Daily Driver MK1 cabbys

[fahrvergnugen657]

i'm currently in the process of buying/finding a MK1 cabby, and it would be my daily. my commute to work is around 8 miles round trip, and i don't go anywhere else, all within a 10 miles radius of my house... my boyfriend's got me convinced that this thing will break all the time. can anyone speak for this? i'm dying to own one, and i'm completely OK with putting money into it as needed but i don't want it to be broken all the time. anyone daily their MK1 cab?

[BerryB]

this photo will explain everything.



these will be your new best friend;

http://www.cabbyinfo.com

http://www.cabby-info.com

You can save a lot of money by doing the work yourself too.

I commute about as much as you, I seriously dont even need a car.
Now go buy a cabby, its the best car i've ever purchased. Don't think of the broken things making the car a piece of ****. Think of them as adding personality.

[fahrvergnugen657]

hahaha i love the picture. and i've been trolling those sites hard, they're awesome! and yes, i just need to find the perfect one. i have a small amount of money saved up and i need to use some of it on tax/registration and then parts she may need.

[s2kvondeutschland]

I daily drive a ghetto-rigged G60 swapped '86, and typically the only parts that break are things that I've messed with.

Aside from that, my car has 400.000kms on it, and I've had to replace a fuel pump fuse, fuel pump relay, and just now the fuel pumps went out on me. I can't get mad, they've done their time on the road.

I say go for it. If it's not leaking/burning oil and it drives fine with no apparent issues (hesitation, bucking, etc.) you should be alright. They'll all need a little work to be 100%, and I would recommend a full tune-up on any new-to-you-car, but you'll be fine.

Come join us!

[CajunSpike]

I drive my 91 Etienne about 30 miles round trip daily..couple hundred miles every week.

The car had 101k on it when I got it. Now has 133k.

It burns or leaks some oil so I have to keep it filled, but other than that, I keep the air in the tires, keep the antifreeze level up and drive the heck out of it.

Once the intial 'get it running' was done, haven't had to do much of anything to it except change the front axle bearings...

I'm averaging 25mpg in town...can't argue with that.

[sehr_schnell]

trust me, my boyfriend won't let me buy anything that burns oil or anything crazy. I've found a few potential cars, just gotta nut up and go for it. it will also be my first manual so im a bit nervous!


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[sehr_schnell]

Cajun your etienne is beautiful ! wasn't red the rarest color?


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[They_Call_Me_Bob]

I DD mine in the non winter months. Just give the car a good visual inspection often, keep the oil full and clean, and the seals conditioned and the car will serve you well. Best part of these cars is the inexpensive parts and ease by which most of them can be replaced. Not to mention the sage advice and wisdom of many of the members in this forum. When you run into a problem with your car, there's always someone on here to help.

[KYDUBBER]

Mine is a daily. 86 8v. 20miles a day great on gas



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[CajunSpike]

Cajun your etienne is beautiful ! wasn't red the rarest color?

Why thank you...I kinda like it myself. Will say took some work to get it that way, including being rear ended(thats a whole nother story).

Its my understanding, there were about 800 Red Etiennes built..of which 399 came to the U.S.
Yes that was the lowest number produced of the Etiennes.

I actually have two red ones....that pic is mine. The other one is driven by another member of the family. My car has a black top, the other has a burgundy top. The second car came with 189k miles on the odometer, but I was told the engine was replaced...and I believe it.


Since we're on that subject...lets see if we can figure out where the motor came from.

It has two major differences from the other cabbies I have.

1)The dipstick is a slim round metal rod rather than a flat rod like the other cabbies. Almost
like a coat hanger wire.
2)The oilpan has a 5mm hole you insert a tool in to remove the oil drain..instead of the typical 17mm nut..and the drain hole faces to the front of the car instead of the rear like the other cabbies.

Given these hints..anybody have a clue where the motor came from?

[SK VeeDubR]

I DD mine, our summers can reach into the 90's (Fahrenheit), and our winters into the -30's. Aside from basic maintenance line oil and filter changes, tune ups etc, my MK1s have been the absolute most reliable, cost-effective vehicles I have ever owned. That being said, it is also more common than not to find one nowadays that has not been maintained and therefore can be quite a headache to those not mechanically inclined.

All the best in your search!

[fahrvergnugen657]

i'm reading so many great things on here i cannot wait to get my hands on one. my boyfriend is just spoiled by his DD! he puts 100+ miles on it 5 days a week for work.



and this is what i drive now:

[kamzcab86]

1)The dipstick is a slim round metal rod rather than a flat rod like the other cabbies. Almost
like a coat hanger wire.

All Cabs (and water-pumper VWs for that matter) came with that type of dipstick through about the '87 model year.

As for the engine itself, look for the engine code and/or VW part numbers. That'll tell you for sure what it is.

i'm reading so many great things on here i cannot wait to get my hands on one.

A) Learn to drive a manual before buying. Also, these cars do come with automatics, so it's not like you have to have a manual.

B) If this Cabriolet is going to be replacing that Passat, be sure to wash the salt off it in the winter... regularly. Rust is not kind to these cars.

C) If you want this car to be a daily driver out of the box with few (notice I said "few" not "no") problems, be sure to get a thorough pre-buy inspection done at a VW specialty shop and buy one that has all maintenance/repair records.

Plenty of these cars are doing daily-driving duties, but these cars aren't brand new with a warranty. They are well over 20 years old now... stuff wears out. No matter the mileage, you WILL be working on it at some point.

[KYDUBBER]

All Cabs (and water-pumper VWs for that matter) came with that type of dipstick through about the '87 model year.

As for the engine itself, look for the engine code and/or VW part numbers. That'll tell you for sure what it is.



A) Learn to drive a manual before buying. Also, these cars do come with automatics, so it's not like you have to have a manual.

B) If this Cabriolet is going to be replacing that Passat, be sure to wash the salt off it in the winter... regularly. Rust is not kind to these cars.

C) If you want this car to be a daily driver out of the box with few (notice I said "few" not "no") problems, be sure to get a thorough pre-buy inspection done at a VW specialty shop and buy one that has all maintenance/repair records.

Plenty of these cars are doing daily-driving duties, but these cars aren't brand new with a warranty. They are well over 20 years old now... stuff wears out. No matter the mileage, you WILL be working on it at some point.

Well said!

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[fahrvergnugen657]

why? i don't want an automatic, seems like a waste to buy one. i've been driving my boyfriend's manual E30 some and I also race dirtbikes so i know how to use a clutch. i'm just buying my first manual car.

[87CabrioSK]

I daily mine as well. She has roughly 80,000 miles on her, sat for 5 years in a back yard before I bought it. Cosmetically needed work (new top, body work), mechanically it is excellent and I've maybe spent $1000 on it in 3 years (not including new tires). 90% of the work I've done I was able to do myself so very little labour cost. It is the 2nd VW I've owned.
Paid $500 for the car.
One thing that is very enjoyable is heading out to wrecking yards and pulling needed parts from other Mk1s (ie. Seats, wheels, steering wheel, door handles, door cards, oem tape deck etc, I pulled from Sciroccos and Rabbit/Jetta)

[kamzcab86]

why? i don't want an automatic, seems like a waste to buy one. i've been driving my boyfriend's manual E30 some and I also race dirtbikes so i know how to use a clutch. i'm just buying my first manual car.

Didn't mean to offend. ^That wasn't made clear; it sounded like you were buying your first manual and were not familiar with manual driving. The manual versions of these cars are easy to drive; if you can drive an E30 you shouldn't be scared/nervous about an old VW.

I said what I did because I know of many folks who bought their dream car, it being their first manual. For whatever reason, they couldn't tackle driving a stick-shift and had to sell the car (not to mention not being able to do a test-drive). That's why I always advise people to learn before you buy.

[strat62plyr]

My Daily 85, 1.8, 5 speed, 50 miles round trip daily to town and back. Too much fun!!

[fahrvergnugen657]

Didn't mean to offend. ^That wasn't made clear; it sounded like you were buying your first manual and were not familiar with manual driving. The manual versions of these cars are easy to drive; if you can drive an E30 you shouldn't be scared/nervous about an old VW.

I said what I did because I know of many folks who bought their dream car, it being their first manual. For whatever reason, they couldn't tackle driving a stick-shift and had to sell the car (not to mention not being able to do a test-drive). That's why I always advise people to learn before you buy.

haha i know i didn't, im sorry. it sounds pretty dumb, but mostly im scared of rolling into someone at a light or something. my boyfriend had never driven a manual before and bought his brand new jetta tdi cup manual and drove it away into a city traffic. i'd be having a meltdown for sure.

[fahrvergnugen657]

My Daily 85, 1.8, 5 speed, 50 miles round trip daily to town and back. Too much fun!!

beautiful car, love the scenery

[strat62plyr]

Thank you.

[boris velez]

My DD. No problems at all. I use this the the whole year

[stronglikebull]

I DD mine in the non winter months. Just give the car a good visual inspection often, keep the oil full and clean, and the seals conditioned and the car will serve you well. Best part of these cars is the inexpensive parts and ease by which most of them can be replaced. Not to mention the sage advice and wisdom of many of the members in this forum. When you run into a problem with your car, there's always someone on here to help.

i can tell you that the "sage advice" of this forum is one of the few reasons that we haven't sold ours and are still trying to get it working correctly. this forum rocks the other reasons have been pointed out. fairly cheap replacment parts and the ability to diy.

[stronglikebull]

Why thank you...I kinda like it myself. Will say took some work to get it that way, including being rear ended(thats a whole nother story).

Its my understanding, there were about 800 Red Etiennes built..of which 399 came to the U.S.
Yes that was the lowest number produced of the Etiennes.

I actually have two red ones....that pic is mine. The other one is driven by another member of the family. My car has a black top, the other has a burgundy top. The second car came with 189k miles on the odometer, but I was told the engine was replaced...and I believe it.


Since we're on that subject...lets see if we can figure out where the motor came from.

It has two major differences from the other cabbies I have.

1)The dipstick is a slim round metal rod rather than a flat rod like the other cabbies. Almost
like a coat hanger wire.
2)The oilpan has a 5mm hole you insert a tool in to remove the oil drain..instead of the typical 17mm nut..and the drain hole faces to the front of the car instead of the rear like the other cabbies.

Given these hints..anybody have a clue where the motor came from?

ooh, ooh, maybe i can finally answer a question for the wise cajun. if you look under the back/rear bottom of the engine, you can at least see what the code of the bottom half of the engine is, and maybe the whole engine is that code. our engine was replaced with an rv code engine (most likely jetta). once you know the code, you may be able to research the model/years that engine was put in. if you get the code, put it up on the forum and i'll see if i can get more info...

[texas t]

Nice looking Cabby. Where did you get the fresh-looking chrome inserts in the windshield seal? (I need the same for my '80 Rabbit converttible. -- I'm replacing the windshield after painting. I have a new rubber seal with the groove for the chrome insert in it.)

[kamzcab86]

ooh, ooh, maybe i can finally answer a question for the wise cajun.

Already pointed out earlier:

All Cabs (and water-pumper VWs for that matter) came with that type of dipstick through about the '87 model year.

As for the engine itself, look for the engine code and/or VW part numbers. That'll tell you for sure what it is.

Where did you get the fresh-looking chrome inserts in the windshield seal?

Part #255853305. Go to your local VW dealer, or search online.

[Sean A]

Holy ****...I have my GAP sticker in the same spot haha. And it seemed to be the same with mine. Took a lot of transmission / engine "tuning up" per say, axle replacement and other odds and ends but it now that its running strong no other problems have risen.

[CajunSpike]

Holy ****...I have my GAP sticker in the same spot haha. And it seemed to be the same with mine. Took a lot of transmission / engine "tuning up" per say, axle replacement and other odds and ends but it now that its running strong no other problems have risen.

It just seemed the right place to put that sticker...fits perfect there. I've bought enough from them that every one of my cabbies has a sticker there..as well as the cabrio in the garage.

I had to laugh the other day. I walked out the house and jumped in the red cabby to go to work....was not until the key wouldn't start the car that it dawned on me...I was in the wrong red cabby....

I subscribe to the 'enhanced stock' theory. I will change minor stuff around so long as the parts I'm putting on are original vw parts in the first place. Thats how I got the chrome side molding the door handles. That photo of my car single is when I had the rims off the 92 carat on it. The original castellets are back on it now.

I'll see if I can find the head and block numbers...ty all.

[tinygiant]

my cabby is in my sig. (it happens to be the one in that meme )

to get an idea i bought the cabby in april for $1000

there is quite the list of things i've done to do it. all in all its still crazy cheaper than making payments on the 2008 yaris I sold just before buying this car. The gas mileage seems to be about the same too.. 23 years old and still a mpg contender.. makes you think...


parts for the mk1 are super cheap. I really enjoy working on mine. Its been a great way to learn about cars. That being said i hate when i cant drive it lol.


when i look on craigslist at cars i usually seek out other mk1 vws. i really love the look of the older vws.


I daily mine. drive it on average about 1-1.5 hours a day maybe? I'm not going to say wether its currently in good working order or not.. as soon as i say it all good something goes wrong..

i think reliability is directly related to how confident your car will run

[shortwave360]

The Cabby I take care of is my GF's. She drives it around 200 miles a week. The clock is at 130xxx and I am working on it regularly fixing small things myself. It's a 20 year old car that is going to have a problem often. If your'e not fixing problems regularly you probably missing something that is wrong!

In the year that it's been in her car it needed a new axle, wheel bearing, starter and a major refresh on tune up items totaling around $500 + cost of Bentley manual. We did the whole convertible top as well because the white vinyl was tattered to bits and leaked.

I just want you to be prepared to DIY or sink a lot of money into labor fixing all the small things that seemingly go wrong in a constant chain reaction. MK1s are easy as pie to work on and have an amazing support community, but owning one is like an ongoing rolling restoration project as people have said.

GL!

[tinygiant]

My Daily 85, 1.8, 5 speed, 50 miles round trip daily to town and back. Too much fun!!

my grandparents live in moab..

2nd person i've ever heard that lives there.. randomly the other day in a thrift store i saw a t-shirt for moab utah. We visited in 92 and i loved the dry heat. being 12yo at the time catching lizards all day may it pretty fun too.

[CorradoCabCC]

I just bought an Etienne Aigner for my fiancee this past Friday. She owns a 96 Chevy Blazer, and I told her if she wants a future with me, she needs a VW. But seriously, we needed to get rid of it because it is a gas guzzler. Anyway, the Cabby will eventually be here DD. I've been told the 1.8 is a workhorse. It has 200,000+ miles on the odo, and it sat in the seller's driveway for a year. And it still started up. Amazing!

I already started on my to-do list. It needs a lot of work, but overall, it's in great shape:


So, I say go for it. I'll probably have less problems with this than my Corrado or W8.

[strat62plyr]

my grandparents live in moab..

2nd person i've ever heard that lives there.. randomly the other day in a thrift store i saw a t-shirt for moab utah. We visited in 92 and i loved the dry heat. being 12yo at the time catching lizards all day may it pretty fun too.

Very nice, I am a grandparent also living in Moab I probably know them as I have been here a while

[DubsesdA3]

I drove mine daily for over a year, over 25 miles a day. I had my fair share of problems, but nothing I couldn't handle. I loved the car, but everything just started going at the same time. I had two cars, and major hospital bills so I had to sell it. I don't regret selling it, as the new owner was super excited about it and has 24/7 access to a repair facility. Plus he knew what he was getting when he got receipts for the likes of $1600 in maintenance parts.

[tinygiant]

Very nice, I am a grandparent also living in Moab I probably know them as I have been here a while

lorimer and Laura Senter are their names