Well said everyone. I second all of this.

I owned an 82 Rabbit and then it self destructed (my fault) and I replaced it with a 240D. So I basically did what you did in reverse. I was pleasantly surprised by MB, you will be sorely disappointed with VW.

The Rabbit just falls apart. It was designed by the accounting department. The parts inside just disintegrated. Door linkages, locks, dash switches, dash circuit boards(act like fuses and pop under normal loads), seat foam, headliner, trunk lock etc. etc. just failed. The foam in the seats turned to dust. The seat covers turned to dust. AC belt could never be tensioned properly because of a cheap mount. Ahh yes and the shift linkage bushings disintegrated but the 240D’s did as well.

One day my electrical heating system for WVO locked on and set the car on fire while parked. I torched my own car. My wife was thrilled. I bought a 240d a month later and it was the best car and decision I’d made in a long time. I would have never toyed with diesel without the Rabbit. I bought it for only $100 on Craigslist. So I’m thankful for the Bunny.

But seriously, you’re going the wrong way. Don’t do it. You see a lot of those cars on the road? Nope.

Edit - I didn’t mention Rabbit reliability. The drivetrain was good. Engine, trans (manual), starting, and brakes were robust. The car never left me stranded till my WVO system torched it.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 190k miles
97 C280 150k miles