VW's Scirocco diesel: A sheep in Wolfsburg’s clothing

Golf:

Scirocco's dull, practical, humdrum sister for those who's budget doesn't stretch to an Audi A3.

Re: Scirocco:

A tedious Golf coupe with as much charisma as an East German caravan site. Yawn.

Re: Scirocco: - once upon a time........

things were different. the golf was an ugly wee box and the scirocco was much easier on the eye. Once they got the rust problems largely sorted in the late 70s, they were great cars. I had a MKII Storm ( metallic brown - ah the 80s! ) that I loved because it was so easy to work on, most of the parts were the same as a golf, i.e. cheap, and it had decent legroom in the front. Was just a pity they didn't do a turbo Quattro version :-) Had to switch badges for that pleasure

Re: Diesel

Well that would would do wonders for your economy, good luck with that.

Please

Ah yes, all those pesky lorries moving goods and quite literally making our modern lifestyle possible.

Better instantly stop them being used on an ill conceived whim!

Re: Diesel

The French government (a major DERV backer for many years through manufacturer incentives and lower taxation on cars & fuel) has finally realised what a blight private DERVs are.

They'll be de-incentivizing them in the next 5 years. Hopefully it will spread from there.

Re: Diesel

It's got the most energy of all fuels. Hence its efficiency and lower CO2 output.

what would Setright do

I decided Setright could do no wrong when he reviewed a moped, of all things, and remarked that 16 year olds should be at home doing their maths homework and violin practice, not tooling around on things like that.

Agreed - that pretty much told us nothing. A complete waste of time.

Crikey...

I didn't know the Reg was sending goons around to people's homes at the weekend to make them read these articles.

The DSG will be OK in a few years when VW have finished developing it. And lightened it a bit.

Maybe if they give it to some Japanese auto-engineers it stands a chance of being finished inside this decade.

BTW VAG ? Is this a pre 1992 car when the company still used VAG as its global name? VWs were actually pretty reliable back then (relative to their contemporary peers).

Re: forbidden fruit

Fiesta ST.

Bit smaller, equally classless (even in the US I understand) and other than the engine, not too much silly whizzbang tech for the sake of it.

I believe Ford still provide a proper brake pedal, too - you know, one that has some degree of feel rather than making you faceplant the windscreen at the slightest brush.

I occasionally drive modern cars and find them all to be a bit hateful - my fifteen year old shonky shitter might have some bodywork rust and require it's bushes changing more often, but at least it has steering and brake feel - and a real handbrake for childishness in empty car parks.

Fuck modern cars. They're all shit until I drive a good one, at which point they're awsume ;-)

Steven R

Good Lord no.

Doesn't handle, doesn't go, it's just a slow, splodgy exercise in how not to make a fast coupe.

Unless you like to understeer everywhere while getting no better than 24mpg?

An RX7 would be a far more elegant choice, although you do have to take a deep breath at the petrol pumps, but at least it looks good (bloody fantastic actually - shows what the japanese can do when they aren't aping europe as they used to back in the 90s) and handles terribly well to offset that terrifying fuel economy.

Also mighty tunable.

Friends don't let friends buy Mitsubishi GTOs. Bit like Corsas and Vectras.

Steven R

Re: wot?

Well, it's "not quick" for a 2+2 with that amount of horsepower (148bhp) and truly stonking torque (250 ft-lbs), not to mention the ridiculous price - but yes, 8.6 seconds is more than enough to keep up with the traffic!

The reason for the missing performance is the serious obesity - a ton and a half.

What? That's two 5-door 5-seat Maestros.

I could not claim that Austin-Rover production quality was even... err... adequate?

But our rusty, rattly, but beloved A-series Maestro HL was no porker, and this VW clearly is.

What a pity.

Nice to see a reference to the truly mighty Leonard Setright. Great chap.

Re: wot?

It isn't.

I have had quicker accelerating cars, one a sportyish hatch, the other a 4 door saloon.

One of them was an Avenger based hatch back. 8 sec 0 - 60 (timed) from 1600cc

The other was a German built luxobarge with an engine from Merseyside (under 8 sec timed)

Lets just say that the 1970s car is still one of the best handling cars I have driven.

Re: The Scirocco was never pretty

Yes. Over here in US, VW runs a 'Sign and Drive' promotion roughly once per year - it's basically a zero down lease, to get you into a car with minimum hassle. But I have talked with numerous people, both mechanics and non-mechanics, and every one of them has said the maintenance and parts will kill you. Some have personal experience, others probably just heard it from someone else. But somehow VW and their US dealer network have successfully convinced everyone in the US that while they're nice cars, they're way too expensive to keep.

Some marques have been successful having expensive parts and labor, but a reputation for "never" having to be repaired. VW doesn't balance the latter part of that equation.

(A famous anecdote - back in the 1970s or thereabouts, a musician had a Rolls-Royce, whose transmission blew up while he was driving across Arizona. He called the Rolls people. They paid for his flight to LA and shipped the car when it was ready. Later he called them, asking what the bill for repairs was. They said, "There is no bill. Rolls-Royce automobiles don't break down."

Re: DSG?

@Gene Cash

IF U 404 DSG, RTFM.