When Volkswagen launched its second water-cooled mannequin for North America as a 1975 mannequin (the primary was the 1974 Dasher), it was badged because the Rabbit as a substitute of getting rest-of-the-world Golf badging. The Rabbit title caught round right here by way of 1984, after which the Golf designation took over in North America. Then, apparently to please nostalgia-prone American VW lovers, the Rabbit title returned for the late 2006 mannequin yr. Here is a kind of second-time-around Rabbits, present in a Colorado self-service boneyard just lately.
The Rabbit badges stayed on U.S.- and Canadian-market vehicles till the Mk6 pushed apart the Mk5 for 2010. Then Volkswagen shoved the Rabbit title into the reminiscence gap, the place it has remained since that point.
The 2006-2009 Rabbit was pitched to hip North American city drivers and its brochure included useful guides to “the language of city driving” that included definitions for such phrases as Hurry Honker, Bumper Broadcasting and Spot Sloth. Intelligent!
It was accessible as a hatchback with two or 4 doorways. That is the previous, which had an MSRP of $15,600 (about $23,211 in 2024 {dollars}).
The engine is a 2.5-liter straight-five rated at 170 horsepower and 177 pound-feet. That is properly over twice the facility of its 1975 ancestor.
The bottom transmission was a five-speed guide, although this automotive has the much more well-liked six-speed computerized.
It seems pretty strong in and out, although there’s a little bit of rust-through.
It seems to have been turned in as a part of Colorado’s Automobile Change Program, open to pre-2012 autos that fail their emissions assessments.
It is again, and it is clogging the town.
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