The Volkswagen Fox does not get much love in collector circles, but maybe it should. This first-year two-door sedan example in ‘Raspberry’ has been sitting in a garage since the late 1990s. The listed price of $4,000 is set as a placeholder, and the seller is explicit about why this is the case. They are gauging interest from serious inquiries while they continue to assess the car’s value, and will then offer it for sale as-is. You can find it here on Craigslist out of Littleton, Colorado.
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The Fox entered the American market in 1987 as an entry-level offering based on the VW BX platform, a unique architecture developed by Volkswagen do Brasil. These entry-level subcompacts were known for their unusual longitudinal engine layout. They also paired an 1.8 inline four-cylinder with a four-speed manual transmission. Rated at 81 horsepower, the same engine was shared by the base models of the Golf, Jetta, and Scirocco of that era. It is not exciting by any standard, but it is a known quantity. The seller also indicates 137,000 miles, which for this engine and era is modest, especially considering it did nothing for the past 26 years.
The photos were also taken after blowing the dust off, rather than a wash even, which is either an honest presentation or a savvy manner of managing expectations. Either way, it is encouraging considering the seller describes the interior as almost new with no apparent wear, and the tires are also said to be like new. There are some chips and dings on the doors as can be expected, but there is no body damage. A Raspberry Fox two-door is about as rare a combination as you are going to find. The seller also notes that they cannot locate another identical Fox for sale in the country as an indication of its rarity. This is plausible since production stopped in 1993, and not many people were actively preserving these back then.
The Fox never quite built up the following other late 1980s VWs did, and GTI fans tend to overlook it. There is still a small cult following among the water-cooled VW enthusiasts, but the parts can be difficult to source. The placeholder pricing is the other elephant in the room. Previous Fox sales have been all over the map, and this car’s value will depend entirely on how the seller prices it. Serious inquiries should focus on maintenance history and confirm the garage storage timeline. Interested parties should also inspect the fuse box areas, where water intrusion has been a known issue. What do you think? Does it have a future as a collector piece, or is this one destined to spend another 26 years waiting?
In the early ’90s, I drove a Fox wagon delivering parts for my local VW dealership. As a multi-Rabbit owner, I always found it interesting how different a driving experience these Foxies gave. One thing that sticks to mind was just how wicked a burnout you could squeeze out of one. Far superior to a Rabbit’s, for an equal measure of spiciness. I suspect it had to do with the longitudinal mounting of the Fox’s engine.
Many years later another one came into my life, another wagon. Great little cars. It’d be really easy to swap in a turbo diesel from a Golf or Jetta. I’d be willing to bet you could even shoehorn in the Audi I5 turbo diesel.
VW of America: Do you have anything our market might be interested in?
VW of Brazil: How about a 2-door wagon that only comes with a manual transmission?
VW of America: Close enough.
LOL, true, but I wanted one badly. Wasn’t cheap enough, though.
VWs stepchild… They were actually very good cars!! My 2 door was very reliable, especially only paying 75 bucks. Sold it for 475.
4 grand is it!
Welcome to Nicholas, didn’t see your other posts, now you’re “one of us”.
I always thought it was the Audi Fox, and never saw a VW Fox, doesn’t look too successful. Thing is, after the Bug, and the replacement Rabbit, German cars just didn’t have the zing the Asians cars had. Price was about the same, about $6-$7grand, but we all know who won out there. Only about 26,000 VW Foxes sold per year, not much more than the Audi Fox. It’s been said, rare doesn’t mean valuable.
I remember the 🐺 Wolfsburg edition. Sharp looking little cars, especially the 4 door sedan.
The seller is way overestimating the interest in this car. He acts like people will be beating his door down. Tires like new? LOL. They’ve been on the car 26 years.
Looking for a affordable car for my daughter, she wants a stick, $2500 max.
This should be a $1500-2k car at most.
My friend had one, what amazed me back then was the fact of the longitunal engine on a front wheel drive car.
Thoses are good looking car, kind of ”military” grade.
Injection system looks odd to me, it’s mechanical and almost right in the cylinder?