Volkswagen Scirocco
here are icons and there are ticons. What child of the 70s or thereabouts didn't grow up wanting that king of all boy racer icons, the Golf Gti. Masculine, superquick, nimble and light on its feet.
Fun to drive and made you feel like you could hit the racetracks and take on group N with a quick change of takkies. Mountain pass, no problem.
Surfboard in the back, sure. Practical, reliable and if you studied hard enough you could eventually afford one. Things were simple then. So what happened? Everything got kind of middle aged, bellies spread and that lithe six-pack became a well earned one pack. Bloat. Lots of it.
You had less money back then but had more fun, how the hell did that work? The GTi did that too. Kilowatts climbed from double digits to 155kw and yet things felt slower. That spread hit its belly. Safety, comfort and luxury hit lithe bodies, and like a good suit masking a little flab, so the bloat grew.
More “general appeal” they said. Mommies were buying these to take Johnny to school, or at least that's what saloon driving dad convinced her to do. They needed to appeal to a buyer who wanted the top Golf. GTi meant “best” not quickest. Sure luxury models were introduced, but so strong was the appeal that GTi was the way to go if you wanted the real thing. The edges, softened, rounded, became more feminine, Jumbo Golf set the trend. Heated seats, leather and compliant suspensions settled in. This was the car to pose in, the GTi to be seen in.
Gradually more powerful sure, but quicker? Depended on how you measured. There really is only one important scale, isn't there?The ability to make you whoop at turning the key, the joy of chucking the thing around. And yet the bloat increased. Till recently, @ 155kw, GTi got the power to weight ratio right, DSG is more fun than any other type of gearbox, those twin clutches, swapping cogs smoothly and instantly, and the flappy paddle gone from isolating you, to delivering perceived control.
Not too bad to tootle around like Miss Daisy with either. But it feels kinda girlie. Somehow still practical and socially acceptable. Not a mean bone in its admittedly very sporty body. Sorta hot bikini babe turned 100m athlete. Not a bad thing at all mind you. But somehow…
So what did they do? Resurrect Scirocco. That's what. MK1 an icon in Europe, and somehow a flop here. Pricing is my explanation, but then the golf of them years was so much more focussed wasn't it? On paper, no better than GTI.
But to drive it, the engine note is that much more aggressive, the suspension feels that fraction more taught, more eager, the looks are all male, chiselled, squared off, haunched, ready to pounce, not an ounce of oestrogen in sight.
This is no GTi on lipo, this is caged testosterone. Arguably VW's best looking car on the road, sporty, with the best interior VW has ever made. From seat stitching to layout, the strictly 2 door, 4 seater is a winner. Every slight improvement has made a spectacularly better sportscar. The sum of the parts make the whole, the GTi I yearned for.
Considering almost price parity with the GTi, the king is dead, long live the king. Order one now!
