Should you think of the Volkswagen Scirocco as a Golf coupé, or not? - Volkswagen Scirocco 2.0TSI

VWSA’s take on the local market is that South African buyers will not want to buy the Golf in 3-door body shape, available in European and other international markets.  Instead, they say, buyers will buy the Scirocco if they need a sporty car which has only 1 door each side.  SA buyers, it is said, prefer the practicality of the 5-door Golf.

Scirocco is a name some people struggle to pronounce – it’s so simple:  simply change the Sc to Sch and you’ve got it – “Schirokko”.  A desert wind has given it its name.  Of course this is not the first creation of Scirocco – in the 70s/80s when all cars were square, the original Scirocco was VW’s first take on a compact sporty coupé.  Although not officially imported by VWSA, a few of them made it to local shores, and are now collector’s items.  After that VW had the Corrado in overseas markets, and then it went quiet for a few years.  Volkswagen showed the IROC concept car, though many people dismissed this as a concept – not a people’s car – saying they’ll never build it…. derived from this very same IROC concept, the Scirocco became reality.

Although launched here back in 2009, it only received its facelift in January 2015.  This means the Scirocco is a long-lasting design, which doesn’t need fettling, apart from a bit of new lights and trim it just received – it also means it will endure the test of time, avoiding regular changes, and will most likely only be replaced in another few years’ time… which makes for a great new or used car.

You can see why this design is still so attractive today – the absolute simple lines form an unusual long-roof coupé, with pleasant details such as elevated roof lines where the rear hatch hinges.  A sharp front and broad squat rear is intended to look well-planted and ready to go fast.  Which it does.  Although devoid of any red badges or lines, the Scirocco 2.0TSI is in fact the engine from a previous Golf GTI – the 2-litre turbo initially produced 147kW, but the engine was upgraded in February 2010 to 155kW as per Golf 6 GTI.  Sprint times in the quick-thinking-shifting DSG-equipped car with 155kW is in the upper-6 seconds, which is easily achievable – in fact the 6.9 seconds of the automatic car is a match for the manual.  Scirocco care were available with manual or DSG automatic, though the manual was phased out in Juy 2014 – not to worry, the DSG is a manual that handles the clutch for you, and also makes the lovely popping sound when changing up under medium to hard acceleration.

The one complaint is that, being a front-wheel-driven turbo, the front tyres can be pulled to one side when opening the throttle, caused by torque steer through the front wheels – this can either be felt as nervous (the driver has to correct the steering) or lively, though care needs to be taken to reign in this sports car when overtaking on a narrow country road.

The front interior is typically Volkswagen simple and clear high quality.  A nice feature is the triangular “grips” forming the sides of the centre console.  The first cars didn’t have the multi-function steering wheel as standard, if you need it.

The interior has sporty deep sideways-ribbed leather seats, while the rear seats have doughnut-hole headrests (an old VW style feature) and those seats are sculpted, set snugly into the rear, in true sports coupé fashion, though this makes it strictly 2 seats in the back.

GTI.  Those 3 letters form an iconic name, and is the key to sales success for VW.  South Africans buy so many Golf GTI that it makes up a large portion of total local Golf sales, despite a variety of Golfs to choose from.  GTI has become an icon.  It is desirable – a status symbol.  And perhaps this is where VW has let the Scirocco down – if they could devise a Polo GTI, riding on the success of the GTI name, then why not a Scirocco GTI?  It already has the engine, so why not the name?

Searching on Auto Trader will let you find quite a few Scirocco as pre-owned cars, and looking at the condition of some, the materials are long-lasting.  These cars also keep their value quite well and is likely to do so, especially when considering the long life cycle the Scirocco will enjoy.  Some year-2009/2010 Scirocco 2.0TSI examples on Auto Trader are advertised at around R 200 000 and more.

Surprisingly, the price difference between Scirocco 2.0TSI DSG (the current 2015 facelifted car) at R 419 100 versus Golf 7 GTI DSG costing R 422 800 is so small.  Sure, if you want a Golf GTI no-one is likely to dissuade you from buying it.

Should you think of the Volkswagen Scirocco as a Golf coupé, or not?

If you want a sports coupé that has the looks of the Scirocco and the heart of a GTI, then the Scirocco 2.0TSI Sportline will be as close as you can get to a Golf coupé… actually, a Golf GTI coupé.