Volkswagen Fox feedback....?

Any?

Isn't it pretty much a 5 banger Audi de-optioned and badged as a VW?

I recall my brother's looked like it came with a 2 inch lift kit pre-installed.

They were VW's Brazilian-built bargain basement model for many years (known as the "Gol" worldwide) and have virtually no sporting potential. Very loosely derived from the early Passat. Never had a five-cylinder, as far as I know, though I think people have put them in.

Low end Brazilian built car when new. Old enough now that the cars are "quaint" and "interesting". (Might be an exaggeration). Engines are pretty much standard VW items with the exception of exhaust and intake manifolds (and attaching hardware). Body and interior parts are Fox specific. Performance parts are probably non-existent at this point. 2 door wagons are cool...

Brett_Murphy wrote: Isn't it pretty much a 5 banger Audi de-optioned and badged as a VW? I recall my brother's looked like it came with a 2 inch lift kit pre-installed.

More like a 4 banger Audi/VW de-optioned love child. They're simple, not fast, don't handle too well, semi-comfortable, and nearly impossible to kill. Mine did the BABE rally with 300k miles, then competed in three demolition derbies before it threw a rod. I don't think I had checked the oil since New Orleans.

so as a commuter a decent one might be appropriate?

We have friends who race on in lemons. It has been horribly unreliable. They have now replaced as much as possible with alternate parts, as they are running into major parts supply issues with anything Fox specific. It is quite lightweight though.

stroker wrote: so as a commuter a decent one might be appropriate?

They're good basic transportation, and get good fuel mileage, so I'd say so. The one that I BABE'd and demo derbied was my mom's DD for 10 years or so. It would pretty easily get 40mpg on the highway back when it had 190k miles. I think I averaged about 33mpg on the BABE (at least 3/4 highway) when it had 300k miles.

Wow, those things had CHEAP interiors. After two years everything would break like potato chips. Not very good cars at all, to me their only saving grace was a north/south engine/transaxle which could be the basis for some cool mid motor stuff.

I had a friend who bought one new. It was possibly the most uncomfortable car that I've ever been in.

When I had my foxes about a decade ago there was no source for headlight switches. Every fox in any junkyard in a 200 mile radius was missing that switch. Whenever anyone mentioned the possibility of parting out a fox the first replies were always "dibs on the headlight switch"

I love the look of the Fox wagons, so I bought one. As a VW enthusiast who at that time had a few A1's, an A2 and had just traded the A3 in on an A4 I hated driving the fox, even after derestricting the exhaust. Just bleh. I sold my wagon with 402K miles and I STILL see it driving around town a decade later. I bet it is almost to past 600K by now.

Stock they're unremarkable.

But then you figure that the chassis is a 7/8th scale Coupe GT and a lot of the B2 chassis bits DO fit, sorta-kinda.

You can have a lot of fun with a Fox if you do some brand engineering. Drivetrain is essentially 4cyl FWD Audi 4000 with a restrictor in the exhaust manifold (really), stuff like that.

There are a lot of turbo Foxes in Ohio. Some 8v, some 20v.

My ex-girlfriends dad had a Wolfsburg Edition 4-Door. It lasted a long time before it rusted in half.

My good friend had a 2-Door GL(?) that was as "low rent" as you could get. He blew the trans out of stupidity.

I wouldn't consider the interior cheaper than other VWs of the era.

I was first on scene at a head-on collision that involved a VW Fox (I'm a first responder).

They are absolutely terrible in a crash and I can't drive that section of highway without picturing the 19-year-old girl who died it it.

Friend of mine was broadsided while driving one.. broke his hip.

I looked into getting one of the wagons when they were new, but the sedans were the only ones availible with a 5 speed. The wagons (which were cooler) only had a 4 speed manual

In reply to mad_machine:

A 5spd in a fox at all is a very rare thing. They all had four speeds until the last year or two (with the smoother headlights) the 5 was offered as an option.

Fox enthusiasts are the reason Audi 4000s transmissions are in short supply. It is the donor box to have to go closer ratio in a fox.