Any VW Gurus?

RenegadeStang

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2006
Location
Statesboro, GA
The wife is looking at getting an '80's Cabriolet for a "fun car". Anything to look out for on these? Years to look for and stay away from?
 
had a buddy who owned several of them. seemed to be pretty dependable cars. I was always helpin him work on his 87 bronco, but never turned any screws on any of his VWs. The only V-dub advice i have is stay away from the new crap. i owned an 01 jetta and think is the worst car ive ever owned.
 
If the fuel injection is in good working order, you're golden. That's 80% of their major "look-out" issues right there. When it works, it's wonderful, and can continue to work for hundereds of thousands of miles. When it doesn't work, it's a bear. Don't be too afraid of a non-start issue, it's probably a fuel pump or pump relay. Wiring can be an issue, but if you're persistant, you can work that out, too. Find you one in good shape, and get the Bentley manual for it. You can figure out anything beyond that. They're fairly simple overall, but folks are scared of "German Engineering." It's just a different mindset you have to get in.
 
I've got an 81 diesel Rabbit for my DD and love it!!!! (the cabriolets are just convertible rabbits/golfs) I'd recommend checking out VWVortex.com for water cooled advice...I've been building & driving the old aircooled stuff for years, but this rabbit is my first watercooler...and the diesel is great & simple, (and you can't beat 49 mpg!) but they never made a factory diesel convertible...I've thought about getting a mkI cabrio body and putting a diesel in it for fun, since it's pretty much a bolt in swap...
but I'd say stay with the early body style, it continued up through the 80s and into the early 90s...of course, the newer you go, the more plastic & electronic crap to deal with...
I see them on Craigslist for cheap all the time...
good luck!
 
I'll also suggest thesamba.com More of an aircooled site but they do have sections for the water cooled stuff. Big classified section on both thesamba and vwvortex.
 
If we catch you driving that Chick car Cabriolet, we can't be responsible for whoopin you and and painting a rainbow triangle on your forehead. that is all.
 
I've had experience with them, funny story actually about me and those cars. My first live-in g/f (circa 1992) had an 85 dark blue one I'd bought, my next live in g/f(1993-1996) got a dark blue 87' from me, my now last live in g/f (now wife)(1997-current) got a dark blue 90' from me. This wasn't planned but was funny as hell to me that they all got the same color, same type car. These were all the Rabbit type body style, other than the top leaking at the windsheild post in a hard down pour, they were pretty damn good cars. I wouldn't buy an auto, those trannys were junk, the 5 speeds need to have any fluid leaks fixed or monitored because differential will fall apart in them when run dry. But, they really were good cars. I bought my wife a 95' Cabrio a few years back to drive for the summer, she loved it and we never had any problems with it (drove it about 20k miles and sold it with about 100k on it). I personally liked the Cabrio better, but I did take the 87' my one g/f had and put a 16v motor and tranny in it, pretty fun to drive if you could get passed all your guy friends calling you queer. I'd buy another one in a second.
 
mbalbritton said:
If we catch you driving that Chick car Cabriolet, we can't be responsible for whoopin you and and painting a rainbow triangle on your forehead. that is all.
Click to expand...
hey as long as there's a female in the car to verify your masculinity, it's ok to drive one, right???
 
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