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General Information => Upgrades (non engine related ) => Topic started by: superman293 on October 14, 2006, 11:40:38 am

Title: MPG's, caddy VS rabbit
Post by: superman293 on October 14, 2006, 11:40:38 am

Im in the market to buy a rabbit, im looking at years 80-82(I want to use historic tags) It would be nice to have a Rabit truck(caddy) but  I will be putting alot of miles on it and Im concered about the loss in MPGs. Can anyone tell me how many MPG's I would be loseing  if I were to purchase a rabbit(4door) VS the caddy pickup?
thanks very much

Title: MPG's, caddy VS rabbit
Post by: tadleyjane on October 16, 2006, 07:48:42 am

I have a 1981 Caddy, working on improving the airflow-just a front airdam so far- and I am consistently getting 42-44mpg driving 25%town and 75% highway(at 70mph) every week driving a total of 550miles/week.  I have the 1.6na and a 5spd slinging an a/c pulley.  Best of luck with your decision-caddy's are hard to find but are available.  Tad

Title: MPG's, caddy VS rabbit
Post by: Justin on October 16, 2006, 01:15:59 pm

everyone says that the drag is greater with the caddy but with the same engine I was able to achieve up to 51mpg, and in a 4 door 84 rabbit I cannot get over 46, ussually 42, but the caddy was consistently above 44 mpg (probably the bearings and or alignment

Title: MPG's, caddy VS rabbit
Post by: burn_your_money on October 16, 2006, 02:17:11 pm

Get rid of that AC for starters.

What tranny do you have?

Title: MPG's, caddy VS rabbit
Post by: Justin on October 16, 2006, 06:28:12 pm

the 84 4 door isnt ac, and does not have power steering. I ran the same tranny in both, it was an ff 5 speed. now I run the 4a 4 speed since the 4th gear and final drive is a little better than my ff plus a limited slip

Title: MPG's, caddy VS rabbit
Post by: derek510galaxy on October 17, 2006, 09:52:54 am

Superman, I don't think the Caddy is the aerodynamic dog, actually it's probably more the other way around. Rabbits have a pretty horrific drag coefficient with such a vertical windscreen and truncated tail, as well as other problems. In actuality, pickup trucks in general ( without bed caps ) with flat bed tonneaus and a small horizontal tailgate spoiler ( like the plastic tailgate extension on Chevy trucks ) conform to the preferred 15 degree departure angle from the back of the cab to the top of the tailgate. Make sure you use a decent front spoiler. You want to shear off the air going under the truck, not to let it "see" all the junk underneath like control arms and such.

Title: MPG's, caddy VS rabbit
Post by: sprstu on December 05, 2006, 09:13:03 pm

i wonder how much, if any, the weight difference makes. the caddy i would assume to be lighter, helping get the better mileage.