Toyota corolla vs Golf(rabbit)

Back for a third bout.. the car that knocked out the fiat 128 and squeaked by the Fiesta... the rear wheel drive wonder from the Land of the Rising Sun..

The Toyota Corolla

Versus:

The hatch that put the word "hot" in front of it.. the Volkswagen Rabbit/Golf Mk 1.

Featuring engines ranging from a 1.1 to a hot 1.8 and including a 1.6 diesel, the Rabbit/Golf emerged in 1974 to eventually replace the evergreen Beetle. What was once a company stuck in the 40s making ancient looking and running cars had suddenly jumped to cutting edge with a sharp creased hatchback (3 or 5 door) designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro. Of course the top model, the GTI, redefined how we saw hatchbacks.. and even today, those three letters mean something special..

FIGHT!

RWD trumps all. Sorry.

GTi. I love hot hatches and that was the grand daddy of them all. With the Mini Cooper being the start.

Can we at least pick cars that share a driveline type (fwd,rwd,awd,4wd,middy)...

Rolla. It's the rear wheel drive for me.

Corolla, but would be a tough choice. Always liked the Mk1 Golfs.

GTI

Show me one powerful, sporty Corolla in RWD available in the US. I'll pass on the Geo Metro clone and stick to a real driver's car, the GTI.

GTI

GTI, GTI, GTI, GTI!!!!!!!

yeah, Rabbit love here. GTI!!

+1 for the GTI

The car that invented the hot hatch vs. a pedestrian 70s Japanese econocar? Please.... GTI all the way!

GIT all the way! They were/are very fun to drive! Jetta GLI's just as fun by the way, and some say better balanced.

Sorry, gotta give the same answer I gave in the Fiesta battle, for the same reason. Stock vs stock I would pick the GTi, but with mods I would pick the Corolla. Neither one has enough power for RWD to be an advantage until you start making major changes.

Corolla for sure!

Having some experience with a free Rabbit Diesel with a manual... GTI no question.

I was a factory VW tech back when the Rabbit/Dasher/Scirroco were introduced. The early 1.6 with Solex is a total POS - period.

The first CIS cars are VERY nice, and very competent, except they were a bit under powered. In 78, came the 1.5 liter Scirroco (wht and blk color scheme), that was VERY nice... and the engine is wonderful

The GTI was a great car... I remember working @ a VW dealer in central NJ... near McGuire AFB... we were selling GTIs to servicemen who were bringing them overseas!!! Those cars were retrofitted with straight pipe instead of cat.....

As nice as the GTI is... it is ONLY one model of Rabbit... and if compared to a Corolla GT-S (one model of a Corolla) it loses....

Read Feb 1985 R&T..... that is all the Corolla needs.....

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j143/oldeskewltoy/AE86%20need%20to%20know/1985RTpg2.jpg http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j143/oldeskewltoy/AE86%20need%20to%20know/1985RTpg3.jpg http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j143/oldeskewltoy/AE86%20need%20to%20know/1985RTpg4.jpg http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j143/oldeskewltoy/AE86%20need%20to%20know/1985RTpg5.jpg http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j143/oldeskewltoy/AE86%20need%20to%20know/1985RTpg6.jpg http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j143/oldeskewltoy/AE86%20need%20to%20know/1985RTpg7.jpg http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j143/oldeskewltoy/AE86%20need%20to%20know/1985RTpg8.jpg

Much closer this time... but Corolla wins again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zcm4oS9IaM

Hatch back for the KILL

GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTIGTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTIGTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTIGTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTIGTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTIGTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI GTI

GRM, i am disappoint.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: GRM, i am disappoint.

Why? There is a reason that the rabbit and GTI variant were received with such enthusiasm when introduced, and almost every manufacturer rushed to copy them. They were well built fun to drive cars when folks were tired of driving american barges or, lets face it. underpowered japanese miniature copies of american cars that rusted like italian cars.

In its stock form an early corolla is pretty lame. Even the 1.5 diesel rabbit would out accelerate and out handle it. Once modified the corolla wins hands down though.

I do shop for TE27's daily.

I owned a manual '79 Rabbit for one winter. Absolutely the worst car ownership experience so far. I've never owned an old Corolla but there is no way they could be built worse than the Rabbit. +1 for Corolla, way cooler, better looking, rare car.

Corolla.... though it's a lot closer than any of the previous battles.

ditchdigger wrote: In its stock form an early corolla is pretty lame. Even the 1.5 diesel rabbit would out accelerate and out handle it. Once modified the corolla wins hands down though.

What?! No! I love the Rabbits and have owned both early Rabbits and early Corollas, but the diesel Rabbit was the slowest thing since cold molasses. We're talking over 20 seconds to 60 for the naturally aspirated diesel rabbit and still almost 18 seconds to 60 for the turbo! The base Corollas were closer to 16 seconds. The non-turbo diesel Rabbit was the only car I've ever driven that felt dangerously slow even when in good repair.

dculberson wrote: Sorry, gotta give the same answer I gave in the Fiesta battle, for the same reason. Stock vs stock I would pick the GTi, but with mods I would pick the Corolla. Neither one has enough power for RWD to be an advantage until you start making major changes.

This.