KEY POINTS:
Volkswagen claims CLAIMS the new Scirocco is the most technologically advanced coupe it has ever built. That's not as significant as it could be, given that the German maker has built its reputation on family cars.
Nor is the newcomer strictly a coupe: it's wide and has a low roofline, but despite the company's talk of a "boot aperture", it's actually a three-door hatchback.
Semantics aside - after all, "coupe" does sound much more sexy than "sporty hatch" - the Scirocco does look like a swish piece of kit. Given the popularity of VW hot hatches in New Zealand (the GTi is the top-selling Golf model), the Scirocco is a certainty for our market, although it's not likely to arrive until mid-next year.
Styled by a team led by Klaus Bischoff, chief designer at Volkswagen, the Scirocco draws inspiration from the Iroc concept-car unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in 2006. Deep front airdams and a razor-thin grille are the defining visual elements at the front. In a rare departure from tradition, the Volkswagen roundel has been moved from the grille to the bonnet.
Scirocco is a four-seater only, with sports-style chairs both front and rear. Reduced roofline aside, cabin space should be good: it rides on the same wheelbase as a five-door Golf and is slightly longer overall, although the Scirocco is 65mm lower.
So what makes Scirocco so high-tech? All models feature adaptive chassis control offering three driver-selected settings - Comfort, Normal and Sport. The system's influence extends to the steering system: should Sport be selected, the steering firms up to provide more feel, while Comfort mode makes the steering lighter and easier to operate at low speeds or around town.
Expect a range of petrol and diesel engines from the VW pool, as well as the option of the maker's new seven-speed Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG).
The Scirocco revives a famous name.
The original Scirocco compact-coupe from 1974 was styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro and assembled by Karmann in Osnabruck, Germany. It continued for two generations and 19 years, eventually being replaced by the larger Corrado coupe in 1989.
