Thunder Bunny Concept at the Edmonton Motorshow

Volkswagen Canada is displaying its Thunder Bunny Concept at the Edmonton Motorshow to commemorate a muscular Rabbit that was built in the early 1980s. The Thunder Bunny was designed in collaboration with Derek Jenkins, chief designer at the Volkswagen Design Center California located in Santa Monica. It is an updated version of the original that debuted together with the Concept R GTI on last year’s 2006 SEMA Show held in Las Vegas.

The development of the Thunder Bunny was brought about by the frustration of Bill Neumann on Volkswagen’s unwillingness to import the GTI to Canada. It should be remembered that the GTI is one of the most celebrated hatchback in Europe unfortunately it was not made available to North American buyers.

And for this same reason that Neumann decided to build his rapid Rabbit that provided an amazing level of performance that even staffs at Motor Trend were surprised. And following reports from both Motor Trend and Road and Track, Volkswagen finally decided on bringing the GTI to Canada.

The present Thunder Bunny is a combination of subtle design and tuning technology built to show how a comfortable daily driver can also obtain an exciting motoring experience. Under the hood of the Bunny or Rabbit is a newly developed turbocharger system which is designed by Neuspeed exclusively for Volkswagen’s 2.5 liter five-cylinder engine. The Rabbit also make use of genuine Volkswagen factory parts like Volkswagen radiator fan and others.

The Rabbit also features high quality installation which includes Garrett ball-bearing turbocharger, air-to-air intercooler, and a modified intake manifold. A stainless exhaust and specially-baffled aluminum oil pan were sourced from APS for optimum cooling and flow. Boost is restricted to a maximum of 7 lbs in this Stage 1 kit but still been able to produce 225 hp, 75 more than the stock 2.5 L and a hefty supply of low end torque. A performance clutch and Quaife differential were mated to the powertrain for durability and a more efficient delivery of power to the front wheels.

The candy white exterior of the Thunder Bunny is the result of several design studio touches. The concept’s body kit includes a larger central grille and a bolder rear valance framing a twin R32 style exhaust created by Neuspeed. And just like the R GTI, Thunder Bunny’s paint was covered with graphics Jenkins calls “topographical” which is painted in pearl silver.

These graphics were created to highlight the contours of the car’s geography or waves of air that flows over the surfaces. The pearl silver graphics make a unique visual statement as they appear to blink on and off under the sun.

And just like the original Thunder Bunny the forged alloy 19x8 inch sizing street wheels are painted with gold wrapped with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 235/35R19 tires. The same sets of multi-spoke forged alloys were ordered from Neuspeed’s RS line of wheels for track use. Both of the sets ordered are lightweight which are in accordance to the core GTI quality for dexterous handling. The front brakes of the Bunny are 328 millimeters, 2-piece floating cross-drilled discs sourced from Brembo, gripped by bunny-adorned Brembo four-piston brake calipers.

An authentic network of Thunder Bunny logos dash runs across the surface of the white-painted caliper and at the rear are 310 mm disc brakes were fitted. The unmatched handling ability of the Bunny is the result of the suspension fitted with a Bilstein coil-over shock system and APS/Neuspeed sways bars measuring 25 mm front and rear. The suspension system is adjustable for both ride height and for shock stiffness which gives the Thunder Bunny a dual character suitable for track or for street.