I'm currently looking for a beater/daily driver because I want a little car with good fuel economy and I've stumbled upon a 1980 Volkswagen Rabbit with a diesel engine. He says it has 185K miles and a manual transmission. I have no idea what to look out for on these older cars, so can anyone enlighten me as to the reliability of the engine and drivetrain? This is going to be a daily driver/beater car so I won't care about rust or anything like that (to an extent obviously) but I want a dead reliable car that I won't have to worry about.
Trust me, one of these days I'll have a little diesel car then these threads asking for opinions on them will stop. Everytime I finally get in contact with the seller they're sold.