a hot day. Eventually VW came up with a fix, a better quality glass holding bracket/cable assembly and replaced them at no charge on out of warranty cars as well. It did a lot of damage to VWs reputation. A lot of people were not happy their almost new car would have the windows drop down into the door, sometimes just while parked in the sun.
I’d tend to agree, if my BMW was any indication. Beautiful car in almost every respect, but the headliner fuzz on the C-pillars drooped after just a couple of years and some of the control lettering wore off even faster. BMW certainly got the important parts right, though; best engine and handling I’ve ever seen.
Who bought it?
I got burned bad.
Me, and those many legions who contribute to quality statistics which also consistently rate VW as poor.
Car was in her name. I was in a fully-fledged relationship with her, tending to an entirely problematic Fiat 130 Coupe. Who cares whose name was on the paperwork?
Hope you write up the Fiat 130. I have wanted to learn more about the bigger Fiats that did not make it to the USA,
I will at some point. Going to COAL it in tandem with a comprehensive overview of the model. Right now, still trying to overcome the pain threshold of long past ownership.
First you implied you bought it and then you said you didn’t, that’s all.
I enjoy your going back and forth between larger American cars and small imports. Too many of us get on one side or the other and do not take the time to appreciate the wealth of offerings.
The early adoption of fuel injection and the resulting extra power and the overdrive top gears was finally allowing cars like the Rabbit to take on the interstates, without having to just run flat out. It was really a breakthrough, without having to resort to larger less efficient engines.
Strange coincidence, I bought a recent issue of Collectible Automobile and they have an article about the 1978-84 Rabbit/Golf Mk1. 😉
Why did you buy the car in Hearing Aid Beige?. Why no 5th gear?. Sounds like the dealer gave a good deal to get this one of the lot.
The five speed was not an option when I bought mine. The Dakota Beige was not my favorite color but, truth be told, I didn’t really care about that.
I subscribe to Collectible Automobile and the same issue that had the article about the early Rabbits also had an article about mid-sixties Pontiacs. In addition there was an article about post-war Dodge trucks; my grandfather worked for our town’s street department and had one of these assigned to him.
I didn’t know the VW Golf Mk1 suffered from the well-known 504-syndrome too.
It took at least two years for VW to work the bugs out in Wolfsburg, and even the “perfected” ’77s still had emissions-control carbs. Production for the US market moved to Pennsylvania for the 1979 model year; new start in a new factory. We only got the EFI German Rabbit for that one model year.
Only the ’75 and ’76 had the carb. The ’77 had FI.
There were some Westmoreland built 49 state cars, the stripper base model, that came with a 1 bbl Solex carb, it looked just like a Beetle carb.
They are rare, I only saw one or 2 in the dealerships I worked in in California. I don’t know if they were as troublesome as the Zenith 2 bbl carb that came on the ’75-’76 models.
Yes, for 1980 only, there was a base 1457cc engine for the Rabbit with a carb, rated at 62 hp. Not very common. More common was the 1588cc FI version with 76 hp.
But for ’77-’78, all the Rabbit engines had the 1588cc FI engine.
CR tested one. I’ll look up the results in a few days. I have a book published by CR in 83 that was a compilation of all their 80-82 road tests.
That’s correct, all the Rabbits after ’76 were fuel injection. But the ’78 engines were actually 1.5 (1457cc) 71hp, 70hp in California displacement. There was a mid ’76 Scirocco S that came with fuel injection. The ’77 (1588cc) had 78hp, 76 in California. VW loved to keep switching engine size during this period. So a little more zip in the ’77 models.
When I was about 13 years old, I had a couple neighborhood friends that I would take turns with ‘borrowing’ our parents cars at night while they slept or watched TV. One had a ’77 injected Rabbit. We thought it was pretty fast compared to my Mom’s ’79 Horizon or our other partner in crime’s Mom’s ’80-’81 Civic DX. We didn’t actually race, since we generally liberated one car at a time, but the Rabbit definitely seemed the strongest of the bunch. I also recall Car and Driver bench-marking the Pennsylvania GTI against the ’77 Rabbit for straight line speed, such was its superiority to the Rabbits that followed.
Incidentally, I always though the ’76 Rabbits were injected too. US Beetles were fuel injected from 1975, and of course many air cooled VWs in the US were injected much sooner than that. I knew a girl with a ’75 Rabbit that was carbureted and as primitive feeling as a Beetle, but that was the exception for pre-Pennsylvania Rabbits in my experience. I wonder if her car had front drum brakes, as some MKI Golfs did?
Heres CR’s test report on the base carbed rabbit from July 1980.
Page 2
And performance results.
As far as I’m aware, none of the first-generation Rabbits and Golfs had electronic fuel injection in the sense you mean. The injected cars used Bosch K-Jetronic, which is a mechanical system (K is for Kontinuous), although from the late ’70s, it became possible to apply some fairly basic metering adjustments based on input from an oxygen sensor. In that respect, it was more closely analogous to an electronic feedback carburetor than the D-Jetronic and L-Jetronic systems, which were electronic.
Yup. After reading the description of k-jetronic, I’ve always pictured it as a big weather vane flapping around in the breeze uncovering more or less of the injector opening. With some input from the throttle.
Johannes, the Golf/Rabbit was a totally new car for VW in 1975. As such, it had a lot of birthing and teething issues. By ’76, it was somewhat better, but really, it was not until ’77 that it attained its mature state.
I bet ’75 Golfds are extremely rare in Europe too. And I remember reading in auto, motor und sport about readers complaining a lot about the lack of quality in the early Golfs.
It was a fundamentally sound design, but it needed some ripening.
The fact that there are a number of Mk1s still on the road here confirms their basic robustness.
That’s interesting. I thought it was only the early Australian-build ones that had problems. Kind of good to hear it wasn’t just my countrymen who couldn’t build them right. The apparent lack of quality control, especially coming off the back of the Beetle’s reputation pretty much killed demand for VWs here in the ’70s.
I looked at one at a local car yard back around ’80. I’d driven my late uncle’s imported ’78 metallic brown five door, and the local build ’76 orange three door was looking good until I lifted the hood. What a mess! Looked like there’d been an underhood fire. No sale.
Great writeup! Wow, I almost had a ’78 Rabbit as my first car too, though as a used car. I was about 20 years old in 1986 and had saved up a few thousand dollars, enough to buy my first car for some long-dreamed-about independence. I liked front drive for its traction and roominess, which back then severely limited my shopping list for cars that were about $2,000. I mostly looked at ’81 Escorts and Lynxes due to fast depreciation, and lots of GM X-cars ’80 or newer. By that time everyone knew the Citation and its ilk were lemons, which made it possible to buy a fairly recently made $10,000 car like an X-11 V6 hatchback for under $1,500. Something like an ’82 Accord, though less expensive than a same-year Buick Skylark when new, could cost 3x as much used.
I loved the newer Rabbits, but most of them were well out of my price range too. I drove two ’83 Rabbit GTIs but they sold for about $6,000 were out. Being a fan of American Broughams, I didn’t understand the appeal of stark German cars – even a Mercedes looked incredibly plain to my eyes compared to a Cadillac. Thus, my favorite Rabbits were the ’81 and ’82 top-line LS models built when VW took advantage of the Westmoreland plant to build Americanized Rabbits with plush velour seats, thick carpets, color-coordinated dashboards and headliners, woodgrain trim, and soft suspensions. The LS could have almost been the Rabbit Brougham. But they were still typically priced above what I could afford.
That changed when I learned a friend of my older brother’s was selling his Rabbit. I had riden in it several times years earlier; it was a yellow ’79 3-door with a black vinyl interior in mid-grade C trim and a stick shift, the first year of the American-built Rabbits. Unlike the ’81-’84 models, the ’79-’80 still strew quite close to the German original, save for rectangular headlamps, smooth rather than textured vinyl upholstery, and color-keyed interiors with several new colors inside and out. But when I went to drive it, I learned it wasn’t that car for sale but rather his (beautiful) girlfriend Yvonne’s ’78 Rabbit, which was a metallic royal blue 5-door with textured vinyl seats inside – brown if I recall correctly though they may have been charcoal. It had a 4-speed stick. A short drive totally 180’d me on the desireability of stark German interiors – the difference between the Wolfburg-born ’78 and her boyfriend’s ’79 was astonishing. All sorts of details gave Yvonne’s car a distinct Teutonic flavor, like outside mirrors controlled by a rubber mushroom-shaped nub in a bellows, rather than the ’79’s chrome ball-ended stick of the sort found on Chevies and Fords of the era. The Wolfsburg logo on the steering wheel instead of a round VW logo. Loop-pile carpeting rather than thick fur-like cut pile. And mostly, the way it drove – the incredible road feel through the wheel and suspension, the supportative seats, the astonishing outward visibility, the sound of the small but enthusiastic 1.5L FI four. It is one of the sportiest drives I’ve ever had the pleasure to experience. For some unrecalled reason though, I didn’t buy her car and eventually wound up with a future COAL, an ’82 Pontiac J2000 Brougham (oops, J2000 LE) which wasn’t as sporty, but looked and felt like a million compared to everything else I could afford. If I find the film prints I took of it, I’ll prepare a write-up for this underappreciated car and its role in some formative life events. If the ’78 Bunny was inextricably tied to Yvonne in my mind, my soon to be J2000 LE was indelibly tied to Cathy, whom I dated , drove, and did other things with in the Pontiac. More in my COAL soon…..
Sound like you and I are pretty close in age just plain Joe. I turned 20 in Sept. 86. I bought my first car in Nov. 83. It was a 71 2dr Maverick I paid $625 for. As related in a diesel rabbit COAL a few weeks ago, I spent plenty of seat time in my friend Brian’s Rabbit Diesel that had been modified with the injection timing being played with, a different year gearbox with more aggressive ratio’s, and I just found out a small turbo. It too was Tan. I’ve always said that if you went into a VW dealership around the 79-83 time frame and got a paint chip brochure it would have one huge paint chip in TAN! I always enjoyed driving Brian’s 81 Rabbit. It was a lot of fun. I was offered a 82 gasser for free that hadn’t run in about 6 years back around 95 but didn’t take ’em up on the offer. It too was Tan. I know nothing about VW electrics and mechanicals ( whereas I have the wiring diagrams memorized for my Mavericks) so was afraid of buying a lawn ornament. I wish now I had at least tried. I haven’t seen a Rabbit around these parts in awhile. Did get this one here back in Sept, last year. And how ’bout that, it’s not TAN!
Perfect description of the difference of the build quality of the German vs Westmoreland cars, la673. The ’81 up US built cars did improve some in build quality, the ’79-’80 were really bad. I had an ’80 Westmoreland Rabbit and it really was inferior by far. The mk2 VW’s that were built in Mexico were also very poorly built. The US built mk2’s were better then the Mexico cars, but the German versions were still far superior.
The Wolfsburg plant still builds the best VWs. I now own and drive an ’07 Rabbit, the direct successor of the car featured here. It has been nearly flawless. Outside of the US and Canada, this was the 5th-generation Golf, the last to share its body with the concurrent Jetta. But the Jetta Mk5 was built in Mexico whilst the Golf/Rabbit Mk5 was from Germany, and its interesting to compare the build quality and reliability of the two cars. They are nearly identical forward of the C-pillar, yet my Rabbit was found to have “much better than average” reliability in the Consumer Reports survey (rare for any VW), compared to “worse than average” for the same-year Jetta. The Golf Mk6 also did well in both the CR and J.D. Power surveys. But when the Golf Mk7 arrived, production of US-bound cars was moved to Mexico (except the Golf R), and predicted reliability slipped to “much worse than average” for the standard Golf, and average for the Golf GTI.
I once owned an ’89 Mercury Tracer, which was an Australian Ford Laser built in Mexico, which itself was heavily based on the Japanese-built Mazda 323. But my Tracer and most others of this generation had much better than average reliability, so clearly Mexico and Mexicans are capable of building high-quality cars. But for whatever reason, VW can’t seem to get its Mexican act together – Jettas and Beetles built there have never been up to Wolfsburg quality standards.
Most people both inside and outside Volkswagen consider the effort to take advantage of the Westmoreland plant to change the character of their cars to appeal to American tastes to have been a mistake, so it’s interesting that in their second attempt to build cars in the US (the current Passat) they’ve gone even further in Americanization by building a completely different car from what Europeans get.
I remember when the Rabbit name came back and I heard that they were German built. I was working for Nissan in this time period, and wondered if they would be better built. From your experience with your ’07, Wolfsburg is still building the best quality VW’s.
If I some day decide to get a newer VW, I think I’ll look for one of these Rabbits. It really is sad VW can’t seem to get it’s Mexico plant to improve it’s quality. I wonder how much is assembly quality vs. the quality of the components that are sourced for these cars?
It is strange that VW can’t get it’s act together in Mexico whereas Ford’s plant in Hermosilla builds some of the best quality Ford’s. And that’s according to outside audits. In fact back in 88/89 when they were researching for the book The Machine That Changed The World they said the Hermosilla plant challenged the best plants in Japan for initial quality. I think it still holds true.
Joe, Nice write up. I can relate to the “gotta-get-there” mentality fighting with the “this-is-crazy” sense of caution. Been there, and like you, kept going.
In 1978 I almost bought a new VW Scirocco. It felt a bit odd during the test drive, all front end power and weight and almost no rear end. Like a bulldog or boxer. But that was probably because my current ride was a 1972 Impala. I elected instead to go a bit more mainstream and bought a new Datsun 280Z and never looked back. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
You think the “gotta get there no matter what” is bad in a car trip, you oughtta try being a truck driver! The bed in the back is wishful thinking. Guess it must agree with me though, been doing it 21+ years now. At least I get paid for staying up 21 hours. Oh yeah, and low cost vacations too!
Glad to hear you had good luck with your Rabbit, Joe. I tend to think that 1978 was the best year for these cars in the US; the last full year for the German-made cars.
Around early 1988 I found myself needing a winter beater. I bought a ’78 Rabbit 2-door in the same retina-burning green as the lead photo. Someone had blacked out the center of the hood and the recess around the rear hatch window, and actually did a better-than-rattle-can job. I picked up a set of Scirocco alloys and GTI wheel arch mouldings cheap. A new set of Continental tires later, I had a good looking beater.
I kept it for about a year, and it was a good, fun car. I drove it out west that summer, from Wisconsin to Utah, then back through Colorado and Nebraska. The only problem I had was the ubiquitous fuel pump relay issue. The relay got very hot and eventually burned up the spade connectors in the fuse panel. I clipped the wires free from the fuse panel, crimped on new connectors, and let the relay dangle from the wires- problem solved. Oh, and the air box that held the AC evaporator filled up with water in western Nebraska when the drain plugged up; a stiff piece of wire cleared the drain tube.
I like these cars, and I would have another. If there were any left.
The infamous fuse box issue. VW did issue a recall that basically did what you had done, it was a little wire harness that plugged into the pump relay location, and then relocated the relay on a little bracket that mounted it on top of the fusebox, keeping away the heat. I sold a lot of expensive fuse boxes back in the day due to this problem.
People forget how advanced and dynamically superior Volkswagen’s were when the Rabbit was was being produced. Very taut design, no extraneous styling, light weight, extremely efficient use of space, great handling, front wheel drive and fuel injection…..No other cars came close.
My first new car was an 80 Scirocco….It was a revelation compared to all other cars I had driven. Extremely handsome, quick, great handling, great in the snow in Buffalo and ran flawlessly.
VW misunderstood the market. Enthusiasts didn’t mind the spartan interiors and when they started producing them in Pennsylvania the “American” improvements didnt improve the car, it cheapened them.
I now own a restored 81 Scirocco S
Awesome Scirocco! I have great memories of my brother’s Scirocco of the same vintage. When he went to grad school in Boston in the early 80s he left the car at home for a year, so I had a fun set of wheels to drive to school!
Yes, I had a ’78 Scirocco (my first VW, I’m now on my 3rd since then)…it was a great car, wish I still had it, but remembering that I even sometimes have aches getting into my current Golf, a and remembering how low the Scirocco was, it was good I had it while I was young. It wasn’t troublefree, I remember putting in brakes, exhaust systems, but I had it for 7 years, it came with me when I moved to Texas where I owned it for quite awhile even without A/C (but traffic wasn’t as bad back then as it is now, so could usually get breeze when underway). I sold it after I bought my ’86 GTI (Pennsylvania made) which was also a nice car, but felt different than the Scirocco….I kept that car 15 years and sold it when I bought my current (2000 Golf), which I’ve had for going on 15 years as well. It has glitches with the power locks which I need to get to, and needs a new catalytic converter (though its on original exhaust system, even original CV joint boots!) and has given me mostly minor problems (though it did leave me stranded once when the ignition lock cylinder decided to go)…This one was made in Brazil, so each one came from a different assembly site.
Didn’t VW even offer up a suggestion of high performance in its Rabbit advertising? Like bragging about its acceleration, but with a 0-50 number instead of the customary (but illegal under Big Goverment’s Double Nickel Fiasco) 0-60?
The Rabbit was exceptionally quick for its class at the time.
Zero to 50 in 8.6 seconds, circ.
Wasn’t that pretty close to what Ford advertised the Fiesta doing?
Probably. The Fiesta was the other really quick car in its class. But the Rabbit came out a few years earlier. In 1975, the Rabbit was a sensation, in terms of its performance and handling. Although a Corolla 1600 was pretty brisk too, but not as good of a handler.
Back on 07/10/04 I documented a 73 Corrolla 1600 Deluxe Automatic at the impound auction that went for $30. It was in surprisingly good shape. When I get home in a few days I’ll post the pics. Vin# was TE21652233.
My 80 Scirocco replaced a 77 Corolla 1600….The Scirocco was definitely quicker..somewhat due to its lighter weight.
The Fiesta was even lighter
My first car was a 1974 Corolla 1600 and the 2TC made an honest 100 bhp, making the car a lot more stout long hills than a Rabbit. The Rabbit was just in another universe when it came to handling.
Canuk: You’re mixing up gross and net hp. The Corolla 1600 did make some 100 hp gross, but 75 net, roughly the same as the VW 1588 engine (78 net hp). No 1600 engines back then made 100 net hp, except maybe a Euro-market non-smogged Alfa or such.
The twin-cam 2T-G version of the Toyota 2T engine probably wasn’t far off the 100 hp mark, although I don’t think I’ve ever seen net or DIN figures for it. (The high-compression version claimed 115 PS JIS gross in Japan, 124 hp SAE gross in the European markets where it was available.)
In my 1974 Consumer Guide, the 97.5 cubic inch Colt is listed as having 83hp and the 97.17 cubic inch Fiat 124 4dr is listed as 78.2 hp. I am dubious of these horsepower claims as they also say the 2130 pound 4sp 124 requires 16.5 seconds to 60 and the 2110 pound automatic Colt requires 18.5 seconds to 60.
In those days automatics were slower than stick shifts unlike today. Especially in a small hp 4 cylinder, the auto would most defiantly be 2 seconds slower. Back in 70, the 200/auto combo in a Maverick recorded a 14.5 0-60 and the three speed (on the column which was slower to shift than a floor shift) did it in 12.3. In modern rear wheel dyno tests the 200 built to stock specs dynos out at 58hp with C4 autos and 65 with 3.03 Ford three speed boxes. The auto simply takes more hp to churn around.
For what it’s worth, 0-50 times (or 0-80 km/h) were a pretty common performance metric in the U.K. and at least some European markets well into the ’60s. When reading old reviews in British magazines, the text would often refer to comparative 0-50 times the way their American counterparts would talk about 0-60. So, it was at least not without precedent.
My sister bought a Rabbit new in 76 in the same colors as the lead photo, but equipped with an automatic transmission. Owning a brand new car she decided to drive from Boston to Nova Scotia to visit our aunt. The car got her there but then broke down. The tow truck driver being unfamiliar with front wheel drive cars towed it 50 miles with the back of the car on the hook, front wheels down. Fried the transmission. Being so new, the nearest replacement tranny had to be ordered from Germany. It would take 4 to 6 weeks to get it and install it. She flew home and flew back to get it when it was done. There was hardly a month that went by when that car wasn’t in the shop. It needed rings and valves at 53,000 miles when she traded it. Huge piece of shit!
My next door neighbor with a Ford Torino contemplated a VW Rabbit of this vintage. He liked that it was more space-efficient than the bloated Torino, and not the same kind of flaccid Blimpmobile. But he procrastinated, being one of those “Next year’s will be better” types. By the time he was ready, there was competition, and he felt the Chrysler Omnirizon was a more developed version of the same idea. Certainly it was smoother and plusher. So he pitted the Plymouth and Dodge stores against each other and came away with a Horizon…from the Dodge dealer (some kind of barter at the dealer level, probably). I moved a couple of years later, and he retired to Montana. When I vacationed there, he said he’d loan me a car to tour in. What he had in mind was his Jeep but for old times’ sake, he came to pick me up at the station in the Horizon, now with 215,000 miles on it!
Just for those planning a trip. I-40 crosses Arizona and New Mexico thru Flagstaff and Albuquerque. In addition to snow, high winds are highly likely. I-10 goes thru Phoenix, Tucson, Las Cruces and on to El Paso, TX where snow would be extraordinary.
Sorry for the loss of your aunt. No opinion on Rabbits.
Although I don’t care for the colour, I’ve always liked this generation Rabbit/Golf.
I bought a 79 Rabbit in the late 80s while I was in grad school. It was a 2-door base model nearly 100K miles on a gasoline engine when I bought it. It must have been one of the first vehicles out of the Westmoreland factory, as it still retained most of the original German design. It was a fantastic car for me at the time! Cheap to own, fun, and quite reliable. I never had any serious problems with it. It drove great in the snow, and I put many highway miles on it between PA and my home in IN. I drove it for about 2 years before it rusted out. It had never been garaged and had lived a pretty tough life. I still miss that car. It was a much better car than the Datsun 310 I replaced it with.
After a few disastrous decisions, I was completely bankrupt and car-less in 1998… in Los Angels where the buses are useless. Fortunately, I had a friend that sold me his old 1984 VW GTi. He had purchased it from the original owner and the Sticker was in the glovebox. Purchased in Alaska, it had no A/C which was challenging in SoCal. It was also pretty used up with 175K miles on it. The clutch slipped… and the front driver-side strut leaked so when stopped, the car sank to that corner. But the (Red!) body and interior were pristine and he loaned me the $750 he wanted for it. That’s right, I was so broke, he loaned me the money to buy his car! Recovering from BK takes a few years, so I fixed the clutch, replaced the struts and performed all the maintenance that Rabbit GTi needed and it was a reliable, joyful ride for 3+ years. One of the most fun cars I ever owned! Eventually, I needed a car loan to re-build my credit… So I reluctantly traded the GTi in on a Daewoo Nubira… and that’s a whole ‘nother story.
I had a top of the line very early ’75 Rabbit 2 door Deluxe that I bought used around 1981. Red with rare white interior and add on VPC air. The bracket for the compressor was cracked, I ordered a ’77 factory ac bracket from VW to mount the huge square York compressor, and it worked well. The carb was quickly replaced with a aftermarket Weber 2bbl made for the Rabbit, it had an adaptor to use the stock air cleaner assembly and as I recall were smog legal in California as well. It also came with an AIR smog pump, I did remove that assembly. It would smoke on startup and use oil, the original poor design valve seals which were rock hard were replaced with updated seals and that solved the smoke and oil burrning problem
’75 came with two linkage setups, both were not very good designs, mine had the earliest version for it’s 4 speed. It worked so-so if the bushings were in good shape and it was adjusted right, but was easily the weak link in this early car. ’76 came out with a 3rd design which was used for all the 4 speed cars after that.
It was a good car after I updated these weak points, and replaced the door mounted 2 point shoulder strap with proper 3 point belts with ones from a junkyard ’75. These were also ’75 only, the retractors were mounted exposed in the rear floor, ’76 and up had them mounted behind the rear trim panels. The other unique part on the ’75 was the rear body panel was shaped for the large oval European license plates. You could see the lines with the California square plate mounted. The replacement rear body panels were the ’76 up design, it’s a good way to identify a ’75 model.
The next Rabbit I had was a brown ’77 sunroof mid level version, it had the black single instrument bezel without tach. I blew up it’s engine racing a GTI. It only had a four speed so at 100 mph I wound it out too fast for too long. That’s the price you pay for driving like an idiot.
At the time, (1988) VW was clearing out it’s warehouse of obsolete engines, and I scored a brand new factory long block 1.6 for $400.00! A mechanic at work had a rebuilt wide ratio 5 speed, so both were installed. I scored a set of Scirocco seats at a junk yard, found a Votex center console and mounted a tach and temp gauge in it. A new (brown) paint job and I had a really nice rebuilt Rabbit. It was a great car, too bad after 35k miles a ’63 Dodge pickup ran a stop sign and smashed the front end flat. I walked away with only a seat belt bruise. The German built fuel injected Rabbits were good cars.
No, sir, I think not; if the pics of the beige car in this post are yours, the vertical side marker lights and the shoulder belts attached to the door give it away as a car built in New Stanton (near Westmoreland), Pennsylvania, USA. Other clues we can’t see in these photos: much wider taillights on the US-built cars, and 200mm × 142mm rectangular headlamps instead of 7″ round ones.
I think it’s more like very inconsistent build quality and reliability; if you happen to get a good one, you’re golden—if not, you’re screwed—and while a good dealer service network can go a long way toward making a good experience of a bad car, North American VW dealerships have a crappy and unreliable reputation of their own.
A favourite smug rejoinder amongst VW fanboi types to complaints about poor quality and unreliability was/maybe still is “Ohhhhh, yours must’ve been built in [pick one: Mexico, America, Brazil]; the real German-built ones are superior”. Which isn’t true, but that doesn’t matter to the type who get the VW brand logo as a tattoo.
Well, the cars pictured in the article were all sourced after the fact. Boo, bad me, not realizing that I would want photos of my cars, some 30 years on. I don’t consider myself to be a VW fanboy; I’m just stating the fact that the Rabbit I owned was well put together and provided me with long and faithful service. Not that my car needed much other than routine services but I was lucky to find an independent garage in my home town that did excellent work. The joke was that they were the only shop in my small town that owned a complete set of metric wrenches. Probably not true but they had a well earned reputation for being able to fix any imported car.
The images are from Rabbits still on the road here in Eugene. There’s quite a few others too. I’ve done numerous posts on them here.
The ’81-’84 Westmoreland Rabbit’s had the longer taillamp assemblies. ’79 and ’80 used the original German style taillamps. The authors ’78 was German built. In ’79, all US built Rabbits were gas engines, the Diesels were still German built. I believe in Canada all ’79 and ’80 Rabbits were still German built as well.
I worked at VW dealerships during this time period, there is no question where the car was built makes all the difference. I had firsthand experience with seeing the problems and discussing them with the mechanics that worked on the cars for a living. It was common knowledge.
Case closed. These are been there, done that first hand facts. The German cars were superior, US ’79-’80 were poorly built, ’81-84 were better but not great, Mexico (mk2 and later models) were really bad.
Now about those diesels. Well, old-school diesels in general.
It was common practice to add premium gasoline to the diesel fuel, up to a 1/5 ratio IIRC, when outside temperature seriously dropped below freezing point.
The Golf Mk1 (naturally all of them were German built here) was a true cockroach of the road. The Mk2, ditto.
Here’s a selection of Golf Mk1s for sale right now:
http://www.gaspedaal.nl/Volkswagen/Golf/?bmin=1974&bmax=1983&srt=bj-a
Wow ! Almost € 20,000 for this (original / not restored) 1983 1.8 GTI, 112 hp.
Alright. I’m not sure how you know the author’s ’78 was built in Germany—the Pennsylvania plant started churning out Wabbits in April of 1978, which was long before the start of the ’79 model year—but perhaps there’s some telltale snippet I missed in the article.
Me, I lost count of how many times VW devotées started babbling about inferior Mexican blahbitty blah blah blah when I would mention what a pathetic piece of shìt our ’90 Jetta was. Sometimes they kept right on even after I informed them it was a German-built example, complete with “W” as the first VIN character. I matter-of-factly told the most persistent of them that some of the best-built cars I’ve owned have been made in Mexico, though they weren’t VWs.
If build country “makes all the difference”, well, you’d’ve had a hard time making me a difference between our highly problem-prone “superior” German-built Jetta and a Mexican-made one that really couldn’t have been much worse—though you’d’ve had plenty of opportunity to make your case to me if you happened to be one of many tow truck drivers to draw the task of hauling it to the dealer again.
That case of yours is maybe not quite so completely closed as you’d like, as it seems.
The first model year of the Westmoreland built cars was 1979. There are no 1978 model year Westmoreland cars.
All cars have problems, none are perfect. The fact is that you never owned a Mexican built VW. I have had years of experience dealing with them firsthand so this qualifies my statement. But no reason to continue this argument. We can just agree to disagree.
I love the first gen rabbits. I had a 1980 GTI, and before you guys in the states go on about not having GTI’s in that year we got the German ones up here in Canada but they were more of an appearance upgrade. Mine was equipped with a fuel injected 1.6 litre and a 5 speed. It was about 12 years old when I had it in the 90’s. Over the time I had it I had the engine rebuilt with a new clutch, replaced the exhaust with a header and replaced the shift linkage. It was a fun car to drive especially in the mountains around Banff. I put well over 100 000 kms on it and I don’t ever recall it leaving me stranded . Eventually I sold it to a buddy who got another couple of years out of it before the tin worm got the better of it. I have thought about getting another one since but they are very thin on the ground around here. The next best thing would be a convertible as most seem to be garage queens and you can still find a few for not much money here on the Vancouver Island. I imagine parts availability might be an issue though. Great article thanks for the memories.
I don’t have a lot of experience with the MK1 Golf/Rabbit, but I liked them when they were new. I was a Beetle fan when one day I visited the dealer for some part, and the salesman I knew tossed me the keys to a new Miami Blue ’77 Golf which was well equipped with a sunroof. Up in the hills I went by myself; it was an absolute blast. I never felt the same way about the Beetle after that. For the life of me, I still wonder why I bought that star-crossed Accord over a nice Golf or Scirocco. I guess I thought the Honda was cheaper and more reliable…
Joe, I’m glad you enjoyed your Rabbit.
A friend’s parents had a ’78 Rabbit 2-door in a very similar shade of green to the one at the top. I rode in it many times – quite roomy especially considering to its outer dimensions. They kept it for about seven years as well, selling it after a few rather expensive repairs, plus it was starting to rust. Still, they got a lot of use out of it and they always had a lot of fun driving it.
I liked these cars. Probably because I had a steady diet of air cooled beetles and expected little more. It appears to me, however, that they were a marked improvement in so many ways. Drove some but never owned one.
VW is now long gone from my system and lately it appears that is for the best. If I had a time machine one of the first gen rabbits with a diesel would be a tempting target for my mm.
I am glad your Rabbit worked out, but my mama’s 76 Yellow Rabbit had rusted to death after 10 years in Tompkkns County. She had to dig around to find one with an AM/FM Radio.
I bought a ’80 dealer demo Rabbit that was a true lemon. After much complaining to dealer mgmt.,they offered any car in stock at cost. They had one 1981 rare S model, which had some of the equipment and decor of the yet to be offered GTI, and a 5 spd trans. It felt completely different than the ’80 and was great fun to drive. After 6 years of use I decided to treat myself to a newer car as I often drove some distance for my work. I read with great interest ,various road test especially on the recently introduced Acura Integra. I purchased a well-equipped model and properly stored the rabbit as I still liked it to much to part with. While the acura was a good car and had a great engine, It really was not as entertaining to drive. I sold the Acura and continued with the rabbit another 8 years. It had over 150k miles and no serious problems. Replaced clutch once and engine mounts on a regular basis. My wife and daughter still comment on the rabbits fun to drive nature saying “it was fun just to drive to the store”. My other car during most of these years was an ’84 Mercedes 300 turbodiesel. We drove it for 14 years, 260k miles and no repairs other than normal maintenance. I mention this only to counter some other postings referring to inferior quality of some German marks. When I finally sold the Rabbit it still looked presentable with one small dent and a headliner that had started to let go. I put a ” For Sale” sign in the window and sold it within two hours. I now find myself looking for a good 80s GTI on EBAY or elsewhere.
I know these cars well, having fixed up and sold and/or driven a bevy of them. Like the earlier posters state, the 1975-76 cars were so bad that they were best avoided. However, by 1977, VW had really upped their game. The cars were a revelation to me when I first drove one. First of all, the 1588 cc engine with Bosch K-Jetronic was smooth, torquey and capable of a lot more power, which it didn’t need. The long stroke motor was really smooth and flexible, and about as hard to fix as a floor mop. The non-assisted rack and pinion is still the best steering I can ever recall, and the seating position brilliant.
By the last year of the German cars, 1980, the quality had really been bumped up, along with the price. They still had their foibles, but they were common to all the cars and the fixing was absurdly cheap. So, the antenna hole leaked and fried you fuse box? A new Bosch OEM from Brazil was peanuts and easy to install, and make sure that antenna is sealed, okay?
The door outside handles were notorious for breaking. If the cooling system were not serviced regularly, a head gasket and/or head problem was a sure thing, but anybody could do it with just simple tools. That was the great thing about these cars. They were so easy to fix. It took like four spanners to take the whole car apart.
Rust killed them, but driving is what killed most of them. I saw a few myself the last time I was in Eugene. I understand the attraction.
One last thing that was different about the Westmoreland (actually New Stanton) cars was the new, different paint colors. As much as I like the early German-built Rabbits, they did have some really strange colors that looked better suited for psychedelic posterboard than car paint. These included the Kermit Green shown here, an in-your-face “Miami Blue”, bright orange, and stop-sign red. The Westmoreland cars brought much more muted and tasteful colors, with the exception of a baby blue that seemed to be the default color on the ’79-’80 models. It wouldn’t have stood out so much if the interiors weren’t the exact same color, and *everything* was color-keyed. We’re talking baby-blue turn signal indicators, baby-blue door lock buttons, everything. The facelifted ’81-’84 Rabbits backed off from the all-encompassing interior color coordination to its benefit, and actually looked quite nice in rich new shades of burgundy, dark blue, dark beige, or grey. The dashboards, headliners, and other major parts still were in matching colors, something I wish they’d bring back.
My father’s last car purchase was a 1978 Rabbit 4 door in dark brown, with a sand or tan interior, IIRC. Being a kid at the time he owned it I don’t recall if the car was a maintenance nightmare or if it ran like a fine Swiss watch. I don’t recall him having to take it back to the dealer much. I do recall it was a tight little car without much rattles or squeaks, and dad loved driving it. After he died in 1982 my eldest brother inherited the car (mom kept the 78 Buick LeSabre he bought her) and kept it running for a few more years. Sadly, the Rabbit met its end in a traffic accident, crushed between a tradesman’s van and a Lincoln Continental that couldn’t stop fast enough for a red light (My brother came out without a scratch). Seeing this story brings back a lot of memories of dad’s old Rabbit, and riding around in it with him.
In high school in the mid-late 1980’s I was hot on a girl whose parents “gifted” her a first generation yellow 2 door Rabbit diesel. After riding in it I asked her if she was sure her parents really loved her. Lost any chance with her. 😛
Wasn’t there a CC on the VW Westmoreland factory saga? VW’s quality issues rival Chrysler’s and are nothing short of tragic, considering how great the original Golf/Rabbit really was. Well, if you got a good one, that is.
My aunt and uncle both had one. The aunts was a 1980 and my uncles was a 1976 I believe. Hers was a stick and his was an auto which ruined that car. It was the worst shifting automatic I have encountered to date. The stick was much better and got so much more out of the engine. Rust, water and air leaks, broken door handles, head gaskets and other notorious issues were the name of the game with both cars. They were also very noisy, rode very firmly, handled like on rails, were economical with stick and had reasonable interior room with the hatch design. The interiors were also very spartan being base trim level cars. The uncles car had A/C but it quit working by 1980 and he never bothered fixing it. The 1976 car rusted apart and was all done by the early 80’s and the aunt’s lasted until around 1986. They got a 1985 Cutlass Cruiser wagon to replace both cars that lasted them well into the 90’s that they really liked overall.
I had a ’78 Rabbit diesel as my second car, after I wrecked my first car, a ’74 2002tii. I am still concerned that the car gods are one day going to let loose their wrath on me for that, but I digress. That little Rabbit was a great car. It was reeeeaaalllyyyy slow but it got 50 miles to the gallon between the east coast and Denver for a winter break ski trip on a college kid’s budget. With the back seat out one of us could drive while the other slept in the back. With the 5 speed, which my mechanic at the time said was “one of the good ones”, it was even reasonably fun to drive. Dead reliable, simple, surprisingly solid car. And with a pair of little knobby tractor tire snows up front, it was nearly impossible to get stuck, unless you happened to high side in too deep a drift. Even then, the snow tires would often just drag the under belly through the drifting snow until it got back down on to more solid stuff. Of yeah, did I mention my buddy’s sister who lived in Boulder?
My first car was a ’78 gas Rabbit. I bought it for $350, and it was running on 3 cylinders. My uncle took a look at it and said “Peppy little thing!”. After he helped me fix it up, I got it up to 70 in second gear. Passengers thought the engine was about to blow. Then I dropped it into 4th and it got really quiet. They thought it died. lol
It ran great until I let my brother borrow it. He took it stomping, and it wrecked it. I still hate his guts.