I remember them as being crude and rattly, with cheap plastic interiors. Parts like heater controls and knobs would become brittle after several years. Early VW diesels also had a reputation for head gasket problems. As for AC, beware the early dealer/POE-installed units, as the brackets were always breaking due to engine vibration.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

Figured Dan would have chimed it by now......

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

My brother's a Rabbit expert. He rebuilt his engine and lots of other stuff. Email me directly if you need his info. Put this close together .... jeffbach 36 @ hotmail.com, then email me. No spaces.

I told him to sell his. It might give 49 mpg, but if you have a wreck, you won't have any legs left, either. He said he just uses it for around town, not hwy driving anymore.

Audi, BMW, VW all made diesels. I heard the Volvo diesels were trouble. Loud, smoky things, and of course the American made diesels were total crap.

jeff 1991 300d, 108k

Although it was rare didn't Audi make the 4000 and 5000 a diesel in the early 80's? This way you could have an expensive plastic diesel.
Actually I liked the Audi's but I still don't think they are at the same level as MB, plus they are front wheel drive.

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Currently driving a very clean 1985 300SD from the West Coast.

True , true

You got that right- I just stepped out of one....

Even the factory installed A/C bracket is a POS. It's a very heavy casting probably weighing 20 lbs. That's sounds OK but hang it in front of a buzzing rattling motor AND THEN mount the water pump behind it that you can only get to by removing this bracket (bolts shear all by themselves) or the blasted timing belt...I don't even use the A/C anymore- the car is too underpowered.

VW built this engine in about 2 months in response to the second oil crisis at the end of the 70's. They used the gasser block and added new pistons and rods and a different (alloy) head. They did a lot better job of adapting than GM did , but they still had some problems.

The car is kind of a torture chamber ( I am in it about 2 hours a day), but I'm only going to work , so why should I enjoy myself?

But, this car , in concept, has evolved into the very enjoyable sorts of small things you can get nowadays in Europe. We had a very nice ride a few months ago in Renault Clio 1.6d that got about 50 mpg and was perfectly fine- I'd take it over any of my Benzes if I could get one here.


Rick

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

Oh yes, the Audi diesels were similar. The Audi 4000 was actually a very decent car with the same engine mounted conventionally (not tranversely- ). The Audi 5000 had a 5 clyinder mounted transversly. The Volvo diesel used a 6 cylinder version from a VW minibus. They have real problems keeping the heads on the 5 and 6 cyl versions from warping. Also, changing the timing belt on the Volvo is a treat because it's back against the firewall....run away.

Rick

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

My bro in law was a sucker for buying some of the worst cars ever made;...after the triumph TR7 burned up in an electrical fire he decided to buy 'German quality' next time.
The VW diesel p.u. with 54,000 puked it's guts out on a Nissan dealership parking lot. He felt so bad for the mess it made, he bought a new King cab pick-up without even dickering over price.
They gave him $50. trade in for the VW. They were being nice.

He was so happy he never had to mess with that vw pos again; he felt like he had been cured of cancer or just let out of prison.

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"Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration...
don't Fail Us Now"

In 1980, I'd been working full-time for a couple of years, so naturally I thought it was time to get my first NEW car. The early Rabbit diesels had been advertised at $4995. But I wanted AC, which was often the deal-killer in the '80s as it was usually not offered on the base model or sold only with a pricey option-pack. To get AC, that VW was going to wind up at over $7000!
So I decided to keep my 9 year old Audi going as my winter-car, bought an air-conditioned '66 Mercedes 230 Fintail for $1000, and dodged the VW diesel bullet!

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

Mark-

I had a similar choice in 1980. I was getting out of grad school and had just landed my first real job. At that point in the summer of '80, there were waiting lists for small cheap cars (at full or plussed up sticker price to boot). I ended up with an '80 Toyota Tercel as my first new car. It was much nicer IMO, but only got about 30 mpg. No air- but I was going to upstate NY anyway.

The finback was a good choice

Rick

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

My other new-car choice back then was a base-model 2-door Toyota Corolla, but the dealer insisted that AC was only availible with the 'deluxe' trim package, which added over $1000 to the cost, BEFORE the price of the AC was factored in!
Before the decade was over, I was twice more tempted by the new-car bug. In '86 my '71 Audi wgon broke a rear spring, so I went to look at new Toyota pickups.
But that $5995 base-line Toyota, without even a rear bumper, didn't include the additional dealer profit adjustment of $1000. Of course if I wanted an $11,000 fully loaded 4WD Toyota pickup, the ADP was only $500! I decided I would spend the extra $1000 on my old Audi before I gave it to a new-car dealer!

In '87, I was tempted by the new $5995 VW FOX, but the nifty 2-door Fox wagon was ony availible in the upmarket 'L' trim-line, which added $1500, not including AC! So I kept my aging Audi going a few more years until I couldn't get parts anymore, then replaced it with a 3-year old Isuzu LS Pickup, which I still have today. And swore off buying a new car ever!

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

yeah, didn't you just love those trim packages, undercoating and floor mat options back then on Toyotas?

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

Not just on Toyotas. And remember voluntary import quotas. And additional dealer profit- ADP, also called aftermarket price adjustment.

Then the years passed and prices increased, and many new cars became downright ugly. Today, there are only a handfull of new cars that might interest me - in a few years when they become used cars!

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

I had the last year of the Mk II boxy Jetta - a good car around town but underpowered for the highway and noisy as hell.

Easy to work on but it seemed to eat a ton of spare parts - cooling system, AC hoses, alternator, etc.

Recaro seats were standard on that model year - more comfortable than the 300sd!

But I hear parts are hard to find in the US - still lots available up here in the frozen north as we cheap Canadians bought lots of those old VW diesels.