New Scirocco

Ooh, I saw one of these in a dealership in Stirling the other day as I had some crazy notion to buy a Polo. The Sirocco looked OK, although it's fairly Golflike.

I guess the older ones would have appeared quite Golfy when they came out too?

In a choice between a Sirocco and a 3dr Golf, I'd probably be conservative and take the Golf.

The same dealership had a Passat CC. Which isn't Coupe or Convertible. It's also absolutely enormous. Seemed quite low though, which was a welcome change.

Nice aren't they, I passed one on the way back from the WSBK at Donnington yesterday.

Now if they did an "Rxx" version with AWD and a V6 I'd be shifting some funds around my accounts.

The Passat CC is a lovely looking car. But the interior has barely changed over a decent spec. saloon.

I don't understand VW's strategy, though - the CC is just the car that the B6 Passat should have been.

Saw a lairy one at Goodwood and it looked awesome. No idea if it was just bodykitted up or if it was something special.

I love the new Mustangs. And it's crazy that you can have a brand new one imported for about the price of a spec'd up Scirroco. OK I know they have their flaws, but the special edition Bullit Mustang looks absolutely amazing IMHO and for £25k you get 300+bhp of proper RWD V8 muscle with the soundtrack to match. And (I think) you can also stick your fingers up at the current road tax rules and just pay £185 pa.

If only I could afford it...

Douglas Payne gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Black Scirocco outside the local VW dealer the other day. Eww. It ate all the pies.

Yup, saw one of them t'other day, too. Being washed by the local migrant- labour-supermarket-carpark mob.

Not impressed. BIG, bland.

Maybe... if they'd put three seats in the back instead of two.

-- JackH

Very, devastatingly Golfy in a floorpan kind of way.

I had my lil E30 parked in an Avis car park the other day and it looked insanely small in amongst the new stuff. Definately much narrower and lower than the new Golf.

I parked my 75 next to a new Focus hatch a few weeks back.

How have 'medium' cars grown in size to such an extent they're bigger than 'large' cars of 20 years ago.

We did this sometime ago.

Nope. incorrect, utterly wrong.

Park one next to a old one and weep. But hey, newer must be better so shit on that old crap.

Truly huge, they had to do that to make a normal height car look low.

2008 Volkswagen Passat CC 1.8 TSI 1417 mm high, 1855 mm wide (0.76:1) 2008 Volkswagen Scirocco 1404 mm high, 1810 mm wide (0.77:1) 2007 Volkswagen Golf 1.4 TSI 1513 mm high, 1759 mm wide (0.86) 1986 Volkswagen Golf GTi 16v 1405 mm high, 1680 mm wide (0.84)

So although CC and new Scirocco are a lot lower than a new Golf they are about the same as an old Golf. The excessive width helps make them look lower than they are. That width means there's a quite a few cm less between you and the garage wall. Sheesh CC is 17.5cm wider than old Golf, that's like you need to be down to size zero to shimmy out, so you will need a new garage, or a good diet, or just do what everyone else does - leave it outside ready to reverse off the driveway.

BUT real sporty cars are under 1270mm (50") high [1].

1986 Volkswagen Scirocco 16v 1295 mm high 1630 mm wide (0.79:1) Lower it 1" and it makes the grade (in a poor man's DMC time machine sort of way).

It seems they are slightly lower in proportion to width but have to be bigger or even huge in girth to look low. My 1979 910 Bluebird 1.8GL Estate was 1404 mm high, 1655mm wide (0.85:1), so by VW's standards it's now a low sleek sporty car.

[1] The new Lotus Evora will be decently low (way lower than current Porsche offerings) but yet again is 100mm taller than the old models.

Peter Hill gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Depends.

The Mk1 Scirocco was just gorgeous. The Mk2 wasn't bad, but wasn't all that.

So - park the new one next to a Mk1 and weep, sure, but next to a Mk2 and just sniffle a bit, yes.

snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk (SteveH) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Yup. The Golf I had a while back was a full _foot_ wider than the 900.

Very Golfy in lots of ways, apart from trim and panels.

Always wanted a Mk1. Went to look at one as a project: you didn't so much need a trailer as a dustpan and brush :-)

Correct. And if you get the right performance mods you can have IRS and overcome the major valid complaint about the Mustang.

I can't decide whether it's great or absolutely shocking that in 2008, replacing the rear suspension to make it IRS on a brand new car is a realistic performance upgrade.

My dad fitted telescopic dampers and anti-tramp bars to his Midget around the time of William the Conqueror, but even at the time, William the conqueror thought that the Midget was a pile of outdated crap.

Most septics don't do corners and do drag racing where lack of IRS and rear leaf springs isn't a problem. Performance upgrade on the cheap is parabolic carbon fibre leaf springs.

My SD1 has a live rear axle. My old 360 had de dion axle and leaf springs. Makes no odds to me - both work and both are still amusing to drive. And I'd still take a 300bhp RWD muscle car over a tarted up 200bhp FWD Golf (even if I do like them too) ;)

A bit hip heavy at the back, other than that very nice, comfortable even for a man of wide hips such as my self, you feel like you are sitting more in it than on it the way you do in even the R32 golf, surprisingly massive boot but rear visibility is a joke. I should have taken the hot sales woman up on the test drive to see how good the Audi derived active suspension is, but I'd like to see a Storm on the horizon (as it were), the R32 lump and Haldex is just begging to be put into it.