Autocar - First for car news and reviews

What is it?

This is Volkswagen’s reborn Scirocco. Thirty-four years after Giorgetto Giugiaro penned the original, Volkswagen is bringing back its affordable front-wheel drive Golf-based coupe in the form of a contemporary styled three-door hatchback. It is Volkswagen’s first truly dedicated coupe since the Corrado went out of production in 1995.

The Scirocco will be built in Portugal alongside the Eos and is planned to go on sale in the UK in early September. Detailed pricin...Read the full article

You openly admit to not being able to give the car a proper long drive, and then state that the car is sharper that a Golf GTI. Sorry, but I can't see how you can make that sort of statement just yet.

surely 10 laps of the ring would suffice?  in many ways driving on a track would tell you so much more than driving on the road.

This looks like a very good car, and the pricing is very competitive too. However I am really not sure about VWs dashboard sharing scheme going on the at the moment. Whilst I appreciate that it helps to keep costs down, I would have liked a design that was a bit different to the Eos, which is in turn simply a reworked Golf dashboard. Thats not to say its not well made and stylish, its just I've seen it before and is a bit of a let down after the exterior.

The revised 2.0 Turbo you mentioned being only available in the Scirocco, is in fact, available now across the VW model line - including the GTI.  Besides the improvements already mentioned, it also has a timing chain instead of a belt.

I find it a little odd the 'range topping' engine is only 200bhp.

Surely VW's much famed 3.2 V6 could, and should, find a place in the new scirroco?

The original scirroco VR6 with the 2.9 V6 was the one to be seen in.

A 250bhp engined coupe would place the scirroco above the Golf R32 in VW's line up.It seems odd to market as a 'Sports Coupe' but produce a more practical car that will ,in many ways, out perform it.

Kee Law:

surely 10 laps of the ring would suffice?  in many ways driving on a track would tell you so much more than driving on the road.

To people who want to drive this car on the track! (*** this things not quite as quick as that Porsche glued to my arse). Funny I thought it was primarily designed as a road going car.

Mr.Pickle:

Surely VW's much famed 3.2 V6 could, and should, find a place in the new scirroco?

I agree that there should be a range topper with the Golf R32's motor, and fill a gap in the small coupe market as BMW doesn't offer a 130i coupe which leaves a yawning gap between its 125i and 135i!

One thing i am suprised at is VW has based the Scirroco on a platform that will soon be redundant when the 6th gen Golf arrives in a few months. Mind you, its not only VW who wheels out a new model/variant close to its parent platform's expiry date.

The MK6 Golf will continue to use the same platform, its really only a heavy-facelift and some cost-cutting.

 Back on topic the Scirroco looks excellent but surely it would makemore sense, as others have said, for it to have a true top of range engine such as the 3.2 V6 or the 2.0 TFSI out the S3.

Mr.Pickle:

The original scirroco VR6 with the 2.9 V6 was the one to be seen in.

Do you mean the Corrado VR6? 

As a former Corrado VR6 owner (11 years of bliss), I'm looking at the Scirroco with real interest. The thing is weight, the Scirroco is lighter than the similarly engined sister Golf GTI. If they decide to go for an R variant of the Scirroco they'll have to slap on the 4 wheel drive and before you know it you've got a massive heavy bloater of a Coupe! As I drive a bloater at the moment (330i Coupe 272 bhp and how heavy?) I'd rather see a lighter car that had lighter CO2 output with a better Performance \ Economy ratio. If it's light enough you can still have a good drivers car.

Looking forward to reading the full road test

Matt, I found your report strange.  The detail seems to suggest that the car is competent but in no way outstanding, but your conclusion praises the car highly.  It feels that, like me, you love the way the car looks and want it to be great; but perhaps it's merely "fine"?