Lotus Version to be produced in Malyasia?

Post edited 04/27/06 10:31 AM by V-dubber

Personally, I’d prefer they had put more focus on building a more affordable, reliable car. I guess that’s what the “”Rabbit”" is supposed to make us think?

I have many fond memories of VW rabbits. My father drove a few diesel rabbits in the 1980s. They were dirt-cheap to buy, own, and operate. I learned to drive stick in his diesel rabbit. I remember they didn’t even have radios when he bought them, it was cheaper to just put one in himself. The last one he bought brand-new, he put well over 100K miles on it, gave it to his brother who drove it for years, who gave it to his daughter who drove it for years. It was finally jettisoned when the cluth burnt out at somewhere around 200K miles. Oh yea, the rear shocks were also shot.

The only nostalgic effect the Rabbit name will surely not be what VW is hoping to cash in on. The rabbit was a cheap car, and an economical car. Period. People who owned them will probably remember them as so. People who didn’t own them, may only remember how small they were, how slow they were, and the noise and smoke the diesels emitted. The golf has been far from that for quite some time. Now, if VW were to ship in the Polo, maybe that would be more suitable for the Rabbit title.

The other thing that has been driving me nuts, has been the fact that VW (and all mfgs.) seem to think AWD should be treated like a luxury feature, not a safety feature. Why do I need to buy an A3/A4, R32 or Passat if I want AWD? Why should I have to spend over $30K just to own a car that will climb hills in the snow? Mazda has done the same thing with the 6…why do I need to buy the 300HP Mazdaspeed6 just to get AWD? bullsh!t the only alternative seems to be buying a Subaru…which would be easy if they would only make a car with usable armrests (lol).

Ok, enough whining.

The one thing I will praise VW on is safety. I’m pretty sure side-curtain airbags are standard on all cars, as well as ABS. I don’t quite know where they are going with the “”Safety Happens”" ads, I really like them…but I don’t know if they’re the best way to sell cars.

As for affordability and reliability, that’s the reason they are giving for the short MkV lifespan, so who knows, now that they’ve got the edge with DSG and FSI (these are definite edges, particularly DSG, which is nothing but a revolution in transmission technology, regardless of your personal bias for or against VW), they can stand to refactor manufacturing and bring out a cheaper MkV. The goal is a $16,000 Golf/Rabbit, right?

We’ll see.

As for Golf/Rabbit, they’re just rebadging in Europe, I see. Eh. It’s nice to see the rabbit badge again, though.

Hopefully, the short lifespan means a MkVI that takes all the driving characteristics of the MkV (and that lovely DSG tranny) and puts it on a platform that’s cheaper and more reliable (the MkV has already proven more reliable than the MkIV, though I’m sure many can say that’s a relative thing and that it’s still sub-par),

Post edited 04/22/06 2:52 PM by paultakeda

I’d totally buy that if I had the cash and garage space.
Of course, it’s not a VW. It’s the Vandenbrink Carver, and it’s three wheels of fun.

Post edited 04/19/06 2:23 AM by paultakeda