Login Register Sign up for the GRM e-newsletter

Login to post Forums » Grassroots Motorsports » Rabbit diesels?
  • mtn

    July 14, 2010 1:10 a.m. mtn SuperDork

    Anything good/bad to say about them? I've seen a couple pop up on craigslist recently, and have been thinking about them ever since. Would it be a decent dd for a college kid with not a lot of budget and virtually no time?
    I know they are slow as smell and have good gas mileage. Anybody know more about them?

    I'm mostly curious, I don't see myself getting a car anytime soon, and when I do it will be a miata. But I like to daydream plausible expenditures, and this one has been on my mind a lot recently.

  • Travis_K

    July 14, 2010 2:21 a.m. Travis_K Dork

    I drove an MK2 jetta diesel (almost the exact same engine), and it actually wasnt noticably slower than a stock 92 gas jetta. Those cars are expensive around here, if they arent as bad there it would probably be a decent driver.

  • integraguy

    July 14, 2010 6:34 a.m. integraguy Dork

    I've driven 2 different MK I diesel Rabbits and 1 or 2 MK I gas engined Rabbits....they were okay, yet considering THE diesel engine strong point is supposed to be torque, I didn't think these cars FELT like they had as much torque as the gas-engined cars. It's something you can easily adjust to, but if it was to be my only transportation, I would have to resign myself to life in the slow lane....with very few fuel stops, or go for a newer turbo diesel and stop a little more often for fuel.

  • Junkyard_Dog

    July 14, 2010 6:53 a.m. Junkyard_Dog HalfDork

    I daily drove one for 2 years back in my younger days. GTI suspension bits were a nice upgrade. Not quick, but not exactly slow either. It did 110 on a looooooong stretch of highway one night with a slight gravity assist. I don't know about the later ones but most of the early ones didn't have A/C as an option. I imagine the extra weight and drag wouldn't do it any favors with either mileage or speed, so keep that in mind if it gets hot where you are. The hot ticket these days seems to be installing a later turbo-diesel in the lightest Rabbit body.

  • July 14, 2010 10:22 a.m. triumph5 Reader

    A guy I worked with had an original Rabbit diesel when they first came out. He put about 215K miles on it before selling it for a truck. Nothing but normal maintenance--lots of oil changes--and it ran fine. Slow compared to today's diesels, but not bad at the time, and with mileage always in the high 30s., he was smiling.

  • 16vCorey

    July 14, 2010 12:01 p.m. 16vCorey SuperDork

    A friend of mine had one. The odo said 192k on it, but the seller told him the odo quit "a couple years ago", so we figured it had at least 220k on it. He drove the crap out of that thing, and I don't know that he ever even changed the oil, just added it, as it leaked it out pretty quickly. He drove it for over 3 years, taking 2-3 hour road trips at least once a month. We figured it had to have close to 300k when he sold it. The guy he sold it to drove it for another 3-4 years before the timing belt broke and he junked it. Toss in the occasional wheel bearing and keep up on the maintenance and you're good to go.

  • belteshazzar

    July 14, 2010 2:25 p.m. belteshazzar SuperDork

    I didn't know the odo's ever worked longer than 100k miles.

  • sachilles

    July 14, 2010 2:37 p.m. sachilles HalfDork

    Couple of local guys hillclimb and rally them. Look up greasecar.com. Nice folks.

  • Otto_Maddox

    July 14, 2010 2:39 p.m. Otto_Maddox Reader

    I had an '84 Jetta diesel. It actually accelerated pretty well but only from in the 0 to 10 mph range.

  • July 14, 2010 2:45 p.m. spitfirebill Dork

    A former neighbor had a 4 door and drove the snot out of it. I woke up early one morning after an 8" snowfall (for us that is heavy). You know one of those mornings where its really quiet because there is no traffic on the road? Well I heard this car reving up and stopping revving and stopping. I looke d out my window and my neighbor would get a start and drive up the road as far as he could. Then he would back up and do it again. He made it to work that day. Maybe the only person in Spartanburg County that went to work. He was that kind of guy. He finally sold it when he got bumped up the ladder too far and moved into a fancy neighbohood.

  • 16vCorey

    July 14, 2010 4:07 p.m. 16vCorey SuperDork

    belteshazzar wrote:

    I didn't know the odo's ever worked longer than 100k miles.

    Oddly enough, none of my VW's odo's have ever broken, and my Fox had 300k on it. But about 6 months ago, both my '90 325i and my 944's odo's quit within two months of each other, both with 137k on them. Weird, huh?

  • belteshazzar

    July 14, 2010 4:54 p.m. belteshazzar SuperDork

    i dunno, kinda.

    I work for a car dealership that sells cheap junk. After about the fourth time my boss bought an old A2 at auction because it had "low miles" I finally got it into his head that they rarely still work.

  • fornetti14

    July 14, 2010 6:05 p.m. fornetti14 Reader

    I drove a 4-door Rabbit MK1 diesel and I was surprised how incredibly slow it was.

  • GI_Drewsifer

    July 14, 2010 6:13 p.m. GI_Drewsifer Reader

    I can't comment on the older diesel Dubs, the newer TDI's are very nice. I have an 05 Golf. It's plenty fast enough, gets 42-45 mpg no matter what I do, and has been very reliable (except right after I bought it the fuel pumps went. But it had 140K+ so thats not terrible).

  • SVreX

    July 14, 2010 6:16 p.m. SVreX SuperDork

    I had one. Also had a Golf diesel.

    Slow, smokey, stinky, dirty.

    Other than that, not too bad.

  • kreb

    July 14, 2010 6:18 p.m. kreb Dork

    1st gens are pretty long in the tooth. My granddad added an aftermarket turbo to his, and it actually increased the mpg from mid-forties to fifty or so (highway). He loved that car.

  • July 14, 2010 7:02 p.m. twolittlebroncos New Reader

    light car and it's a real fuel miser, but so, so, so slow. Too painfully slow for me to daily drive one, but more power to you if you can pull it off.

  • mtn

    July 14, 2010 7:21 p.m. mtn SuperDork

    twolittlebroncos wrote:

    light car and it's a real fuel miser, but so, so, so slow. Too painfully slow for me to daily drive one, but more power to you if you can pull it off.

    Yeah, I'm not even in the market for one but they've been popping up on craigslist. Made me curious. Although for the driving I do down at school it would actually be pretty darn good.

  • racerboy000

    July 14, 2010 8:17 p.m. racerboy000 New Reader

    In reply to mtn:

    http://www.topgear.com/us/features/more/project-sipster

 
Tire Rack- Revolutionizing Tire Buying

You'll need to log in to post.