Hey,

just wondering if anyone knows about these lesser german vehicles? i.e. 4 vs. 6, stick or auto, known achilles heels, etc.?

a friend leaving town wants to dump it for a grand ($1k), and its only got 107k miles on it, black, decent shape.

might use it for a driver instead of the frontier - or just hang on to it?

(sorry, don't have any more info, but can get it.)

thanks.

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"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

Sounds like you could double up at least unless its in crappy shape.

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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

Calling Hatterasguy!!! heeeeeeeeeeeeeee

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

The 96 is fairly strong. Just remember that it's a $1000 car that will have age issues pop up from time to time.

The Rabbit, which later became the Golfs and Jettas, are pretty good little cars. Great daily driver material.

I currently have a 1984 Rabbit Convertible (last year to be German made) in Ohio that is getting a fresh interior and top for my daughter. I paid $800 for it, repaired the timing issue, replaced the clutch and added a new alternator. Being German made, the parts are not the same as the American versions, so the price was a bit high. So far, counting purchase price, parts and labor, I'm about $2800 into it. But the look on her face when I give her the keys this summer will be priceless!!

Which engine does it come with?

If properly taken car of in the past, those 100,000 miles shouldn't mean much.

My younger brother has a 1999 model Jetta and it has treated him great. He hasn't had to put out anything for it other than normal oil changes and such. He's driven it from Oregon to Ohio and back 6 times, and it has never left him stranded.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Lolz, Hatterasguy on this board has a MK3 Jetta- he hated it.

I think he got an abused model - if the one you are looking at has been taken care of, $1k isnt a bad price (I bought a 1997 Jetta GLS (all options except the big engine) for $2k a year ago)

Stuff to look for in MK3 vw's (MK3's are the golf/Jetta's sold from 1994 to 1999)

timing belt - every 100k.
Expect to replace an alternator, one or both half shafts, and water pump between 100k and 150k miles- every VW's I've had suffers from this.

Parts are more expensive than american car prices, but not much more than japanese car prices.

good MK3 VW tech help page

VW MK3 wiki

Your 96 will be OBD1, if its the "2.slow" ABA 4cyl, 8v with 115hp, you'll get 30mpg if you baby it, 24 if you beat it. My '97 has this motor and it does the job ok but doesn't rev real high and sacrifices a lot of top end for midrange (which is nice, but not "sporty".
The other engine available is the 2.8l(?) VR6 - 6cyl - good for 170hp with horrifically complex timing chains and more expensive parts with added maintenance nighmares - I recommend against the VR6 unless you are vw guy who has to have one (300hp turbo VR6's are not unheard of)

There is a large aftermarket for these vehicles and motors - plus, they were VW's best selling models so junkyard availability isnt bad either. expect none of the build quality that you see in a W123 however. My 240D spoiled me compared to the VW's that I had driven for my entire life.

There is a forum called www.vwvortex.com - which, other than the kids, has a lot of good info on it (you just need to filter out the stupid kids comments =)


All in all - not a bad car- I chose mine becuase of its price and I know how to work on them. Not as overall reliable as a jap-o-box, but workable and plenty of aftermarket if you want to go that way.

-John

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2009 Kia Sedona
2009 Honda Odyssey EX-L
12006 Jetta Pumpe Duse
(insert Mercedes here)

Husband, Father, sometimes friend =)

I have an 83 rabbit here.



I've dumped 4 grand ontop of the 1600 for the shell.


New giles ip, new manifolds, VNT turbo and controller. converting a n/a to a turbo block. 1.9aaz head, dual stage injectors egt gauge, etc...


They're german lego blocks - many items are standardized between models (makes parts cheap)

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-1983 VW Rabbit LS Diesel (5speed, VNT/Giles build)

$1000 for a car is cheap. If its the 4 cyl 5 spd its unkillable. The Vr6 models are fast and a lot of fun they handle nice at high speed. Get some more info show us some pics.

my brother has a 96 Jetta with the aba, 2L engine. Its been great with no issues what so ever. As for the vr6 i would stay away since there are lot issues with them. The 2L 4 banger is the one you want if you are looking for reliably.

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1986 300SDL, 211K,Dealership serviced its whole life
1991 190E 2.6(120k)
1983 300D(300k)
1977 300D(211k)

True, but not interchangeable much with the American versions.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

I had a 1995 that I junked, what a horrible POS.

They leak oil almost as fast as you can add it, horrible fuel mileage for such a little miserable car, feels like a tin can, and nothing electrical works. Parts are also pretty expensive.

If its a 6 or R6 or whatever the heck they call their piss poor 6 banger just junk it. They are to hard to work on, I won't touch one. The way VW installs that motor into those little cars is just an abortion of a hack job. I can't beleive it came from Germany, and not some communist country. My dads friend junked a 1999 Passat with a 6 cylinder. Same reasons I junked the Jetta. Everything including all 4 window regulators and door locks was broke, nothing on the car worked, the tranny died, and it overheated. VW used a cheap little plastic T in the heater hoses thats a huge PITA to get at that cracked, so the engine overheated.

If you must have it its worth scrap value, and just junk it or sell it off to some sucker in a few months for $1k. I refuse to pay more than scrap value for any running VW, I don't care if its brand new or 20 years old.

I can safely say I will never buy another VW product as long as I live, their is nothing good about these cars; truely horrible wreched little **** box's.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

not what the bently manual says.

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-1983 VW Rabbit LS Diesel (5speed, VNT/Giles build)

I was looking forward to this one

i was going to let everyone know that i passed on the jetta,..but i didn't, and i seemed to have brought out some long standing vw hatred. hopefully it was therapeutic? anyway, thanks for the info. (i have been warned.)

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"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

the turbo 4 is the better of the three engines, I'd take a 4 cylinder non turbo(but want a 4 cyl turbo) over the pig 2.0 6 cylinder.

check out vwvortex.com

Never, ever by a VW 4 speed automatic. The 3 speed and 5 speeds are ok (well the 5 speeds aren't actually made by VW...)

I'm gunna disagree with Hatterasguy, the Mk3 Jettas were one of VWs finest models. Like the refinement from the W116 to the W126, the Mk3 Jetta is an improvement on the Mk2 from 1985. The main problems with them are the automatics (The 1993-early1997 ones are good for 60,000 miles, the later ones are good for 120,000), wires going to the doors breaking, rear springs wearing out, and rust rust rust. I don't think the mexican built cars got the same quality steel as the German built ones, so if it's been exposed to a lot of salt give the underside and thorough look over. On the 2.0 manual transmission cars the rubber bushings on the shifter linkage tend to wear out, the power window regulators like to go off track a lot too.

The 2.0 ABA with the 020 5 speed manual is a hard combo to beat for a daily driver. The availability of a computer interface to work with the engine and airbag computer is a huge plus. As others noted the cars are really built like legos, and parts are easy to swap around, the only exception I can think of is installing euro headlights which takes a little doing because the core support is a little different on the US models.

-Jason

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.