VW's Rabbit Redux

It doesn't have the best fuel economy in its class, but the new Rabbit is a bargain-priced sporty German car

by Thane Peterson

Editor's Rating:

The Good: Sporty handling, cargo space, price

The Bad: Relatively poor fuel economy, quality doubts

The Bottom Line: A sporty German car at a bargain-basement price

Reader Reviews

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Up Front

"What's in a name?" The question was famously asked by Juliet of Romeo in the Shakespearean drama that bears their names. But it's relevant in a mundane way to our current subject, the new Volkswagen Rabbit. The Rabbit, which hit the market in June, is essentially the same as the redesigned Volkswagen Golf—except that it has a different name in North America.

The new name is a shameless attempt to use nostalgia to wring out some extra sales for the car. The VW Golf was sold under the Rabbit name from 1975 to 1985, and a lot of former owners have fond memories of VW's sprightly little bunny.

Me, for instance. My first new car ever was a 1980 Rabbit I bought off a Minneapolis car lot for about $7,500. It was a real revelation for someone who had been driving a Chevy. On dry pavement, it was quick and nimble, with tight, German-style handling that made it great fun to drive. My first front-wheel-drive car, it also did well in snow. And the hatchback and fold-down rear seats meant you could haul tons of cargo in the back, even though it was a tiny little economy car.

The pitch for buying a Rabbit today is essentially the same as it was back in 1980. It's still the cheapest car you can get with German-style feel and handling, and VW actually lowered the car's base price when it changed the model's name. (Confusingly, the 2006 Rabbit was only on the market for three months. It was replaced in late August by the nearly identical '07 version of the car. Meanwhile, dealers are still selling the last '06 Golfs out of their inventories.)

The Rabbit comes in two styles, a two-door or four-door hatchback. The two-door Rabbit with a manual transmission starts at $15,620, down from $16,660 for the most basic '06 Golf. The four-door Rabbit starts at $17,620. Add a little over $1,000 for an automatic transmission on either version.

VW hasn't cheapened the model's design, however. The Rabbit is slightly bigger and roomier than the previous version of the Golf, with a couple more inches of (badly needed) legroom in the back seat. The Rabbit's standard powerplant is also an inline, five-cylinder engine that delivers 150 horsepower. The bigger engine makes the Rabbit considerably feistier than the Golf, which had a smaller, 2-liter, 115 horsepower, four-cylinder engine.

The standard equipment on the Rabbit is impressive. It includes antilock brakes, traction control, cruise control, power doors and locks, heated outside mirrors, keyless entry, and side curtain airbags (an important safety innovation that all small cars should have). Heated seats and heatable windshield-washer nozzles—which keep the nozzles from freezing up in winter—are even standard on the four-door model.

Adding optional equipment is less expensive than on most German cars, too. The major ones include a power sunroof ($1,000), electronic stability control ($450), 16-inch alloy wheels ($400), satellite radio ($375), rear side airbags ($350) and tire-pressure monitors ($150).

Plus, there are numerous small touches in the Rabbit that set it apart from most econoboxes. For instance, turn-signal blinkers are integrated into the side mirrors, making them more visible during night driving. The rear hatch has a cool, disguised handle: You open it by pulling up on a big VW logo on the back door. And you can turn the electronic stability control on and off at the push of a button.

The Rabbit seems to be selling well so far. Golf sales were already booming when the new model hit the market: VW sold nearly 1,800 Golfs per month in the U.S. through May, up 50% from the same period in 2005. Sales of the Golf have trailed off as the Rabbit gradually replaces it, but combined sales of the two models in September were 2,836 (1,189 for the Golf and 1,647 for the Rabbit). So, it looks like the Rabbit will continue the Golf's upward sales trajectory.