Car burned oil, about 1 qt per 1000 mile - it was more like a fine mist out the tailpipe. I never changed the oil, just put more in.
Clutch cable broke, and had to fix that.
Replaced the struts; at the time I was a (very) poor student, and thought I was being screwed, now I think it probably did need it, but I could have done without.
Car was hard to keep aligned, I always put cheap tires on it, because they'd wear out in 10-15K.
Only got it tuned up once (it had to have it's valves adjusted, they were not hydraulic).
Rebuilt the carb after I was fender-bendered and it wouldn't start.
Put new brake pads in myself.
Windshield wipers quit (and I drove through many storms without them, stopping at every exit to wipe off the windshield - man, what was I thinking). Eventually got them fixed.
Brake line rusted through.
After owning a Fiat 128, this car seemed like a paragon of reliability. Bought it while in the service in California, so it had all the CA stuff on it. Cost me $2700, and I bought it from a divorced young woman who knew less about cars and car care than I did. It was one of the first rabbits in the US, I think, so it was extremely basic, with cardboard door inserts and just a few dash lights. No A/C of course. When I got out I had it tuned up (by an ex-WW2 POW, it turned out, neat) and drove it from California to Illinois, where I parked it on the street and didn't see it for months at a time while I went to college - did that for four years. Twice the city impounded the car when they redid the curbs next to it, which shows how little I looked at it. I am amazed now that it would start right up after sitting for months in the winter, but at the time I was mad that it had to crank 2-3 times. I'm not sure a modern car would do that, every time. Drove it to Mom and Dad's in Wisconsin every holiday, and when I met my future wife (and ex-wife), I drove 150-200 miles one way to see her on many a weekend with it (maybe I had 150K miles on it, can't remember). When snow melted on it, water would seep into the car, and freeze on the driver side floor, a nice little ice rink. After college I drove it down to Texas to get a job with NASA, on the way I lost my brakes (the brake lines run through the passenger cabin next to the drivers feet; my ice rink got me) and had to replace the brake line in a hotel parking lot - after driving to a parts store using my emergency brake. Car was awful in Houston - no A/C in the summer, almost got heat stroke, literally - and eventually my new wife and I got a Dodge Omni to replace it (a horrible car, but that's another story). The Rabbit sat so long (and it's hugely complex vacuum line anti-smog setup deteriorated enough) that I reluctantly decided to get rid of it. When I went out to drive it one last time, it was very rough, and my feet went right through the floorboard - my skating rink getting me again. Finally sold it to a junkyard, and ever since have felt bad I didn't maintain it better, it would probably still run. I really do wish I had changed the oil more, kept it up, fixed the ice rink. Like Old Yeller, I finally had to put the old dog down. It gave me outstanding service, and was just what I needed, when I needed it.
Fantastic review AND story.
I just looked at a BRIGHT yellow '76 Rabbit on eBay, relatively clean interior, but of course an exterior made mostly of rust. Wow, cars were pretty awful back then, this guy had the original window sticker, manuals, etc. and the price in 1976 was $4,335. Even though I am only 24, I realized this was probably not cheap back then and my suspicion was confirmed when I ran the inflation calculator and came up with a 2008 equivalent price of over $16,000!
Just think what $16k can get you these days, hell even $4,335 on the used market can get you something pretty sweet, and to make things worse this example I saw had no radio, no A/C, no tach, pretty much nothing except for a heater and some miserable perches (stuffed with horse hair I'm sure, like our Westfalia camper van). This one did have an automatic, which they charged $250 extra for and then VW had the audacity to charge $50 for "leatherette" (nasty, thin, sticky vinyl) upholstery.
I'm sure it was not a bad arrangement when new in '76, but I am so happy for the marvelous evolution of automobiles since then!
Note: A Comments RSS Feed is available. New comments appear in the Members Area before the main site