Review: the striped, 217bhp VW Scirocco GTS

The VW Scirocco GTS, eh? Sounds sporty…

Yes, the Scirocco’s still kicking around, but remove the GTS’s optional matt grey stripe (like we would…) and only the 18-inch snowflake alloys wrapped around red brake calipers tell your eyes it’s no ordinary R-line Scirocco. 

Complaining? Us? Not likely. The Scirocco’s an eight-year old shape, but still looks superb. That grinning face, the stocky shoulders and pert tail – it’s a class act of modern coupe design. 

But what’s a Scirocco GTS? A stripped-out lightweight like the Golf GTI Clubsport S?

Sadly not. The GTS is the home for the Scirocco’s cracking 2.0-litre turbocharged engine, in 217bhp form at least. Lesser Sciroccos can give you up to 178bhp in petrol form, but for the engine that always shines brightest in VW’s resurrected coupe, you’ll need the GTS. 

So it’s the fastest ‘not-a-Scirocco-R’ version then?

Precisely. VW ambitiously claims the manual Scirocco GTS we drove will match the £1,500 pricier DSG version’s 6.5 second 0-62mph sprint, and both will crack 152mph. And if you’re frowning over those numbers, muttering about six-and-a-half seconds not being brilliant for a modern hot hatch, you’re right. 

On paper, this isn’t particularly quick. But so eager is the engine in its lag-free, rev-happy delivery, it pulls the old trick of feeling – and sounding – quicker than it is. Which we’d always take over the opposite, license-threatening behaviour. 

It’s a super marriage of optimal front-drive traction, enough power to feel quick but not so much the steering’s interrupted with feisty torque-steer and an appetite for kerbs and hedgerows. There’s no mechanical front diff here – instead VW charges £210 for an optional electronic front diff substitute, using the traction control and brakes to trim your line.

Sounds like you’re having a whale of a time.

The engine’s a fine thing, but we do have issues to trumpet. The gearbox, like pretty much all VW manuals, is a bit of a notchfest, especially in that crucial first-to-second switch that you use more often than any other gearchange. Wonder if it really pegs the DSG off the line?

The gearbox though, you can learn to finesse. Where the Scirocco really feels its age is the driving position. The seat doesn’t go low enough, and even if it did, the steering wheel slopes angled away like it’s trying to avoid eye contact. It’s endlessly peculiar to peer through the narrow side glass and view the Roc’s svelte rear haunches while sat in the pose of a van driver. 

When the Scirocco first landed – and became a TG Car of the Year, no less – that was a mere niggle. But everyone else has moved on their ergonomics in the intervening decade: VW included. Hop into an MQB-based Golf after this and it’s like you’ve gone from a light goods vehicle to a DTM racer. Adding its latest (pretty great) touchscreen and Golf Mk7 switchgear disguises the Scirocco’s wrinkles, but your awkward perch betrays the fact this car shares a platform with the Golf Mk5. Yup, the one from 2003…

Reckon I could live with it. You say it’s bearing up well inside?

On the whole, it’s still an attractive, cool cabin. Lovely new Golf R steering wheel, sharp dials, and usable back seats, though why VW never thought to hinge the window-blocking rear headrests remains a mystery.

Our only gripe with the GTS are its three gauges atop the dash. Adding turbo boost, oil temperature and stopwatch gauges are A Very Good Thing, but pinched between the scuttle and rear-view mirror, they block a big chunk out of the windscreen’s panorama. Odd.

Enough details. Sciroccos have always been a tidy drive, right?

Right, and the GTS is a fine example. If you’re used to a modern fast Golf, the steering immediately registers as slower, but the weight’s well-judged. Oh, and you can do without the £830 adaptive dampers, and marvel out how right VW got this car’s chassis way back when. 

It’s a placid thing to fling at corners, whether you choose to lean on the square-footed grip or lift off the throttle to swing the tail in harder. You’re always battling the rubbish driving position, but get settled and it’s so agile you’ll enjoy a ‘Rocco on a good road. 

So, the GTS is the Scirocco to have then?

Nope. It’s quite pricey, asking £28,500, or £1,485 more than a Scirocco R-line with the 177bhp engine. That’s fine, but a normal Scirocco GT, shorn of the flash wheels and body kit but essentially identical underneath, is yours at £26,430. Dilemma: £2,070 change versus an extra 40bhp... 

What’s more, this Scirocco used to have a monopoly on fun, quick-ish £25k coupes, but in the meantime, the likes of the Toyota GT86/Scooby BRZ and BMW 220i have muddied the water with rear-wheel drive temptation. For absolute driving smarts and hatch usability we’d find it very hard to ignore the sensational (and equally elderly) Renaultsport Megane Cup-S at £23k.

Renault-schmeno, I want a VW.

Then we come to the Scirocco GTS’s biggest problem: the Golf GTI. You can get a MK7 GTI three-door with the smarter cabin, sorted driving position, this very engine and a proper locking differential for £28,940. Four hundred quid more than the GTS. Ditch the Performance Pack’s added 10bhp and diff and you’d actually undercut the Scirocco by a grand. 

It’s ageing gracefully, the Scirocco, and served VW mighty well, but having once usurped VW’s most iconic fast hatch, the GTI’s now back on top of the upstart.