Foxes!
In 1993 I was working full-time at the airport and on the verge of getting married. I felt like I needed a more “grown-up” car than my ‘72 Bus. It had served me well (and man, I wish I’d kept it,) but I was an adult now, maybe starting a family. 27 years old and thought I knew what life was about. And I wanted a new car, with a warranty and maybe even factory AC.
I looked at several models, but narrowed it down to two: Ford Festiva and VW Fox. I’d driven Festivas for Airborne Express, and it was ideal for downtown deliveries: small, but with a lot of cargo room. Of course we beat the heck out of them. It was fun to fling around. But when I went to the dealer I was able to choose any color, as long as it was red. Literally 50 of them lined up, all exactly the same. AC was an option. As was a passenger-side mirror. And they had no full-size spare. Even though the Festiva had tiny wheels, you got an even smaller temporary one. Having had to change a few tires, I wanted a real one. Temp spares were new, and I didn’t trust them.
The Fox cost a little more, but it had standard AC, and a full-size spare, and was finished much more like a “real car.” Plus I knew VWs, having had a Beetle and a Bus and having dealt with Rabbits and other water-cooled VWs that friends and family had. And color choices? Well, dark blue, black, white, silver, and: red. A special red though, metallic, color-changing, purple on a cloudy day and maroon on a sunny one. Raspberry, they called it. Lipstick, jokesters called it. Later I would make jokes about “Redd Foxx.”
Yes, Fox Run. My first, the raspberry ’93.
The VW Fox was an oddity; built in Brazil, aircooled at first, and using parts from other VWs and Audis. The engine was in front, and mounted longitudinally, making the Fox look like an original Jetta but with a long snout. Boxy, awkward, never beautiful. But cheap and reliable.
I’m the kind of person who runs a car into the ground, and this was my first new car ever. I’ll never buy a brand new car again. Not because of the Fox, it was fine; due to later experiences. I kept that one for 17 years, ran it into the ground, and moved on to another Fox. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
In Brazil the Foxes were quite popular, and there was a pickup version (Saveiro,) and a hatchback (Gol.) I wish the Gol had been imported to the US; I really wanted one. The 2-door and 4-door were called the Voyage, and the wagon the Parati, and those are the models imported to the US. Any Brazilian I run into knows and loves the cars, but no one else seems to remember them, even VW people. Haven’t seen one on the road in more than a decade.
I did find this Gol in the US. Very affordable.
The first one, the ‘93 2-door, served me well. Commuting, trips, as one of several I owned at once (“which one is having the fewest issues today?”) First thing any Fox owner did for performance was pull the exhaust restrictor, the “donut,” which VW put in to lower power so it didn’t quite compete with the Golf. Soon after, I put on a stainless exhaust. It was never going to be powerful, but it sounded and looked better. It handled decently, and, well, wasn’t exactly fun to drive but wasn’t awful.
Going to the dealer for warranty service was always fun, pulling in with the Porsches and Mercedes. And when I parked it next to my friend’s original Mini, it actually looked big, with its 13” wheels compared to his 10s.
Next I got a Gambia red ‘87 wagon, from a friend in a Fox group that had started online and later had real-life get-togethers for a few years. The ‘93 was having some issues, and I liked the idea of a two-door wagon, and he wanted to put a turbo in it which I was all for. The turbo came from a Quantum turbo diesel: other parts came from other VWs, and Audis, and a Saab. Oh, and a custom air duct that came on a slow boat from China. It was fun, and practical. I hauled dirt and lumber and all sorts of random stuff in it. Treated it like a hatchback, hardly ever putting the rear seat up. I called it a shooting brake, and whenever someone said a 2-door wagon was silly I reminded them of the Nomad. It was way more fun to drive than one with a stock engine (plus we made suspension and brake upgrades.) I eventually got historic plates for it, permanent, saving some money each year (if I had kept it.) I ended up selling it to someone who stiffed me.
In (near) the snow at a local coffee shop, Fox In The Snow.
Finally (though coexisting with the wagon part of the time,) I had a ‘90 two-door in bright red, Daytona red I think. It was the best-looking: lowered, flashy color, clean inside and out. Eventually I hit a deer and had pretty serious cosmetic damage up front, and later some mechanical issues with the tranny and engine. Drove it to the junkyard, barely, and the clerk gave me a moment with it (“I know how guys are with their cars.”) My wife understood, too. There are a lot of things I love about her, but when we started dating and she loved the Foxes, well. Most women- most people- disparaged them. But she got them.
I owned one Fox or another (or a couple at once) for 26 years total, 1993 to 2019. They were economical, practical, and fun. I learned a lot about maintenance and repair. And I learned to always carry certain spare parts. Also learned that after two knee replacements I’m probably done driving manuals.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1990 Volkswagen Fox – International Wildlife
Curbside Classic: 1987 Volkswagen Fox – This German Fox Has A Brazilian Accent
I remember the Fox just starting to trickle into dealers about a year after I bought a new GTI in the fall of 1985. I really liked them, but decided against getting serious about one.
I looked at the GTI and Corrado, just looked. Too expensive for me at that point.
VW Fox is a new one on me… thought this was going to be a VW-Ford Fox hybrid…
My sister’s boyfriend of the last couple decades had a VW Fox in the mid-90s. He was able to realize an insane number of miles with it, but he also drives like he has all week to get there, so that likely helped extend the longevity.
I drive a little fast, but yeah, even the turbo was, well, quicker to get to top speed but not super fast. More fun to drive in hills and twisties since it got right back up to speed.
These cars were very popular in Argentina.
Several were manufactured in plants here and in Brazil, but they had different names.
The Fox pickup truck is called the Saveiro. And the Gol was a separate car but based on the Fox.
In Argentina, the Fox was called Gacel and later Senda.
I’ve heard of the Gacel, not the Senda. How long were they made there?
It was a car for the emerging market, which is why I find it strange that it was sold in the US.
From 1980 until the end of that decade, it was called the Gacel, then until the mid-90s, it was called the Senda.
The Gacel replaced the old Dodge 1500, later renamed Volkswagen. I’ve seen some reviews of this car here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Gol
If there’s a prize for best pictures of your own car, you should win it. All of those Fox-themed photos are great! I hardly ever took pictures of my daily-drivers at all, let alone pictures themed with the car itself.
I definitely would have chosen a Fox over the Festiva – and really for what your said: It seemed more like a “real car.” Maybe it was the notchback and wagon bodystyles (as opposed to a stubby hatchback), or maybe it was the proportions, but these Foxes didn’t have the Penalty Box appearance that many other cheap cars had.
I didn’t know about the exhaust restrictor – things like that are infuriating, but at least it was an easy fix.
And I remember the last time I saw a Fox; it was the white ’93 model below about 5 years ago. Oddly, I see many more real foxes (the animal, not the car), since they’re all over the place where I live now.
Ha! Thanks. I have a shot of one beside a Silver Fox Drive street sign, and probably a few other silly ones. And I have a friend whose last name is Fox so made sure to show it to her.
Wagons were only sold in the US 87-90 so I couldn’t get a new one in 93. Probably would have.
Donut came out super easily, so everybody did that first thing. Probably boosted horsepower from 85 to 87.
Last one I saw wasn’t even driving. For sale along a back road far from home, about 10 years ago. Seriously thought about buying it, but it had a lot of issues.
I found a dealer in Newark, NJ, who has an armload of Brazilian VWs for sale. My favorites of his are an 84 Gol, 84 Saveiro, and an 83 Parati. The Gol and Saveiro both have the air cooled flat four. I think it would be great fun to take the Gol or Saveiro to the Gilmore’s all German show, park it with the hood open, and watch people do a double take at what is going on in the engine room. Looking at his listing this morning, I see he raised the price of the Gol. All three started at $15k each. Then he cut all three to $10k each. Now, he has raised the price of the Gol to $12k. If I had the skills, storage, and crazy amounts of money, I would be tempted to take all three off his hands.
For some bizarre reason, he has all the Gol variants fitted with crazy huge wheels and low profile tires. But, with a smattering of US market Foxes still in junkyards, the proper wheels should be available.
At least, the wheels he has on the Parati don’t look as bad as some of the others.
When I worked for Washington Iventory Service(WIS) from 1988-92, this girl owned an 87 VW Fox…We would sometimes carpool to each store once in awhile. It was kinda cramped inside, especially for 4 adults.
It was comfortable as far as compacts go from the 80s, but that was it.
I know the Fox was reliable, but still not as fun or engaging as a comparable Jetta or Golf.
I still miss my 91 Jetta GL Mk 2.
Of all the body styles ever created, a 2-door station wagon is my favorite. My fantasy car has always been a ’64-’65 Chevelle 300 2-door wagon.
So when the Fox 2-door wagon came to the US, I wanted one. In the summer of 1989 I set out to buy my first new car, and of course I test-drove the Fox, despite the reports of questionable reliability and build quality of the early Foxes, which had already come out.
The sub-100 mile demo I drove felt like a 3-year-old car. I decided that no matter how much I liked the *idea* of the Fox, I didn’t care so much for the reality of it. I wound up with a Dodge Omni. Your story makes me kinda wish I’d picked the Fox.
There’s a lot to like about a simple VW; these were more of a real Beetle replacement than the Golf/Rabbit. I could have seen myself in one of these/
There was a white wagon sitting at a storage lot for the longest time, and I kept meaning to stop and shoot it, but now it’s gone.
If I was wanting to buy a VW at that time, I probably would’ve took a 1 or 2 year old Golf or Jetta for similar money over a new Fox since it was not available with an automatic. Many others probably felt the same way.
It’s interesting that you bought a new one in 1993…the last year they were sold new in the US…and then kept buying used ones for another couple of decades. If that doesn’t say “love” for a specific marque, I don’t know what else does.
I had a friend who purchased a white 2-door new around about 1990. This was roughly concurrent with his getting married, and his new wife issuing the kind of ultimatum that only brand new wives can issue; specifically that she would absolutely not be riding in his 1976 Corolla wagon that no longer sported floors or functional seats (since those typically need floors to which to connect). So, being required to buy a new car and one as inexpensive as he could find (since he actually saw no reason to buy a new car other than the ultimatum that his better half (and really, she was) would no longer ride in the Toyota), he wound up with the Fox.
Whenever I rode in it, I thought it a pleasant enough little car but frighteningly inexpensive-feeling. Thin sheet metal, rough surfaces inside, etc. It’s easy for me to see how VW’s own products, not to mention Honda and Toyota competition, quickly ended that VW experiment here in the US.
That Gambia red brings back memories, from 1990 to 1997 I had a Gambia Red 84 Jetta and before that I had Sciroccos with the same 13″ alloy wheels. Personally I thought the A1 Jetta was a nicer car than the Fox, plus a 6 year old Jetta was a lot more affordable. In addition the Jetta was a familiar platform and the Fox wasn’t.
Here in the PNW the absence of road salt preserves a lot of cars, but I don’t think I’ve seen a Fox recently.