wow, a lot of critism, well, all i can say, the media has been bought by Japanese manufacturers, they bash GM, Ford, Chrysler, but when it comes to pos Corollas, Civics, the world stops turning. Vw is going to bring bunch of cool models over the next few years. Late 90s reliability nightmare with VW is way past, i owned 3 of them over the past 4 years, no problems, different chasis, different motors, Absolutely happy with them. I agree with a lot of ppl here, the Polo would be nice...

 

i didn't read any of the posts above... but that new wabbit does not look
that great. looks like just another vw... oh well.

Not sure if you want to be going up to your girl and telling her you
drive a wabbit. Rabbits back in the days was a cool name... these days,
you want an alpha numeric name... or something trendy like "cooper."

...or were "rabbit" a trendy name in the past? not sure, it reminds me
of "festiva" or "pinto" or something kinda cheap sounding. oh well, that's
just me.

 

naw, only berky.

 

check this out

 

 

Thanks, Drew. I merged the two threads.

 

Well, name me 5 cool European cars that were in the market, the same class, back in those days, now we have a lot of alternatives. VW Golf/Rabbit is not a cool car. You ppl need to understand, in Europe, a regular petrol Golf=Civic/Toyota in US. You don't impress ppl with Civics, right Ken?

 

you sold your MCS to get a VW, right?

 

i impress them with fuel efficiency and reliability?

a regular petro Golf = FocusWagons in the US.

 

you are wrong, there is Golf STWs in Europe, you must be kiddin' anyways, you are full throttle tonite

 

I used to be saying the same thing about VAG product. However, my Audi start oil leaks in couple places at the 5th year. I've nothing to say after that. I wish you luck on your VWs.

 

All cars are human made, my Mini gave me the most trouble among all the cars I owned, but never bashed the brand, things happen, just look at the threads and see all those problems with Minis....

 

I am keeping my finger crossed all the time!

 

Q. Speaking of marketing, just how stupid is the decision by VW marketing to replace the Golf name with Rabbit? PMD: It is beyond stupid. To say these people are utterly clueless is being too kind. They're flailing about throwing anything up against the wall to see what sticks, and somehow in their convoluted daydreams they come up with this? Incredible. There's nothing cute, desirable or fondly nostalgic about "Rabbit" in the historical VW lexicon. Early versions of it were embarrassing econo-boxes orchestrated by ex-Detroit car executives who thought that color-keyed interiors signified hipness. To make matters worse, the cars had horrid reliability issues and basically left a bitter aftertaste in consumers' mouths for a long, long time. The GTI resurrected some integrity for the brand, but the Rabbit was a largely forgettable nonstarter, a mere blip on the radar screen that should have been left right where it was - in the dustheap of automotive nameplates that had no business being revived. As we said last week, VW customers want cars that offer a fun-to-drive, Germanic driving experience that is unavailable from the Asian brands at a decent price point - without requiring a "Frequent Guest Pass" to the service department - something that VW has been unable to demonstrate as of yet. And dredging up the "Rabbit" nameplate isn't going to help matters one iota. Wolfgang Bernhard has great vision and some of the best instincts in the business, but if he lets these bozos in Auburn Hills run amuck much longer, he won't have a Volkswagen of America to save.

 

I see zero risk in the name change for VW.

The "Golf" was not a runaway hit or a cherrished name in this market. If VW were changing the name of the Jetta or the Passat, then I'd agree there were taking a gamble.

The Rabbit name gets them some press and the $15,000 price closes the deal. I think they are generating much needed buzz for the non-GTI hatchbacks.

 

Well, I must say - C4 - you are one negative person here...

Have you ever actually owned a VW before? Or just happen to "know" people that do? I must say, much like your "trouble-free" MINI's, my 2001 Jetta with ~72,000 miles on it has been quite trouble-free as well. I personally can't say much for VW service, at least not my local dealer...but as far as the local MINI dealer goes, they AIN'T MUCH BETTER! (From personally dealing with them w/OmToast)

I KNOW...quite the SHOCKER, eh?!

Meanwhile, you are bashing the idea of bringing back a "badge" or "name"...what exactly do you think you drive? If I recall, MINI is a psuedo resurrected name, at least for this country's market...

At least your negative attitude hasn't spilled over to the other people in this thread, it seems for the most part that the new Rabbit may be quite popular!

Now, you do have every right to your opinion, I am all about that...so the above is simply my opinion!

 

^^^^AMEN

 

My last car, a '91 Jetta GLI, sits near dead in the back 40. Fun while it lasted, but things broke weekly at the end.

The new Rabbit is so bland. The Lexus clay-in-a-balloon look regurgitated via VW. Must be the EU stupid pedistrian standard.

 

So, the new pedestrian safety regs forbid car makers from producing anything exciting, so that pedestrians won't be awestruck and stop short in the middle of the street?

 

Unfortunately my friend, the truth hurts. Your reliable Jetta is among the inmense minority of troublefree VW's. None of what I have posted here I have made up and the general concensus among the general public and people in the industry is that VW's are second rate products when it comes to quality and reliability.

With that said, I still think bringing back the Rabbit is a stupid idea and will cost VW dearly in this country. Oh and let's not even get into the Phaeton sedan, the biggest and costliest market failure in recent memory.

If you have a problem with the sad state of affairs at VW, feel free to write a letter to Peter de Lorenzo, author of www.autoextremist.com and express your disgust for his constant bickering of your favorite autmotive brand.

Most people in this thread, with the excpetion of ChrisL, are nothing but VW apologists that refuse to acknowledge the sad mistakes this German brand keeps making day in and day out.

The new GTI is the only bright spot in an otherwise unimpressive and lackluster product mix.

 

You can't compare the weight of a brand name like "MINI Cooper" to that of "Rabbit". The VW Rabbit was an embarrasing 1970's piece of junk that brought VW nearly to the brink of destruction. The MINI, on the other hand, is a cult car with a 47 year following and heavy weight motorsports history behind it, something your beloved Rabbit never was and never will.

VW killed the Rabbit name in 1984 and should have left it there. What's next? the VW Fox (decontented Jetta sedan) and the VW Dasher/Quantum (Decontented Passat)?

Gimme a freakin' break dude!

 

C4 -
In the spirit of not getting this thread locked or deleted, I will just let your comments be. (They are just re-stating what you already said on the first page anyways...)



Obviously you feel the need to have the last word. Anyone can have this argument about any car make; inherently everyone is going to be biased towards certain cars and car companies.


I guess your MINI’s are an anomaly as well, judging from reading this forum…as far as reliability go. I congratulate you on that, if only all of us were so lucky!


The success of the new rabbit will be proven / dis-proven based on its sales. My guess is that the people that this particular car is going to be marketed to will not even know what the “original” rabbit was, or care for that matter. It is an entry level car being sold at $14,000~, I do not think that you can honestly expect to be driving a german luxury car!

This thread was initiated to discuss the new rabbit, not to discuss the bad decisions of the past by VW. So if you cannot provide constructive conversation to the thread, why even bother? It will just prove to aggravate people, when the whole point of the forum is to have fun.


All this being said, you can look at this as me conceding to you, or you can look at this as I am not going to waste my time by ruining this thread and getting into a pissing battle with someone I do not even know. So if you decide to continue with your "ranting" and eventually get this thread locked, feel free.


I hope you have a great day and maybe you should try being less combative when it comes to these discussions in the future.

 

I think it is stupid to bring back the Rabbit name, but not because the Rabbit sucked. I owned several and loved them. Here is my last one:


I think it stupid because most people who are interested in buying a $15000 car don't have a clue what a Rabbit was. These are not car people and they don't care about "heritage".

For real VW Rabbits, see my site in my sig.

 

Till this point I really held my breath, you are trying to provoke people that likes VWs based on bad experiences you have heard over the years. Talking about reliability, among all the cars I owned, no other car gave me as many problems as the Mini Cooper S i owned. From the motor, to the transmission. It rattled like hell, and millions of unstoppable squeeks. I loved the car and I will keep loving Minis. If I act like you, thanks God I am better than that, I would call the Mini Cooper nothing but POS.

I think it is the simple fact that, this thread has nothing to do with the Reliability issues of VW, so why are you speculating and pissing on the thread? You are a true HATER and you know what, people like you would not mind spending $55,000.00 on a Lexus, THAT IS THE REASON PHATON HAS FAILED. Because you don't know any better. Makes me think how did you climb the ladder and ended with a Mini?

 

Unfortunately, some people in this thread are uncapable to have a discussion about why bringing back the Rabbit nameplate is such a **** poor idea in part of VW. But hey, I personally could care less as I don't work for VW or plan to own one.

The VW apologists go on the defensive when they read about the sad truths of a company that should be dominating the automotive world and yet they aren't because they choose the path of lunacy by bringing cars that:

1) No one has asked about (Like the Phaeton that will soon be or already has been discontinued)

2) Resurrecting nameplates that have no value, meaning or any solid heritage built into them. Rabbit, Fox, Quantum, et al are all disgraceful reminders when great German engineering succumbs to clueless bean counters and badge engineering marketers.

Do I want VW to go under? No I don't. VW has the know how and the capacity to make kick *** products (GTI is an example) yet they choose not to. The new Jetta sucks and the new Passat is nothing but a Jetta + as they share the same exact chassis. What about the Beetle? dead in the water and the Touareg SUV is not selling well partly due to gas prices and also to a less than stellar reliability reputation.

VW in order to survive needs to concentrate in PRODUCT not in resurrecting badges of mediocre vehicles from the past. I much rather see successors to the Corrado or Scirocco than Rabbits and Foxes.

VW would have earned more respect if they had decided to bring over the Polo from Europe like Honda just did with the Fit hatchback.

VW is going the way of GM if the beancounters and badge engineers take over. Imagine if Cadillac announced today the resurrection of the Cimarron!

Sadly the VW lovers in this thread can't take a single dosis of criticism for their beloved marquee. If VW is to survive in this cut-throat environment, they need to stop catering to the apologists, which at the end of the day are an inmense but seemingly vocal minority.

Bye-Bye.