MacGuffin
Forum Addict
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2008
- Messages
- 8,329
- Location
- Wilhelmshaven, Germany
- Car(s)
- '17 Ford Mustang GT Fastback
Well, I was lucky to get this yesterday, if only for one day:
In the shortness of the time, I was able to get a good impression of the car.
But it started with a disappointment. When I asked, if the car had the 2.0 liter engine, the answer was "yes". Only after I started the engine, I was surprised to hear the unmistakable tac-tac-tac sound of a diesel. So yeah, it's the 2.0 liter engine but the diesel one with 140 HP!
Alright, no use complaining. It's just a rental. Even though the big "Diesel" sticker on the filler cap definitely is embarrassing on what's supposed to be a sports car.
I'm glad to report that getting in and out of the car was easy for me (in contrast to my experience with the Passat CC) and that the seats and the sitting position are very good (also in contrast to the Passat CC).
There is definitely enough space for two tall persons and the back seats are still good enough for kids or teenagers, as I was able to find out, when I attended a birthday party yesterday.
The Scirocco is also very comfortable and has extremely good build quality. The very rough cobblestone in our street did not produce any rattle or squeak noises, something that even the Mercedes S-Class did not fully accomplish. The term "solid as a rock" comes to mind.
The biggest downside is the overall view from the inside. In the front you have very large pillars that block your sight when you turn right or left, the back only offers a small portion of sight, too, which is not exactly made better by the minuscule rear view mirror. Driving the Scirocco in town was always a matter of changing position and bowing my head in order to better look outside:
Thankfully the car came with rear parking sensors, otherwise driving backwards comes close to steering into the unknown.
So how does the car handle and drive? In short: Very good. The Scirocco hungers for speed on empty country roads and I was not able to produce a tire squeek, even in tight corners where I was driving 20 km/h faster than I usually know is safe. The ESP kicked in before anyway. Also there was no noticable understeer. This car wants to be moved fast and it stays steady and planted in all situations, even on bumpy roads with changing road surfaces. Sadly the seats, as comfortable as they were, did not deliver enough hold in corners for my taste.
So the car is good, the ride is good, the handling and overall feeling are excellent.
Only the engine is not.
This 2.0 liter diesel engine simply doesn't fit to this car. It is wrong, wrong, wrong. It sounds wrong, it feels wrong and it behaves wrong. Don't get me wrong: It's a good engine and in a Golf it's fine but in the Scirocco it gives you a constant feeling of being undermotorized. It is too weak for this car.
And to make it worse, the 6-speed gearbox doesn't fit to the engine at all. For example you can reach the top speed of about 210 km/h in 4th gear (!) - what's the use of the 5th and 6th gear? No kidding: At 210 km/h in 6th gear, the engine only revs 3200 rpm and it takes ages to get there. Why, VW?
It surely is very economical but it kills the fun on the Autobahn. The car is slow and tenacious. Acceleration is okay until 140 or so but then it goes bad and you have to fight for each extra km/h with clenched teeth. It makes you wanna go outside and push.
So all in all the Scirocco is a fine car but the diesel engine kills almost all of the fun. No idea why VW bothers to offer it in this car. And apart from car rentals, I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind buying it with this engine.
In the shortness of the time, I was able to get a good impression of the car.
But it started with a disappointment. When I asked, if the car had the 2.0 liter engine, the answer was "yes". Only after I started the engine, I was surprised to hear the unmistakable tac-tac-tac sound of a diesel. So yeah, it's the 2.0 liter engine but the diesel one with 140 HP!
Alright, no use complaining. It's just a rental. Even though the big "Diesel" sticker on the filler cap definitely is embarrassing on what's supposed to be a sports car.
I'm glad to report that getting in and out of the car was easy for me (in contrast to my experience with the Passat CC) and that the seats and the sitting position are very good (also in contrast to the Passat CC).
There is definitely enough space for two tall persons and the back seats are still good enough for kids or teenagers, as I was able to find out, when I attended a birthday party yesterday.
The Scirocco is also very comfortable and has extremely good build quality. The very rough cobblestone in our street did not produce any rattle or squeak noises, something that even the Mercedes S-Class did not fully accomplish. The term "solid as a rock" comes to mind.
The biggest downside is the overall view from the inside. In the front you have very large pillars that block your sight when you turn right or left, the back only offers a small portion of sight, too, which is not exactly made better by the minuscule rear view mirror. Driving the Scirocco in town was always a matter of changing position and bowing my head in order to better look outside:
Thankfully the car came with rear parking sensors, otherwise driving backwards comes close to steering into the unknown.
So how does the car handle and drive? In short: Very good. The Scirocco hungers for speed on empty country roads and I was not able to produce a tire squeek, even in tight corners where I was driving 20 km/h faster than I usually know is safe. The ESP kicked in before anyway. Also there was no noticable understeer. This car wants to be moved fast and it stays steady and planted in all situations, even on bumpy roads with changing road surfaces. Sadly the seats, as comfortable as they were, did not deliver enough hold in corners for my taste.
So the car is good, the ride is good, the handling and overall feeling are excellent.
Only the engine is not.
This 2.0 liter diesel engine simply doesn't fit to this car. It is wrong, wrong, wrong. It sounds wrong, it feels wrong and it behaves wrong. Don't get me wrong: It's a good engine and in a Golf it's fine but in the Scirocco it gives you a constant feeling of being undermotorized. It is too weak for this car.
And to make it worse, the 6-speed gearbox doesn't fit to the engine at all. For example you can reach the top speed of about 210 km/h in 4th gear (!) - what's the use of the 5th and 6th gear? No kidding: At 210 km/h in 6th gear, the engine only revs 3200 rpm and it takes ages to get there. Why, VW?
It surely is very economical but it kills the fun on the Autobahn. The car is slow and tenacious. Acceleration is okay until 140 or so but then it goes bad and you have to fight for each extra km/h with clenched teeth. It makes you wanna go outside and push.
So all in all the Scirocco is a fine car but the diesel engine kills almost all of the fun. No idea why VW bothers to offer it in this car. And apart from car rentals, I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind buying it with this engine.
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