TheSamba.com :: View topic

Mon Jan 23, 2017 10:17 pm

I may be getting my hands on one of these soon.

Is there a specific forum that covers these? I tried pulling up vw vortex on my old iPad 1, but it crashed.

Kyle

Mon Jan 23, 2017 10:34 pm

If not there is now your post is at the top of the list. I used to drive one of those. Drove it years and years well over 100 thousand miles. Very fuel efficient Mine was a 1980 with the little gas engine. I think it was 1388cc or something the engine was transverse mounted. Got about 30-32 MPG. Would haul as much weight as I could put in it but the rear suspension would just bottom out and the head lights would point up in the sky.

Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:04 pm

itskyle wrote: Is there a specific forum that covers these? I tried pulling up vw vortex on my old iPad 1, but it crashed.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/forumdisplay.php?11

^That is the specific Vortex forum you want. Try a different device. I'm at VWvortex all the time; the only issue I have when using my laptop is their stupid newsletter pop-ups.

On Vortex, the truck is often referred to as Caddy... in case you wish to search for topics. There are multiple Caddy/truck topics on the first page, in fact. :wink:

Tue Jan 24, 2017 8:51 am

I have an 81 Caddy. It has a 1.7l gas engine with a manual 5 speed. It gets a high of 32 but normally it's 29-30mpg. It's a terrible pickup and a terrible car, but it's the best automobile I've ever owned.

It's extremely reliable because there is so little to go wrong. My only issues is that they should of had the space of a 2 door rabbit, they made it on the 4 door platform.

VW Vortex is a place to start.

Tue Jan 24, 2017 1:31 pm

My 1980 had electrical problems with not starting and I eventually changed the Fuse Block to fix that. But not till after with all the fiddling it blew the Engine control module a couple of times. The first time I took it to the dealer that charged me something like $250 for a new ECM. It lasted quite a while then blew again I found I could buy one and change it myself for $80. It turned out water was leaking down the radio antenna wire over to the Fuse block messing it up.
Other than CV Joints, Wheel Bearings, Shocks, the exhaust system, the water pump and the alternator brushes and overheating and needing the radiator flushed once the truck went close to 200 miles but rusted out.

Tue Jan 31, 2017 11:16 am

I have never seen a gas rabbit pickup! They were imported to Canada from the US for only '80 and'81. All were diesel to my knowledge, good for 400,000km easy. And 60 mpg to boot!
Sweet little units, ideal for the city dweller/handyman types but for some reason they didn't seem to catch on. Yes, like the Rabbits they rusted out quickly.

Argentina is absolutely crawling with them and it looks like right up to current models sharing the Gulf/Jetta chassis and sheet metal. I suspect they are made in Brazil.

Why do they get all the good stuff?

P.S. I have never heard them called Caddies up here!

Tue Jan 31, 2017 11:43 am

I worked for VW when the Antenna water to the fuse block problem was identified- we were informed of a VW recall to fix the problem--- :lol: :lol: The recall was a piece of dum-dum and an instruction sheet to show us how to apply the puddy to the antenna wire hole-- it was right in the splash pattern of the left front wheel---

Tue Jan 31, 2017 11:15 pm

My '76 Rabbit had that issue. The radios I believe were a dealer installed option and just had a tapered rubber plug on the antenna wire that just pushed into a hole the mechanic drilled. They always backed out and leaked!

Wed Feb 01, 2017 9:10 am

oprn wrote: P.S. I have never heard them called Caddies up here!

They term Caddy is a play on word Golf.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Caddy

Wed Feb 01, 2017 8:13 pm

Ah! I get it!

Sat Feb 04, 2017 9:28 am

I have had 4 Rabbit Trucks, Love'em !!

We use the Hell out of them on our property, the Blue one is the 1st Diesel, the wife wanted it for the yard, and our last one was rotted/dead, found this California transplant (no rust!!) w/ a new head here on The Samba, $4000.
We have 6 trucks in the yard, four are Vws.

Sun Feb 05, 2017 11:04 am

I had a 1981 1.7 gas, I beat that thing relentlessly & couldn't blow it up. Then I bought a totaled GTI & swapped the driveline, installed a header & a 50mm throttle body & pounded the dog snot out of that until I sold it. The only redline it had was when the valves floated around 9,300 RPM (the needle swept well into the fuel gauge)

Wed Feb 08, 2017 8:26 am

my very original 82 caddy

Wed Feb 08, 2017 1:55 pm

Butcher wrote: oprn wrote: P.S. I have never heard them called Caddies up here!

They term Caddy is a play on word Golf.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Caddy

Funny. I never thought about the relationship between golf and caddy for Golf and Caddy. However, that part is wrong.

The link is more useful. A caddy is something to store things in. In the UK, caddies for tea are very popular. VW called, and still calls, their "storage" vehicles the Caddy in the UK. Some are based on the Golf platform, but that hasn't always been the case. That name was also used in other parts of the world. Ironically, most are enclosed.

In true naming convention, the US version is not called a VW Rabbit Pickup. It is simply called the VW Pickup.

VW has done this with other models such as Dasher / Quantum / Passat, Rabbit / Golf, Jetta / Vento / Bora, Thing / Type 181 / Type 182 / Trekker / Safari, and so forth.

Caddy is simply the British term by VW for the Rabbit-based Pickup.

Mine was a diesel. It got great mileage but turning the a/c on had a 20% impact on average. Wish I still had it but life happens.

Mon Feb 20, 2017 8:18 am

http://www.vwcaddy.com is the site and this is my 1981 daily driver

Thu Feb 23, 2017 8:18 pm

Hey,

nice truck

Did you have the bed rhino-lined?

The one on mine is, but it looks like it is wearing out and needs to be zapped again.

Also, was wondering if it is a good idea to rhino line the underside?

Anybody done that to theirs?

Kyle

Fri Feb 24, 2017 3:39 am

Mine is done with a product called Line-X and it's great. I also put in a recycled rubber (cow mattress) from the farm store to help with the wear. It looks like new 3 years later.

Sat Feb 25, 2017 2:49 pm

Just happened across this thread and it certaibly brought back fond memories of our Rabbit Pickup.

We got it new in '81 - there was a waiting list for them because everybody wanted a small diesel due to a perceived gas crisis.

Could haul a lot of camping stuff but sometimes what you wanted was the first thing you had packed.

Toured all over the West in it for many years until we finally succumbed to Westy Envy.