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Hatchbacks Volkswagen Rabbit New Rabbit Owners - give us your report!
208 messages, Last post on Apr 29, 2008 at 5:17 PM
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So...before I get started, let me first say so far I LOVE my new 2008 Rabbit S 2 Dr 5 speed manual, 170hp vdub with "Germ-han engineerhringh" as the commercials say. My dream car is a Mini Cooper S but I decided to face reality and realize I couldn't afford one. I was back to square one in choosing a car and its a bit overwhelming (especially why you have a set kind of car in mind). I am very happy with my decision and here's a few reasons why: Lets start with the get-up-and-go of this car. I know I mentioned it had a 170 inline 5 cylinder engine and you can really feel it. Other "comparable" cars (Scion Tc, Honda Civic, Ford Focus) don't come to close to the feel of this car. Handling is right up there with the MINI (and believe me, I'm a MINI fan so I wouldn't say that about many cars). I am taking corners at speeds I couldn't have taken in my previous car. The interior is very nice and I love the adjustable seats. I'm short at 5 ft tall so its important for me to see over the steering wheel while not feeling like I'm leaning forward. The lighting is awesome (a real cool blue and red lights on everything that has a symbol on it). I see no need to customize this aspect of the car. Speaking of customization, anyone know of any kits that I can purchase for the front end to make it look more like the GTI? I have looked all over and can't seem to find anything close. I've only had the car about a week but so far I'm happy and feel I made a good decision. Sticker price was a modest $16430. There was a scratch on the side of the drivers door when I test drove it and the salesman assured me it would be fixed this week free of charge (customer service so far has been superb). I'm impressed with the quality of the car considering the price I paid for it.
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Replying to: lilwoman84 (Sep 03, 2007 7:21 pm) I dunno about the handling of a mini though; the rabbit grips well, but body roll is a definite downside. Thankfully there is the aftermarket. Having said that, the suspension soaks up bumps remarkably well. and highspeed cruising is fantastic. |
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Replying to: vwgoofy (Sep 02, 2007 7:45 pm) well, the jetta, rabbit, and passat are NOT all on the same platform. Just the jetta and rabbit are. I beg to differ on your 'jarring' ride comments; the rabbit soaks up bumps very nicely, its one of its virtues. thats the beauty of a independant rear suspension; a def step up from the poorly tuned twist beam rears of yore. in europe this is considered the cushiest ride out of all the small cars there; and they know a thing or two about bad road surfaces. sorry about your other woes; i had the six speed auto and it never seemed to lag to much. and i loved the seats. |
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Replying to: takapuna (Jul 20, 2006 5:14 am) VW doesn't make any money off these cars. i just read an article in a financial mag and apparently VW needs to learn how to build cars more cheaply in order to make a profit. If they don't, there may not be a VW in North America for much longer. Drastic, but very possible. Right now though, it's good if your a current VW owner. Your driving what is essentially an over-engineered car, albeit with a few flaws, but better than most in this proce range.
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Replying to: frank908 (Sep 05, 2007 7:01 am) thats why the mkVI's are coming out sooner than expected. the build time on the mkV's are too long. |
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Hi everyone, Just to give you a 'global' perspective on the Rabbit: I have an European '04 Golf 2.0 TDI, orignially 140 bhp/ 240 lb. So far I have done 70 k km, abt 40 k miles, and the car is holding up pretty well. I haven't had any structural problems yet, although most of my driving is in the city. Structral rigidity is exactly the best virtue of the car, but it is a step up compared to the Golf 3 and 4. Abt a year ago, I decided to replace the motor management chip, with one by ABT. It raised the performance to around 180 bhp and 280 lb of torque, increasing consumption from 40 MPG to 36 MPG. That brings me to another point of the car, the brakes do seem to be rather inadequate for its performance levels. Braking at speeds of 70 mph, doesn't seem induce as much confidence as it should, let alone having to brake on the German autobahn at 125 mph or more. On the other hand stability at these speeds is not an issue at all. I topped the car at 225 km/h, abt 135 mph after the chip change. More inportantly though the in-gear acceleration is where the biggest gain can be found. I assure you, it's seriously fast! Downside is that all of this devours my tyres. I recently swapped the Bridgestone Turanzas for Michelin Primacy HPs. Quite an improvement I must say. Regarding the audio, I am very happy with the standard 6 speaker set. I replaced the after-market VDO Dayton Radio/ CD combo with a 1-DIN Becker Bluetooth/ Navigationsystem. Sound is so crisp and the bass is full. All in all,I am pretty satisfied with this car. You do get the feeling of driving a premium car, although prices here in Europe can be considered quite premium as well. Still, it cannot beat the feel of a RWD car. Especially with the heavy diesel engine under the bonnet, understeer is a given. Then again, we're not on a racetrack, are we? I am curious about US Rabbit TDI experiences. Anyone?
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Replying to: jan16 (Sep 08, 2007 5:44 pm) |
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I own a 2007 2dr VW Rabbit. I just completed a 1,600 mile vacation. Driving from Las Vegas, NV to Santa Rosa, California and then to Carson City, Nevada and back to Las Vegas, NV. I had tons of Power up mountains and on the freeways. Can not give you MPH as we stayed at 80 mph most of the way. I can say at 80 mph we did get 23 miles per Gal. Car handled like a dream. If we had traveled at 65 it would have been more. I give my car 5 Stars as it is one cool machine. Joe from Las Vegas
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Replying to: jnathan (Sep 22, 2007 6:47 pm) |
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In my mind and others that drove the car, we are happy and guess that's all that counts. |
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