off road rallying of VW rabbit?

[zyewdall]

So, I'm used to driving an old subaru wagon -- often on dirt roads, since I go camping and mountain climbing alot, and alot of my friends live up two track dirt roads.  Since the VW isn't 4wd and doesn't have low range, I'm obviously going to keep off the jeep trails.  And since my oil pan is right down there too   :shock:

But, I was wondering if anyone rallies VW's, and how the front suspension holds up to hitting bumps, etc.  I know someone on here has the picture of jumping the rabbit from the snowbank.  I was looking at the struts, tie rods, etc, and it seems to be less sustantially built than my subaru, which is about the same size/weight car otherwise.  Am I going to break my wheels off?  I've only damaged the subaru once, when I hit a basketball sized rock that was under a foot of snow :roll:   So relatively speaking to many subaru people, I'm pretty sane.

This occured to me yesterday when I was going at 30mph up a steep driveway that had been plowed, but was mostly covered with glazed ice with some flowing water on top, and if I'd slowed down, I would have lost my momentum and not made it to the top.

[Dr. Diesel]

how about a diesel converted suzuki sidekick?

[hillfolk'r]

you can lift thema few inches with coils from a later model,,they do pretty good off road,,yea that pan is out there,,but it will take a little,dont try to kill it,,,,they do make a pan guard,,,,big$$,,make yer own,,i had a lifted rabbit  truck for a while,and i ran 195-70 14  sears truck tires on 91 jetta steel wheels,,,,it was fun,,askrabbittree,went to the gravel pit a few times,,hillclimbin+stuff ,,trails it was fun,,,,they work pretty good,with the tires and lift i bet i gained 4 inches up front,,,,gotta use a hammer for minor fender clearance,,it was butch but fun truck,,,,

[bhtooefr]

But, I was wondering if anyone rallies VW's, and how the front suspension holds up to hitting bumps, etc.  I know someone on here has the picture of jumping the rabbit from the snowbank.

Umm... you have heard of RallyVW, haven't you? (Although, they're doing a Mk4 Golf. But, it's at least a Golf TDI!)

Anyway, it's a full set of videos, actually. Look for "VW Rabbit Durability Test" on Google Video for the first one.

Also, google for "vw rabbit rally". That'll go a LONG way.

[Golf_GTDI]

Actually early VWs are very very popular in the 2wd classes. Many of the very fast guys cut their teeth in Rabbits and rumor has it that Jon Hamilton of RallyVW started out in a Rabbit as well.

So in short, yes. You can rally the stink out of one.