vdubs are my first love as well. Have had too many to count! No doubt the MB is more solid, but it just doesn't have the same feel to it. I've grown up with both (dad was a VW/MB mechanic many years ago when I was a kid), but I've always preferred the VW's.
A friend of mine was involved in a serious accident with his Rabbit a few years back... T-boned a drunk driver @50mph in an Explorer who crossed the median. He survived; was in the hospital about a week. The Rabbit did everything it was supposed to and absorbed the impact all the way up to the windshield pillers. For a little car, I'd have to say the Rabbit is well built and safe. That said, I still wouldn't put my daughter in it. That was the main reason I started getting the MB's... better chance of survivability in a crash. Didn't think much about that when I was younger though....

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