Not to be biased or anything, because I work for Volkswagen, but of course I would recommend the Rabbit. Unfortunately VW of America only offers the 2.5L V5 engine, which has the power of a V6 and the fuel efficiency of a V4, yet is still a rather big engine for a hatchback, I would rather have the 2.0L turbo, or ideally the turbo diesel (only in the Jetta for the US at this time). But also note that VWs are heavy cars, we don't skimp on material. One of my jobs was testing spot welding in A-pillars. On a VW (I tested the Eos) there are 6 different layers + metallic foam. The layers are steel alloy, aluminum alloy, some secret alloy, honeycomb composite, some polymer, and another steel alloy. Extremely heavy but extremely strong. The A-pillars in Japanese cars will typically have 3 layers, and American will have 1 or 2 layers. When you buy a VW, you pay for quality and science.
Oh, but don't get a Rabbit, if you can, fork up the extra dough for a GTI, that's a REAL car. You can get the DSG transmission (Doppelkupplungsgetriebe), which I helped design the oil for
, which is the fastest and smoothest shifting transmission ever sold commercially, by means of a double-clutch system.
All Rabbits and GTIs are now only made at the Wolfsburg plant, so rest assured that it'll be top quality compared to Golfs sold in the past that for the US were made in the US.
