1977 Volkswagen Rabbit User Reviews

First New Car Purchase - A Great Choice At The Time — This was a fun little two door, four cylinder car with a five speed manual transmission and front wheel drive. Very economical to run, being one of the first economy cars in North America to also have fuel injection. This car had lots of room and handled extremely well. Not much in the way of creature comforts, since even a radio was an option - added after purchase. No A/C, no power ANYTHING, but it was great to drive nonetheless.

Primary Use: Family transportation

Quirky But Fantastic —

This was my first car and it was peppy, durable and somewhat forgiving. I had the spiffy model with the "Get the Rabbit Habit" decals and the crank sunroof. Many of the more expensive cars I have owned since have not lived up to my experience with this car. I drove it in Albany, NY, which in case you are not from the Northeast US, is a small city with big winters. It went through anything Old Man Winter threw at it, and I only had trouble stopping once (I had trouble starting once too, when I forgot to put drygas in the tank). I guess it went through about a quart of oil a month, which I thought was normal (remember this was my first car) and it had endless troubles with the electrical system. I think VWs could be pretty cranky back then. Mostly it ran like a top, carried four college students back and forth (carpooling to get home) the couple of hours from Albany to Westchester every so often, sipped gas, held lots of stuff, and had a bike rack that fit on the back just fine. I mention that because since then I have found that bike racks can be problematic to fit to different types of cars. The Rabbit hatchback could fit a ten-speed inside if you folded down the rear seats, but if you had passengers, then of course the bike rack was a must. It was easy to maintain; even I could change the oil. It got hot in the sun, with the vinyl seats. It was a great car and if I were single or retired (in other words not hauling a family and friends all the time) it would be the sort of thing I'd want today. Only now I'm a big girl and I'd want the stick instead of the automatic.