1980 VW Rabbit Found At The Pump Slurping Diesel, Obviously

The diesel Rabbit phenomena was huge here in Eugene, and I’ve documented many of them over the years here. And it’s not completely over yet, as this one getting a fill-up of diesel attests. Talk about the ultimate long-life car; it’s right up there with the Corolla. These are simple cars with very rugged engines. Their owners are loyal, even fanatical. You want to have a conversation about cost-per-mile operating costs over 40 or 45 years? Well, good luck trying to top one of these.

I wasn’t going to even bother trying to pin down the year of this one, but it appears that this grille with the two horizontal bars was only used in 1980, and only on US-built Rabbits. I suspect that was probably the peak year for diesel Rabbit sales thanks to the nasty second energy crisis and huge jump in fuel prices, although the 1981 probably did well too. These were selling for insane markups in LA at the time; I seem to remember seeing one with a $10k asking price on it, which was almost a 50% premium. Folks were absolutely desperate to get their hands on one. And some still can’t let go.

 

Related CC reading:

Vintage R&T Review and 24,000 Mile Long Term Test: 1978 VW Rabbit Diesel – Quicker Than a Fiat X1/9

R&T 100,000 Mile Long Term Test: 1978 VW Rabbit Diesel – The Downsides of Being An Early Adopter, But Bailed Out By Fuel Economy and High Resale Value

COAL: 1978 VW Rabbit Diesel – Bunny Tales

COAL: 1984 Rabbit Diesel L – Demonstration of the Practicality v. Desire Equation

CC Outtake: VW Diesel Rabbit Overlander

Curbside Recycling: 1980 Volkswagen Rabbit C Diesel – Not Hopped Up, But All Hopped Out

COAL: 1984 VW Rabbit Diesel: Volkswagen (and Heath) Does It Again!

COAL: 1979 VW Rabbit Diesel: You Can’t Get There From Here