Comments on: Volkswagen Rabbit Standard Equipment http://www.volksbloggin.com/2006/08/14/volkswagen-rabbit-standard-equipment/ Reviews, opinions and rants on all things Volkswagen Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:06:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: Fred http://www.volksbloggin.com/2006/08/14/volkswagen-rabbit-standard-equipment/comment-page-1/#comment-949 Fred Thu, 24 Aug 2006 03:39:34 +0000 http://www.volksbloggin.com/2006/08/14/volkswagen-rabbit-standard-equipment/#comment-949 Bought a four-door about 6 weeks ago; it goes in next week for its 5000 mile service. It's quick and quiet and it has had exactly one thing go wrong since we brought it home: The passenger-side vent came apart in the GF's hands. I wasn't terribly surprised or upset; I've had four VeeDubs and I've yet to have one without a wonky/loose/busted vent (and if you haven't had the problem, I don't want to know about it - I don't want to ruin my perfect record) - and neither has anyone else I've ever known who's owned one. Sasy goodbye to the old days of fold and tumble, too, but there's tons of room in the thing, and you will be hard-pressed to miss it. But the handling - the new rear suspension is a revelation - more than makes up for it. If I had a single complaint about the car it would be that the engine runs out of grunt far too soon. Someplace soon over 4000 RPM it just gives up and gets all ugly. Pity, because it pulls like a turbine up to that point. My 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8 engines never did that. There may not have been tons of grunt, but they were smooth, at least. I'm waiting for K&N to come out with a filter for it; I' m hoping that by maybe cleaning up the breathing a bit it'll have some more oomph in the upper rev range. I mean, it's redlined at 5900 RPM for heaven's sake. You can be excused for expecting more. Went with the Tiptronic option. Worth every single penny. Smooth shifts, so it's easy to keep in the power band, and it's impossible to get tired of flicking it back and forth across the gate to hold gears and manually downshift. Torque-surfing rocks. The interior is more Audi than ever. Older VWs had those nasty old blank switches all over the place reminding you that somewhere in the VAG universe there were cars where the buttons actually did something. Everything snicks and clicks like it means it, the (admittedly upgraded) stereo sounds terrific, and the seats maintain the tradition of keeping everything in place during long drives. There's even an air diffuser on the top of the dashboard, just like the big BMWs and Mercedes. I'm not aware of any other car in its class that has that feature - like a lot of the little and big things in the car, it's far above its station, but an enormously nice one to have. Oh, and it's built in Wolfsburg, where it all started. It's a great car. Bought a four-door about 6 weeks ago; it goes in next week for its 5000 mile service. It’s quick and quiet and it has had exactly one thing go wrong since we brought it home: The passenger-side vent came apart in the GF’s hands. I wasn’t terribly surprised or upset; I’ve had four VeeDubs and I’ve yet to have one without a wonky/loose/busted vent (and if you haven’t had the problem, I don’t want to know about it – I don’t want to ruin my perfect record) – and neither has anyone else I’ve ever known who’s owned one. Sasy goodbye to the old days of fold and tumble, too, but there’s tons of room in the thing, and you will be hard-pressed to miss it. But the handling – the new rear suspension is a revelation – more than makes up for it.

If I had a single complaint about the car it would be that the engine runs out of grunt far too soon. Someplace soon over 4000 RPM it just gives up and gets all ugly. Pity, because it pulls like a turbine up to that point. My 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8 engines never did that. There may not have been tons of grunt, but they were smooth, at least. I’m waiting for K&N to come out with a filter for it; I’ m hoping that by maybe cleaning up the breathing a bit it’ll have some more oomph in the upper rev range. I mean, it’s redlined at 5900 RPM for heaven’s sake. You can be excused for expecting more.

Went with the Tiptronic option. Worth every single penny. Smooth shifts, so it’s easy to keep in the power band, and it’s impossible to get tired of flicking it back and forth across the gate to hold gears and manually downshift. Torque-surfing rocks.

The interior is more Audi than ever. Older VWs had those nasty old blank switches all over the place reminding you that somewhere in the VAG universe there were cars where the buttons actually did something. Everything snicks and clicks like it means it, the (admittedly upgraded) stereo sounds terrific, and the seats maintain the tradition of keeping everything in place during long drives. There’s even an air diffuser on the top of the dashboard, just like the big BMWs and Mercedes. I’m not aware of any other car in its class that has that feature – like a lot of the little and big things in the car, it’s far above its station, but an enormously nice one to have.

Oh, and it’s built in Wolfsburg, where it all started. It’s a great car.

]]> By: Justin Perkins http://www.volksbloggin.com/2006/08/14/volkswagen-rabbit-standard-equipment/comment-page-1/#comment-697 Justin Perkins Mon, 14 Aug 2006 14:00:57 +0000 http://www.volksbloggin.com/2006/08/14/volkswagen-rabbit-standard-equipment/#comment-697 Good to hear that 4 doors are standard on the 2.5 4 door model ;) Good to hear that 4 doors are standard on the 2.5 4 door model ;)

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