How about a 'Rabbit-Golf-Rabbit-Golf' thread!

[addyguy]

When VW first brough out their front-engine, water-cooled compact in 1975, they called it the Rabbit. Seems like a good name for a sprightly, small compact. Growing up, I had a couple of neighbours that had them, and I always thought they were smart-looking cars.

Then, in 1985, for who-knows what reason, VW re-names the car 'Golf'....what the heck was up with that? What does this car have to do with golf? I always hated the name change!

Then, last year, VW decides to re-name the car Rabbit, and I like the idea, but I KNOW that it's too little, too late. People aren't going to get nostalgic and buy the car b/c of the original Rabbit, and lo and behold, it doesn't work, and they've gone back to calling the car the Golf.

So, anyone with me - liked the original Rabbit, and never liked or understood the name change? Who hear has owned Rabbits or Golfs...I never have, but I've always thought an original 1975-1985 Rabbit would be a neat hobby car. Early GTI's are really popular in Europe, not so much here.

Tell us your Rabbit/Golf stories!

 

[aaxb970]

I ran over a Rabbit in my Golf cart !

 

[Quattro Pete]

Here's a little explanation of where the name Golf came from, after wikipedia:

Quote:
The nameplate Golf derives from the German word for Gulf Stream — and the period in its history when VW named vehicles after prominent winds, including also the Passat (after the German word for Trade wind, Jetta (after Jet stream), Bora (after Bora) and Scirocco (after Sirocco).


The name Rabbit was never used outside of North America. Not really sure why they did not name it Golf here from the start. Probably because there is a lot of golfing going on here, and that association just didn't make much sense in the US.

Since I grew up in Europe, I'm actually more used to the Golf name. Rabbit sounds like a strange name for a car to me. Still, I wouldn't mind owning one, probably the new GTI version.

We have a Jetta right now that's built on the same platform as Golf. It just has a sedan body style. It's been a good car overall.

 

[heavyhitter]

My Grandmother had 3 Rabbits. She loved them. She owned them from 1977 -1986. Two were yellow and one was a convertible. The other was green. I do not know all years they were made but one she bought new in 84' and 2 were used.

We drove across the country in two of them, literally. I learned to drive stick shift at 12 years old on them. She loved them becuase of the fuel economy but all I can really remeber is that they broke down ALL THE TIME. The green one consumed LOTS of oil.

I cant believe she loved them so much because they were always in the shop. All 3 of them! She got rid of her last one in 1986.

Thats all the story I an relay becausae being a kid at the time I could care less about what car my Grandma drove but I vividly remeber them breaking down a lot and being in Oklahoma and pusing the car up a hill with my cousin to a garage because it broke down. We also had to push it off the street and call a tow in Louisiana.

 

[eljefino]

When I was in college this stoner friend of my roommate drove a tan 5-door hatch from the early 80's. He got it for $400. Needed a radiator. Went to the junkyard and they had four rabbits lined up, three without radiators. Made the prudent decision to buy a new one. After all, VW had a whole decade of watercooling experience by that point!!

Car came with that bumper sticker about bake sales, schools, bombers, and beautiful days.

This link's a good read.

 

[AuthorEditor]

An old Rabbit diesel was the cheapest car I ever owned. I bought it from a friend for $200 because no one wanted it. The right side had been smashed in an accident and it looked horrible, though it passed inspection. The car odometer had broken at around 150,000 miles and I drove it about 35,000 miles a year for two years before I sold it back for $200 to the person I bought it from. I just changed the oil and filter occasionally at a cheapy lube place--never even changed the fuel filters. I think the only significant repair I did in those two years was to wrap a leaky exhaust pipe with some muffler bandage. Got about 55 mpg on the highway, though it took about ten minutes to get up to cruise velocity. It had a glow plug and would start even when cold, with a great belch of black smoke. Would love to get another old beater like that one.

 

[javacontour]

Originally Posted By: AuthorEditor
An old Rabbit diesel was the cheapest car I ever owned. I bought it from a friend for $200 because no one wanted it. The right side had been smashed in an accident and it looked horrible, though it passed inspection. The car odometer had broken at around 150,000 miles and I drove it about 35,000 miles a year for two years before I sold it back for $200 to the person I bought it from. I just changed the oil and filter occasionally at a cheapy lube place--never even changed the fuel filters. I think the only significant repair I did in those two years was to wrap a leaky exhaust pipe with some muffler bandage. Got about 55 mpg on the highway, though it took about ten minutes to get up to cruise velocity. It had a glow plug and would start even when cold, with a great belch of black smoke. Would love to get another old beater like that one.


Similar to my VW Rabbit diesel story. I bought one dirt cheap, odometer broken at 129K. I'm sure it had closer to 300K on it when I got the '83 model year at the end of 1992.

I probably put another 100K on it.

Replaced 3 of the 4 glow plugs and the relay. Couldn't really get to the 4th due to it being behind the injector pump. That was enough to get it started in the cold. That last cylinder would "catch up" with the other three running eventually.

Instead of a choke, it had an injector pump mechanical advance for cold weather starting. It would inject the fuel a bit sooner, giving it time to heat up and burn.

All sorts of little issues, leaks, electricals, window regulators. Sure it was 10 years old, but I don't have the same issues with my 15 year old Geo Prizm with similar mileage.

The engine and transmission were bullet proof. But the car around it was falling apart.

Finally ditched it in 1995 because I was tired of no A/C in the summer time.

 

[mpvue]

I worked w/ a guy who had a rabbit S I think it was, like '82? it was basically a GTI the year before they called it the GTI here. neat little car. only issue was a water leak inside.
years later I got my 1st GTI, a '86 8V. great car, ran the chrap out of it, never let me down. easy to work on also. after I banged it up I found a mint (looking) '85 golf automatic; absolute worst car I've ever owned. slow as can be, horrible hwy mpg (like 26-27!), 85hp. always breaking something, CV joints, alternator, starter, brakes, everything.
sometime later I got another GTI, a '87. again, a GREAT car. the '86 and '87 5 speed GTI's would get around 40mpg hwy and great fun to drive.
so, IMO, GTI=great, gold=chrap.
P.S. the A/C didn't work in any of them.

 

[addyguy]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Here's a little explanation of where the name Golf came from, after wikipedia:

Quote:
The nameplate Golf derives from the German word for Gulf Stream — and the period in its history when VW named vehicles after prominent winds, including also the Passat (after the German word for Trade wind, Jetta (after Jet stream), Bora (after Bora) and Scirocco (after Sirocco).


The name Rabbit was never used outside of North America. Not really sure why they did not name it Golf here from the start. Probably because there is a lot of golfing going on here, and that association just didn't make much sense in the US.

Since I grew up in Europe, I'm actually more used to the Golf name. Rabbit sounds like a strange name for a car to me. Still, I wouldn't mind owning one, probably the new GTI version.

We have a Jetta right now that's built on the same platform as Golf. It just has a sedan body style. It's been a good car overall.


Thanks for the info - I didn't know the part about the naming after winds - I did know that the car was only called Rabbit in the US; I just don't understand why they didn't keep that name.

A neighbour 2 doors down from us had 2 Rabbits - one for him and one for his wife. His was an 'earlier' (1975-1978) silver 2-door, with a really funky-looking red, black, white and grey 'checkerboard' fabric on the seats. Hers was a later (1980/1981) brown 4-door, with velour seats, deluxe wheel covers, and extra guages. Quite a deiiference in the two cars. Another neighbour on the other side had an early 4-door that was orange. It was really rusty.

My best-friends brother went tree-planting in BC, and to get home, he bought a beige 4-door 1979 Rabbit Diesel for $400. He drove it back to Ontario, and going throught the Rockies, he lost 5th gear. He did the rest of the trip at about 70 miles an hour, foot to the floor the whole time, with the engine at redline. Car never quit!

When he got back to Ontario, he sold it to someone who took the engine out, and used it as a generator for his cottage! LOL!

 

[PF52]

One of my female cousins bought one brand new when she graduated from college back about 1982 or so; drove it for a few years until one day the engine seized. It turns out it was still on the factory oil and filter!

 

[hr1940]

We bought a new Rabbit in 1981 and it was the worst car ever. A month after the warranty was up we had a major problem and we were told sorry. We took the part to an independant lab and they proved the part was defective but we were still out of luck. The car had very few miles on it because we had 2 other cars at that time. I have never and will never buy another VW product.

 

[addyguy]

I'm sorry to hear that, Helen. Didn't want to bring up bad memories....some early VW's seemed to be really, really hit-or-miss - a disaster, or perfectly reliable.

 

[AuthorEditor]

Another thing about those early Rabbits were how great in the snow they were. I can remember leaving the driveway one morning with the snow so deep it was pushed over the hood as I plowed my way out of the driveway--absolute tank in the snow with decent tires. You could easily remove the entire back seat and fill up the back end with a small sofa, bicycles, you name it which I did more than once.

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted By: addyguy
I'm sorry to hear that, Helen. Didn't want to bring up bad memories....some early VW's seemed to be really, really hit-or-miss - a disaster, or perfectly reliable.


They still are.

 

[ThirdeYe]

Originally Posted By: AuthorEditor
Another thing about those early Rabbits were how great in the snow they were. I can remember leaving the driveway one morning with the snow so deep it was pushed over the hood as I plowed my way out of the driveway--absolute tank in the snow with decent tires. You could easily remove the entire back seat and fill up the back end with a small sofa, bicycles, you name it which I did more than once.


My car is kind of like that too. A light car with narrow tires is excellent in the snow.

My car is so much better in the snow than my old Altima used to be, with wider tires and it weighed more too.

 

[saaber1]

Owned a Mark 1 GTI. Was one of the funnest cars I ever had (including Porsches, BMW's, etc.). Bought a new GTI last year in same color as first one. The new one is more fun than the old one. In 4 door trim it is as versatile as an SUV. But it is small/easy to park, fuel efficient and very very zippy and agile which makes it a great city runabout. Also it is reasonably fast and handles like it's on rails so it functions as a sportscar also. Also some tuning can get it up to 280hp for around $1000 or so if one is so inclined.

 

[Whimsey]

I've had new VW's since the early 70's. My first was a bought new Beetle in 1972 for $1995.00. It was hog with gas and didn't run that well. Those early emission controls on the VW aircooled engines really hurt their running. I "upgraded" to a 1975 Rabbit. A lot nicer to drive, got a lot better mpg but it was carburetored and would flood the cat and cause it to clog. I finally just replaced the cat with a straight pipe with the flanges in case I had to remove it easily. It passed the NJ emission inspections even without the cat.

Being a glutton for punishment I bought a 1977 Rabbit that was fuel injected and legally came from the factory without a cat. From day one it burned about 1 quart every 200 miles

. VW said it was "normal"

. Finally got VW to replace the head. I had to pay the dealer's labor though. After that the car ran great and never cost me for more than normal routine service. My first fuel injected car. It ran sooo much better than any car I ever had that had a carb. Plus it handled well and was fun to drive. I drove it to 116,000 miles.

Further proving I must have suffered a blow to the head as a child I bought a new 1985 Golf. It was trouble free and fun to drive. After 10 years and 120,000 miles it looked brand new inside but was developing rust outside. It didn't have AC and the older I got the more I wanted AC in the summer.

Checked out 1996 Golf and Jetta. Then I checked out the "new" Contour from Ford. The Contour rode, handled better, even in base trim, had more "get up & go" and felt more solid than either 1996 VW's. I still have the Contour

. It's the 2.0L Zetec 4 with the 5 sp manual. The only major option I got was the wide aluminum wheels and lower profile tires. Made a total difference compared to the base version in handling. It's only gotten routine maintenance and the car is rust free!

Whimsey

 

[StevieC]

My partner has an '89 Cabriolet (Convertible Rabbit) Karman edition that I bought him for Christmas one year. Car is beautiful and fun to drive.

Too small for me...

 

[johnd]

We got a new one in 1978 and sold it in 1989 with 330,000 mi. on it. The only complaint I ever had about it was that you had to turn off the AC to get enough power to merge on the freeway.

 

[Benzadmiral]

It was 1975 when those first commercials aired? I remember seeing one and laughing out loud at the name. Remember, I'd been conditioned by American cars with names like Mustang, Cougar, Wildcat, Cobra, Barracuda, Thunderbird, and Sting Ray! A "Rabbit" is a prey animal, not a predator!

A buddy of mine had a diesel Rabbit/Golf in the mid-'80s. I don't recall him ever complaining about it. Around '84 I test- drove a gas model (I think), and it was fun.