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
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
Wonder if anyone spots any Japanese diesel cars recently, it is my understanding Toyota and Isuzu on its own or via GM did offer diesel engines in its vehicles in 1980s. Imagine someone sees a Toyota Camry with diesel. I mentioned before during oil price short term surge in 2007-08, I noticed a Isuzu iMark sedan with diesel powered in New Jersey Turnpike few times during my daily commute to NYC.
Also like to see post about Honda diesel engine that almost came to US at the new height of VW diesel push in mid-2000s. The new Mazda skyactive engine comes with both gasoline and diesel forms, does its diesel engine perform well? Or it has no market because of gasoline hybrid dominates the fuel efficiency market.
I was told Trata truck engines in 1950s here able to run gasoline and diesel fuel without modifications
I daily drive a 1982 Nissan Maxima diesel as well as a 1981 Chevy Luv, (Isuzu) diesel. Lots of aficionados regularly comment on Facebook
I remember these, few made more than 60,000 miles before having engine failures .
I don’t remember why they failed but the failed in droves .
I still see them here in So. Cal., typically well loved and maintained, doing yeoman duty for happy if not ecstatic owners .
-Nate
Not sure where you heard of early engine failure, we put 300K on an ’84; and the engine was still going strong. I use to know of far more long-lived one than short-lived ones! It was hard to kill those motors!
Coincidentally, 60k is the timing belt replacement interval on these diesel Rabbits (interference motor), so that may be what you are thinking of?
Some where around the 1981 time frame head bolt size was increased. If I recall correctly the bolts went from 11 mm to 12 mm. I had an ’84 for about 16 years. When I sold it a few years ago it was at 24x,xxx miles on the original engine. I did one timing belt replacement a couple of years after I bought it.
Nice to see one of those still on duty! In the Midwest, I remember the price premium those were commanding, and in my quick peek at 1979-1982 newspapers this morning, Diesel-Rabbit prices were notably (well, almost “shockingly”) higher than for Pinto/Chevette, etc.—-and even above gasoline Rabbit.
These were huge in the midwest too. This one looks like a twin to the one my sister and BIL bought, either a 1980 or 81. They bought theirs used at about 4-5 years old. It would regularly turn in 50 mpg for them, but also struggled to top 50 mph if there was much of a headwind.
My wife’s uncle was a mechanical engineer who ordered one new and had to wait close to a year for it. He drove it for the rest of his life. I think one of his kids may still be driving it, though it has to be mighty rusty by now.
I never really noticed before, how far inboard the parking/turn signal lights were, on early Mk. I Rabbits. Not lined up, underneath the headlights. As you’d expect. Do prefer the post 1980 location, outside of each headlight.
Is it yours?
I love the color, a perfect combination with the car.
Not mine. Found on the Net. Though my brother owned a similar new tan 1977 Rabbit three door. That he, and his wife loved.
Yes on the inboard-mounted parking lights/turn signals on the early Rabbits. I had 2, a 1975 built in Germany and a 1979 built in Pennsylvania.
Interestingly, these lights were mounted under the headlights on the European (non-5 mph) bumpers.
The very high fuel economy and diesel engine are clearly the main reason why these mechanical lagomorphs are still around. I am curious to know if the diesel engine is actually that much more reliable than the gas engine, or is it more for high mpg devotees?
My ultimate favourite old car! Over the years, I had many Rabbit Diesels. The cars drove beautifully. Although the 1980 model boaster a blistering 52 hp, the cars never felt slow.
Well, in today’s traffic it might be hard to keep up with only 52 hp
That’s my driving school car, back in 1984. Opposite color though, as it was refrigerator white.
As soon as its diesel engine had reached its normal operating temperature, the car could roll down the road at walking speed without touching the gas (diesel?) pedal and/or clutch pedal. In first gear of the four-speed manual transmission, needless to mention.
And what a hopeless thing our 1979 Ford Fiesta 1300S was (also with a four-speed manual), compared to that Golf. I’ve never experienced such a ‘recalcitrant’ car afterwards.
As a European, I was always curious about European cars in the US, especially diesels. As for the Rabbit (Golf in Europe), it catches my attention how in the US it could have been sold in a diesel version, knowing that the cost of fuel was always much lower than in Europe, and that this car in the gasoline version was too fuel-efficient. .
I know that in the US several diesel Europeans have been sold such as the Mercedes 300 or the Peugeot 504 and 505, but I can understand this because these cars in the gasoline version did consume a lot.
Getting back to the car itself, I’m surprised to see it in North America, as well as on Fox.
Gasoline prices here in the US were often rising in the late 1970’s and even though they were much lower than Europe, fuel economy was pretty important to a certain portion of the population. For both economic and environmental reasons, and perhaps also global econo-political reasons as well. And while prices then seem low compared to today, the percentage increase in just a few years was significant. A lot of us had thrifty habits driven into us by Depression-era parents, who had also lived through WW2 fuel rationing. For example, in those days before ubiquitous air conditions or Bluetooth media, we just didn’t let our cars idle. “Turn it off, you’re wasting gas!”.
I recall in the DC area diesel was less expensive then regular unleaded gasoline in the late ’70s and early ’80s, which along with higher mpg drove sales of diesel engines in that era.
I was a young man when I bought one as my first new car – https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-1984-rabbit-diesel-l-demonstration-of-the-practicality-v-desire-equation/ – and I was still kind of young when I gave in to something that many young men dream of…a faster more luxurious car. I gave the Rabbit to a friend who promptly moved out West. I honestly believe that if this were a different universe, and that I’d acquired my Rabbit Diesel at the age of 40 instead of 23, I’d still be driving that Rabbit.
It was one tough car. A slow noisy little car, but it should have been a keeper. As I said in my COAL, I like to think that it’s still clattering along out there somewhere.
The grill with horizontal bars is the deluxe (L) 1980 grill. The standard version is all flat black, and looks rather Yugo-like, or with a chrome surround (https://i.redd.it/5e61azfawwy61.jpg). The big giveaway for a 1980 Rabbit is the lack of wrap around turn signals with the rectangular lights
I recall the grille with the two chromed (when new anyway) bars was used on the top-line L Rabbits (and also the pickup truck variant) for both 1979 and 1980, as long as they were built in Westmoreland. An oddity of the 1979 model year is that gasoline Rabbits were US-built but diesel Rabbit still came from Wolfsburg. As such, ’79 diesel Rabbits still had the original round-headlamp grille, while gas Rabbits had rectangular headlamps, a slightly taller grille, vertical side marker lamps, and a different palette of color-keyed interiors. There were also little differences that arose from using US-sourced parts in Westmoreland cars, like the remote manual mirror control which was a black rubberized mushroom-shaped knob in German-built cars, but a ball-ended chrome stick in American-built cars.
I saw not one but TWO “Rabbit” pickups (yeah I know they weren’t actually called Rabbits) in one block yesterday, one parked but I know it’s regularly driven, and the other cruising by quietly, probably not a diesel. As for other diesels, I haven’t noticed any Japanese diesels recently, but I did just see a Facebook Marketplace ad for a local diesel Volvo 245 with 4 speed overdrive, described as being in good running condition. Tan, which I guess is a shade of brown …
The Rabbit turns 50 in 2025. The design has aged remarkably well.
Good point. Actually, it already turned 50; it was presented in May of 1974 and went into production later that year.
As I mentioned above and in earlier posts about the car, I had two of these — a first year model (1975) and the first year Westmoreland model (1979). It was an innovative car, and as Hard Boiled states, its design (by Giugiaro) has held up quite well. Mine were fragile though, especially the 1975 model. I can’t imagine someone managing to hold on to them to the present day, but Paul has proof! Also, I spotted a 1981 or ’82 diesel in the parking lot of our local Walmart in early 2020 (photo below).
I remember the huge run-up in price for the diesels in 1979-80. Both of mine were gasoline versions, with the ’79 purchased in the fall of 1978 before the Iranian revolution and subsequent sharp rise in fuel prices. However, by the time I sold the car in September 1982, the bloom was off the rose so to speak, and used diesel Rabbits were worth less than gas versions.
Granted, it’s a different generation, but the guy two doors down from me has a 2000 Golf Diesel that’s also badged with a little Rabbit emblem. Apparently, they were only badged that way for a short time.
I told him about this post when I was talking to him earlier today when I asked him how many miles he had on it. His car has 359,000 miles on the clock and is still going like the Energizer Bunny (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun). He drives it rarely, but it starts right up for him every time he takes it out.
It gets 48 mpg on older fuel injected technology than that which is out there now. He’s had to do very little in the way of maintenance on it.
In the UK in 2001, the then New Labour government pushed the Diesel engine as away of reducing the UK’s CO2 emissions.
After the 2000 Farmers & Hauliers strike over the cost of fuel, that almost shut down the entire country over the Taxes added to the cost of Fuel.
So we went on to Diesels not long after.
I’m currently driving a 12 year old VW Golf Mk 6, with a straight 4 cylinder, 2.0 litre Turbo Diesel engine.
I get 60mpg on a high speed run (not incriminating myself with speed attained).
and about 44mpg, in stop start city traffic.
NB. ( that’s UK imperial Gallons, or 4.54609 Litres)
Certainly not going to go back to Petrol (Gasolene), or Electric which which works out at 18mpg, in a recent real world test.
And at £1.36.9 a litre = £6.29 a Gallon. (Or $8.11)
For USA Gallon, it would work out at £5.18 x current exchange rate (1.29) = $6.68.5
A full tank would be £75.29 or $97.13
Owned 30-40 mk1 rabbits.. and at least 10 diesel version.. in high school i used to buy them out of the newspaper, circa 1994-95 I would buy them for $300-450 dollars.. nice rust free version , this was in PNW – Oregon to be exact.. good times.