To say that the all-new VW Rabbit (Golf Mk1) arrived half-baked is stating the obvious. After building essentially the same cars for some 30 years, retooling for a totally new car, in which none of the parts interchanged, and which was optimized for light weight and different parameters, VW was essentially starting over from scratch. And it really flubbed it. The initial ’75s had numerous issues, some of which required serious work-arounds, as is detailed in this chapter of R&T’s long term test, which went on to 48,000 miles. Stay tuned.
From the sounds of this, VW could have given Chrysler a run for its money in the “Launch Disasters of the 1970s” sweepstakes.
Interesting that you bring up Chrysler, JP, because the only thing I can think of that comes close to the complete transformation of VW was Chrysler’s complete switch to unit bodies in the late 50s. By most accounts that was reasonably successful – but they kept the complete powertrains from the BOF cars that preceded them.
Aside from the Transporter, VW threw out everything they knew about designing and building cars and started from scratch. It’s almost amazing that they didn’t fail worse than they did.
I was kind of thinking of the 1978 Horizon which was really all new for them. That was actually one of their better launches, it seemed that the worst were on cars that were just newly-bodied versions of what they had already been making. Which is completely unforgivable.
I was thinking the same thing. The first Omnis/Horizons had their glitches, but nothing like the Aspen/Volare or even the 1979 R-bodies. Yet the Omni/Horizon represented the most radical change for Chrysler.
Well, a lot of the Omnirizon goes back to the Simca 1100 – and Chrysler probably went into that parts bin knowing the earlier imports’ track record in the US and that they’d have to do some serious beefing-up for the mainstream American buyer. Particularly with the Aspen/Volare teething troubles (why WASN’T it just a rebodied Valiant?) fresh in their minds.
I remember a CC commenter a while back saying how in the late ’70s it seemed as though in the small-car segment you could have an up-to-date, space-efficient but troublesome FWD car or a cramped but proven RWD one, which makes it all the more impressive that Ma Mopar in her darkest days launched the Omni with as few teething troubles as it had.
JP,
I believe you have mentioned in previous posts that you once owned a VW GTI – I can’t remember if you said it was an ’85 or ’86. When you had it, did you have any major issues with it or was it mechanically good?
Mine was an 85, the first year of the Golf-based version in the US. I developed a bit of a folder during the 2 year warranty. I had a couple or combustion/drivability issues which were repaired via sensors and such. The car also had extremely short tire life from the factory Eagle GTs. The only problem that the dealer could not solve was the water leak which would soak the rear drivers side carpet after each rain. They replaced the rear side window gasket a time or two. The exhaust system also had a short life, but my commute was quite short which put that one probably on me. By the time the end of my warranty was approaching, I decided that the car had not been as trouble-free as I had hoped and I did not love it enough to sign up for some anticipated repair bills while I was still making payments. I reverted to type by finding a 20 year old 66 Fury III sedan that had 20K miles on it and left the car-payment-life for several years.
I remember test driving a first-year GTI and thinking it would have been a lot of fun. Well, a lot of fun when it wasn’t in the shop. Although there were no issues during the test drive (unlike the brand-new 1981 Citation X-11 I had once test drove), it just didn’t feel all that solid. To this day, there’s just something about VWs that give me pause. It’s stuff like switchgear that wasn’t tight. For instance, the adjustment job for the electric mirrors would actually swivel a complete 360 degrees.
I ended up ordering a Mustang GT for about the same amount, instead. The Ford was trouble-free for the year or two I kept it.
My experience with an 86 GTI was very positive. Kept it 13 yrs, 145k miles. Read below if you want to know what broke.
When new, the car leaked A/C condensation into the passenger floor well. I found it after 1 week, dealer installed the little hose some UAW employee forgot.
Then I noticed a pinging at 3000 rpm, steady.. The dealer couldn’t fix it–but in the process of trying, the dealer messed up the car’s driveablity. I told him to ‘put it back the way it was’
Shortly afterward, thanks to Road and Track’s “Technical correspondence”, I read that the Jetta GLI (and apparently GTI) engines had wrist pins that were a little off-spec, causing a pinging like noise. “It shouldn’t affect engine, repair involves replacing wrist pins” IE, overhaul engine. I didn’t trust the dealer, so I said no thanks.
At some point, around 130k miles, the noise went away! Perhaps the oversized wrist pin had worn down to spec.
For 86 and 87, Pirellii P600s replaced the Eagle GTs. Mine went about 35k miles. From then on, I used BFG Comp T/As.
My 86 GTI was a well-built car, other than the issues described above. Below, I list things that went wrong–not bad for a car that was a blast to drive!
I had an A1 (’78 Scirocco) and A2 (’86 GTI), skipped the A3 and currently have an A4 (’00 Golf). Tend to hold onto cars a long time, I’ve had the A4 for 18 years, the A2 for 15, and the A1 for 7 years.
The Scirocco was a fun car, but it wasn’t without problems…went through brakes, and had some issues with the fuel injection. The GTi was reliable for me, though it had sniggling problems…went through alternator brushes regularly, had to replaced a fluid-soaked clutch prematurely. Other things like the upholstery wore out quickly (those form fitting bolsters deteriorated and the fabric ripped easily) but I found some OEM material and got some hog-rings and redid it. I never did have the self machining transmission issue on the close ratio GTi transmission, guess I was lucky. You could advance the timing to 12 degrees BTDC to get more power (needed to run on premium though).
My current A4 is the only one that left me stranded, when an ignition switch gave out in the parking lot of a local market. It has really just had normal maintenance, though did have a problem with the ignition coilpack giving out, as well as other problems, like the power window regulators, and now the power locks…2 of my doors won’t respond to them now. Most of the problems are annoying but not critical.
Back to when this review was written…probably seemed bad to owners of Beetles which were probably pretty much trouble free since they had made so many of them…also seemed like lots of drivability problems which probably led them to go to fuel injection early (it doesn’t say but I’m guessing this one was still carburated …my Scirocco had fuel injection and ran well in general. The AC was dealer addon and caused problem with the crank, guess they didn’t have standard pulley setup for AC cars (my Scirocco didn’t have AC, but the other 2 did). But the combination of unreliability and high prices (German cars were going up in price very rapidly in the 70’s) probably drove people away…and really VW has never recovered from that at least in the US
VW bought into FWD technology, never pioneered it in the sence of proprietary value, and can’t really claim fame for being an early adopter. They bought full stock of Auto Union AG from Daimler-benz, of all people, in 1965. By that time, the brand DKW had already had a decade+ of experience with FWD, and had already completed a transverse FWD compact F103 (eventually badged as the new Audi). Daimler did all that work prior to the VW acquisition for a proper 4-stroke, and built a new modern factory prior to the sale. Dumb. The 2-stroke DKW’s were literally choking in market places as development winded down. VW, however, needed Beetle capacity. SOLD. VW got a much better end of the bargain here, not only because of that factory, but also the FWD test bed. Lots of trial and error, lots…
DKW was very much an FWD early adopter, and much of the longitudinal-engine Audi Fox/VW Dasher was built on top of the F103 which was itself an update of a layout DKW had been using since the late ’20s.
One reason why the VW inline four bolted up to the Trabant and Wartburg relatively easily, is that they too were DKWs, the former being built in the original DKW works in Zwickau to the very end and the latter with much of the original DKW tooling (the Ingolstadt cars were a do-over, developed with blueprints smuggled out of the East and Marshall Plan money). SAAB also reverse-engineered the prewar DKW as the basis for the 2-stroke 92/3/4/5/6
VW bought into FWD technology, never pioneered it in the sence of proprietary value, and can’t really claim fame for being an early adopter.
And, as you say, VW was more interested in more Beetle production capacity than in anything DKW had developed. I have read that VW management would have been perfectly happy to stick a fork in Audi with the end of the F103, but the 100 made it into production anyway, with the same powertrain as the F103, with all it’s faults.
VW threw money into the Type 4 as if rear mounted, air cooled, flat fours would rule forever, meanwhile BMC, Fiat, Simca and Renault were all pointing to the future. Then, instead of building on the Audi experience, VW went off in a different direction with another purchased design, the K70.
Makes one realize why SO many Toyotas and Datsuns (Nissans) were sold in the 1970’s and why these two manufactures still have such high brand loyalty today.
Ah, good old Volkswagen, a disaster on wheels.
And it continues to this day: a co-worker of my partner recently bought a late-model used Jetta and the dealer had to do a mess of repairs on the emissions system to get it up to snuff, and those repairs were supposed to have been done before he bought the car. I bet he’ll regret his Jetta before too long.
Amazing. 20 years of goodwill built on Beetle reliability gone in one year. Then, in more recent times, the diesel emissions scandal. I wouldn’t have a VW product if it were free.
VW/Audi products can be had nearly free here the value plummets as the problems arise, but theres always somebody who knows how or is prepared to discover how to fix them,
I remember the twin shocks when the Rabbit first came out. The first was from what a brilliant and modern design the car was from the company which Americans knew as the epitome of conservative design. The second came from what a piece of junk they were.
The styling and fun-to-drive factor (Fahrvergnügen?) overcame people’s quality concerns, perhaps noting that American cars weren’t that much better or perhaps were even worse. However when VW moved production to Pennsylvania the fun-to-drive feeling was lost while the quality….didn’t improve.
I still wanted one, but the Toyota Celica had appeared showing that you could have fun AND Japanese quality.
Imagine how well a Toyota-engineered and built VW Rabbit would have sold. A car like that could easily have outlasted the VW Beetle for length of time in production with minimal changes.
Probably why Toyota took another five years to start going FWD – even then, the first Tercel was launched in Japan a full year ahead of any export sales.
The first Tercel also had the engine mounted longtitudinally—none of this transverse stuff for cautious Toyota!
Toyota has to be the most cautious, careful, conservative auto maker that ever existed. It’s stunning how methodical they are or, more accurately, used to be, until they got a CEO (forget his name) who suddenly placed a huge priority on cutting costs. It led directly to some of the Prius’ well-known problems and, as one might imagine, they’ve since backed-off a bit on the penny-pinching.
So, yeah, it took Toyota a while to jump into the FWD fray. But when they finally did, it was with their usual high level of quality (quite unlike VW and the Rabbit).
Fahrvergnügen? Remember the running gag in the letters column of Car and Driver about that word, where readers came up with similar but fake-German words. One reader asked how you said ‘constipated’ in German, and offered ‘fahrfrompoopin’. An unamused German corrected him in the next issue: verstopft.
The letters column was often the funniest part of that magazine back then. How I miss the old C/D.
I’d say WVoA dodged a bullet on this one. If not for the potential of the problem to have surfaced within warranty, plus the bad publicity they’d have otherwise received from a major automotive publication, I seriously doubt they’d have paid for the repair. It would have been ‘dealer-installed modification + out-of-warranty = sucks to be you’. I suspect that’s exactly where it would have went in this case, too, until they discovered that it was R&T’s car.
Plus, I doubt many early Rabbits had A/C, anyway. In the end, VW essentially came out ahead, even after eating the cost for the repairs to R&T’s car. Because of the detailed recording of the problems (and luckily finding a competent dealer mechanic), an under-engineered crankshaft Woodruff key was discovered that VW very likely wouldn’t have figured-out on their own for a long time, if ever. Imagine all the dealer-installed A/C Rabbit engines that would have inexplicably went south not long out-of-warranty in the meantime.
Our 1975 Rabbit had dealer-installed AC, and it didn’t have the problems described in the article. We had it for over 10 years, too. Don’t know if it was just luck or what.
It did have OTHER problems, of course, including the clutch cable snapping and the valve stem seals failing. It was a tin can, but such fun to drive.
Evidently, there were several different aftermarket manufacturers of A/C units for early Rabbits. Maybe the quality varied enough between them to account for it.
Or maybe it was how it was installed, possibly an improper amount of tension on the bracket and/or condenser belt that, over time, put enough stress on the crankshaft Woodruff key to affect how the vehicle ran.
I’d say installation, specifically inadequate torque on the pulley bolt is the most likely cause of this failure.
I don’t know if it was intentional, but VWoA not having a factory-type A/C installation but, instead, using aftermarket, dealer-installed units probably saved them from taking a Vega-like hit on a bad quality reputation. The Mk1 Golf/Rabbit was bad but, fortunately (for them, anyway), avoided them being known as Vega-bad. In that regard, at least the Rabbit held together a bit longer than a Vega.
With a dealer-installed accessory, the manufacturer can easily claim any issues were not an engineering or design flaw. That way, in addition to skating on warranty costs, it also skirts any kind of bad publicity. A win-win except, of course, for all the poor souls who got stuck with cars where the accessory was responsible for a major engine problem.
VWs always seemed to be a sort of ‘lifestyle’ vehicle more akin to a Jeep Wrangler than a Chevy. Very slick, targeted VW marketing had their buyers more willing to overlook the vehicles’ many foibles in lieu of making a counter-culture statement.
My family’s ’80 Westmoreland Rabbit wasn’t as bad as this one, but it certainly had issues sufficient to convert my family from loyal VW buyers to formerly loyal VW buyers. For example, the left headlight would go dark and you had to kick the fusebox to make it work again. ‘Unable to replicate issue.’ It inexplicably used coolant from Day 1 and despite numerous trips to the dealer this was never resolved. The man who bought it from us tore down the engine and discovered a MISSING HEAD BOLT and obvious dried antifreeze leading to a cylinder. VW never even looked into the engine.
I would have to say the cumulative effect was a Deadly Sin for VW and they lost a lot of goodwill after the Bug’s demise.
People today talk like the Westmoreland cars were the bad ones. I’d doubt that 30+ years on that there’s any meaningful difference, but it sure seems like the German ones were lacking at the time.
“They Don’t Build Them Like They Used To” Department. Imagine going from the stolid, cheap, durable, under $2k Beetle of the previous year to this car, which cost more than twice as much (pretty close to a decently equipped Cutlass) and broke a lot and expensively.
This VW may have been a particularly lemon flavoured example, but not too many cars available in the 70s were a whole lot better. A car which made it to 100,000 miles was considered a rare, impressive feat. Now we expect 300,000 with maintenance and wear items and get it with only oil changes and a couple of tune ups. Timing doesn’t have to be set, no points, no ballast resistors, plugs last forever, coolant lasts longer, oils last better and longer. . .
100,000 miles was not a rare and impressive feat in the 70’s. Many proven designs racked up well over that. Many unproven designs didn’t.
Good grief, what a lemon the test car sounds like. The lists of failures, faults, and indifferent shrugs, brushoffs, and blameshifting remind me of my folks’ similarly awful experience with a new 1990 Jetta (a German-built one, I always hasten to mention so as to hush the fanboy types always prepared to prattle on about how it must’ve been a Mexican one).
My ’87 Jetta Carat was also German-built and I had high expectations of it. Well my expectations were dashed to pieces!
Y’know, I’ve wondered over the years why VW chose the name “Dasher” for the US market. I think you very well might just have nailed it!
I’d suggest that VW’s transition with the Golf/Rabbit was far greater than the other examples, such as Chrysler going to unibody in the ‘50’s or even the Omnirizon. For 30 years, VW had basically built one car, with van and pancake Type 3 variations. They didn’t really do model year changes like Detroit. Heck, they never had to design a water pump or spec hoses (except the heater ducts). Though my ‘77 Scirocco experience was grim, in hindsight I’m willing to cut them some slack. After 40 years of refinement, the water cooled 4 cylinder VW’s can be wonderful cars. We have had two, (3, if a Wasserboxer counts) and every drive in our current Golf 7 is a pleasure.
I remember the test drive my family took in a Rabbit with me in the hatch area. I was five, and I wondered if the car was so named because of its bouncy ride. My dad eventually bought a 1979 Rabbit diesel, which spent many weeks of every year at Valley Autohouse in Abbotsford, receiving expensive repairs. He paid close attention to the gas mileage, and sometimes drove close behind semi-trucks in order to catch a tailwind. One irritated truck driver hit the brakes, teaching my dad a lesson.
The car cost him over a thousand every year in repairs (in the early eighties). When he got tired of the car, he bought another vehicle. A 1982 Rabbit Diesel. There was no way it could be as bad.
It was. Every bit as bad. He would have been better off buying a Pinto wagon, or pretty much anything else. After replacing pretty much everything mechanically, he simply gave it away. The new owner got 100,000 more trouble-free miles out of it.
Unfortunately, my father did not have great car sense. I could go on with his next few decisions, but it’s actually painful.
On the other hand, when the Rabbit did work as planned, it was a pretty amazing car for 1975.
That is doubly impressive, given that until the Dasher in 1973 (which was really an Audi 80), VW did rear-engine air cooled cars.
The only other situation that is somewhat similar is the launch of GM’s X-cars in summer 1979.
GM had never built small, transverse FWD cars. In fact, the X-car featured the worlds first transverse-mounted V6.
When it worked as planned, the X-car performed extremely well compared to imported FWD cars. It had no domestic competition. Essentially, one could have better fuel economy and performance than Ford Fairmont, with about the same room.
As with the Rabbit, the X-car was not ready for prime time. In GM’s case, some of the glitches were due to being cheap.
But the Fairmont held up even in taxi service.
I agree, the Fairmont was more reliable and durable. But in a Car & Driver, or Consumer Reports road test, the X-car would win overall.
From 1975 thru 1980, the VW Rabbit always won any kind of comparison, in any publication, on the merits, including Consumer Report. But from what I read now (I was kid then), it had some issues.
In 1986, I bought a new, made in PA, VW GTI. By coincidence, on my first job, TWO people in my unit, including my supervisor, had 86 VW Jettas made in Germany. My boss cursed his, and much preferred his cheaper 83 Mitsubishi Mirage. The other guy had more issues. Mine was pretty good, I kept it 13 years, 144k miles. I did service it. My first ‘repair’ was a leaky radiator at 97k 7yrs. Then at around 100k, the A/C seals needed replacing. At 8 yrs, 125k, the water pump failed (I saw a trail in the parking lot). At 10yrs, A/C blew warm. I didn’t bother with it. At around 135k, 11 years, the shift linkage worked fine-for all the forward gears, so I fixed it.
Pretty good in terms of reliablility—it was great fun, and remains my ‘favorite’ of all the cars I’ve owned.
A Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic, or pretty much any Japanese competitor from 1975-80 would be more reliable.
regarding shift linkage in VW, it wouldn’t go into reverse, so I always parked such that I could drive out forward.
Part of the recall – or “re-build”, really – is “engine mount alignment.” What the hell is that? I would’ve thought they’re either in place or not there at all?
I do remember reading about the issues with the new Rabbit which steered me to a used Toyota Corolla when my VW Beetle died.
Have never considered a VW in the remaining car purchases as time went by.
Paul,
Could you please add a link to the May 16 posting which covers the 24,000 mile results?
Thanks!
VW “quality control” didn’t change much in the intervening 30 years since this extended road test!
After thoroughly enjoying a brand new, 2008 Rabbit as a week long rental; I “had the hots” for a new Rabbit with the trick DSG automatic transmission (knees issues have ended my clutching days.)
But after talking with more-than-a-few owners of Rabbits with over 60K on them; their stories of electrical gremlins, failing air conditioners, breaking-in-their-hands switches and door latch hardware I purchased a Camry instead, for about the same amount of money.
The Camry was duller than the Rabbit; but NOTHING broke or failed on it.
Are you the same Mark Reimer who taught at TTU about 20 years ago (I think that I had you for a class)? No VW dealer near Cookeville is another great reason to avoid one. I didn’t even shop Jettas when I bought either Hyundai because I was afraid it might fail to get me to work at some point. I figured a Hyundai wouldn’t let me down, and has a dealer here if it did.
Sorry, No.
“Mr. Badwrench” (me) knows better than to try to teach anyone anything under the hood of any car.
🙂
Consumers Report gave this car the highest rating ever upon introduction, with a magazine cover that teased “one of these (2) cars recieved the highest rating ever from CU”……
The other car introduced simultaneously on that cover was the Pacer.
Rabbits were well regarded and sold well in southern New England – the majority sold w/o a/c.
Ford also had some teething pains with the Mk I Fiesta, at least I experienced some with mine. Since it was a much lower volume seller in the US, the mags paid little attention.
Ford, as far as I know, had not bought FWD technology and had to develop it entirely in-house. The good thing was that Ford had suitable engines available in the parts bin, like the 1600cc OHV Kent that went into all US-spec cars.
My car had extremely short front tire, brake and strut life, wicked torque steer, overheating, cooked voltage regulators and break off in your hand window handles. The first brake job was covered by a “hidden warranty”.
My girlfriend, later my wife alway owned VW’s ( several Bugs….Bought new)and she loved them. She decided to trade in her 74 ( bought new ) on a brand new 83 Rabbit…. mostly it was a very nice quick car , quite a revelation from her old bug. About a year later she moved to another part of the state……When I would visit on weekends, she always had a ” List ” of screws heater hose connections and odd bits that had loosened …..the sunroof was always on the list. It was a nice car….but not as bullet-proof as the bug.