Here's how it happened: I was on my way to the Paris Auto Show and decided on spending a few extra days in the city of love. My good buddy and cameraman-extraordinaire Jérôme Scaglia has an apartment there (his parents actually) and so we thought it a good idea to book a car and make a small event of it.
After a number of phone calls, I had secured a Volkswagen Polo, or so I thought. In the meanwhile, our excellent photog, Matthieu Lambert, had decided to join in on the party. He had ulterior motives that you can see here (bastard!).
When I got to La rue de Suffren, to VAG's local offices, I was greeted with a "we don't have a Polo for you sir". My heart sank but then, when all seemed lost, I heard: "Ah, but we have a Scirocco!". Oh joy of joys.
Volkswagen Scirocco: A history
Or a brief overview of it. The first generation of the sirocco wind (where its name comes from) was first available in 1974 and was around until 1982. This car is a rare sight these days, but you will recognize it from its quad round sealed-beam headlights. Created as a replacement for the Karmann Ghia, penned by the famous Giorgetto Giugiaro and built on the same platform as the-then Golf (Rabbit) and Jetta, the Mark I Scirocco proved to be a popular sporty hatchback with over 500,000 sold.
The Mark II Rocco arrived in 1982 as a significantly-revised automobile but still maintaining the 2-door hatchback body style. The more-aggressive styling was met with extra performance, including a 123-hp 1.8L 16-valve 4-cylinder. Although just under 300,000 were produced, it remains a more common sight than the Mark I, not that they can be found on every street corner. 1989 was the last year that we Canadians were able to purchase a new Scirocco. In Europe, it remained on sale until 1992.
Enter the Mark III
The Scirocco was replaced by the Corrado (less than 100,000 built) as Volkswagen's 2-door sport coupe as of 1988. The Rado had a much shorter life, as it was sold only until 1995. Sadly, it was never planned for North America to receive the new Scirocco, introduced in 2008.
Some of the reasons stated to defend this point are price, import costs, cross-shopping with the GTI and the fact that hatchbacks do not sell well here, especially in the US. So I went over to Europe to drive one! Ha! Not that I knew that I was actually going to drive one...
After a number of phone calls, I had secured a Volkswagen Polo, or so I thought. In the meanwhile, our excellent photog, Matthieu Lambert, had decided to join in on the party. He had ulterior motives that you can see here (bastard!).
When I got to La rue de Suffren, to VAG's local offices, I was greeted with a "we don't have a Polo for you sir". My heart sank but then, when all seemed lost, I heard: "Ah, but we have a Scirocco!". Oh joy of joys.
Volkswagen Scirocco: A history
Or a brief overview of it. The first generation of the sirocco wind (where its name comes from) was first available in 1974 and was around until 1982. This car is a rare sight these days, but you will recognize it from its quad round sealed-beam headlights. Created as a replacement for the Karmann Ghia, penned by the famous Giorgetto Giugiaro and built on the same platform as the-then Golf (Rabbit) and Jetta, the Mark I Scirocco proved to be a popular sporty hatchback with over 500,000 sold.
The Mark II Rocco arrived in 1982 as a significantly-revised automobile but still maintaining the 2-door hatchback body style. The more-aggressive styling was met with extra performance, including a 123-hp 1.8L 16-valve 4-cylinder. Although just under 300,000 were produced, it remains a more common sight than the Mark I, not that they can be found on every street corner. 1989 was the last year that we Canadians were able to purchase a new Scirocco. In Europe, it remained on sale until 1992.
Enter the Mark III
The Scirocco was replaced by the Corrado (less than 100,000 built) as Volkswagen's 2-door sport coupe as of 1988. The Rado had a much shorter life, as it was sold only until 1995. Sadly, it was never planned for North America to receive the new Scirocco, introduced in 2008.
Some of the reasons stated to defend this point are price, import costs, cross-shopping with the GTI and the fact that hatchbacks do not sell well here, especially in the US. So I went over to Europe to drive one! Ha! Not that I knew that I was actually going to drive one...
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| (Photo: Matthieu Lambert/Auto123.com) |