The world of drifting and parking lot donuts is slightly different from any other form of motorsports. Here, beaters thrive! The Hoonigan team welcomed Thomas, the owner of a 1980 Volkswagen Rabbit Pickup with the internals of a cult car, a 1994 1.8-liter Mazda Miata, to their backyard. We are sure Rabbit purists appreciate the diesel swapped-out for the 1.8 Miata.
If you know the history behind the Mazda Miata and the VW Golf MK1, you'll understand why this odd recipe stings the inner car nerd. The Golf GTI brought the performance to the masses, while the award-winning Mazda MX-5 Miata went into the 'Guinness Book of World Records' as the Best-Selling Two-Seater Sports Car. The Rabbit isn't a GTI, but runs on the same A1 platform on the Golf MK1.
Together, these oldtimers create the perfect drift party car for an open parking lot.
You wouldn't believe what this automotive mutation can do until you watch Thomas get behind the wheel. It certainly lives up to its missile car potential, considering it was a purposeful creation for insane donuts and drifts.
Thomas' drift car is a VW Rabbit Pickup with a Miata powertrain. It has almost the same wheelbase too, only three inches longer. It's basically a Miata from the front frame rails to the back of the seat to the custom rear subframe.
Perhaps the most iconic feature of this build is the ladder rack, which also doubles up as the roll cage and what is essentially holding the chassis together.
Under the hood is a stock 1.8-liter 94' Mazda Miata motor grafted into the Rabbit truck making around150 HP. It comes with a 5-speed manual transmission on a longitudinal setup. It has an independent rear suspension and runs on stock Miata suspension with coilovers bought from eBay.
When it's time to showcase what the VW Rabbit Miata can do, Thomas turns the entire Hoonigan donut dome into a smokey ruckus. He's not the best drifter to burn some rubber for Ron and the team, but it's unexplainably satisfying watching the 1980s beater going round and round in a thick cloud of smoke.
But that's not all. Things get a little dramatic once Vin gets behind the wheel.
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
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