Price:
£20 940 (about R315 000)
Available in SA in May, 2009.
Top speed:
235km/h, 0-100km/h 7.2sec.
Consumption:
7.6 litres/100km.
CO2 emissions:
179g/km.
Best for:
Crazy golfers.
Also worth considering?
Alfa Romeo Brera, VW Golf GTI, Volvo C30.
How's your Golf? I'm not enquiring about your handicap, just wondering what you really think of VW's big-selling hatchback - especially if you own or drive one.
I'm sure it's very nicely made and never lets you down but I'd be surprised if it makes your heart beat faster. Well, if you love your Golf but sometimes wish it were a bit less dull, VW has just the car for you.
The new Scirocco coupé (it was launched in South Africa at the '08 Johannesburg International Motor Show and will go on sale here in May 2009) takes most of the good bits of the Golf and wraps them in a flamboyant new body.
It's available in a range of zingy metallics but looks especially good in white, the colour every car-buying guide for the last 15 years has told you to avoid in favour of silver if you wanted to escape depreciation disaster.
The Scirocco will be available later with a number of different engine options but the early two-litre TSI we tried uses the 147kW unit from the Golf GTI so has the sort of go and cornering ability you'd expect from something that looks this sporty.
Borrowing Golf parts to produce different models to appeal to customers that the standard car can't reach isn't new; models as varied as the VW Caddy van and Audi TT are the Golf's sisters under the skin.
But the Scirocco has a special place in the Golf club, one that means it deserves its own reserved parking space right in front of the club house, because the original Scirocco, launched in 1974, was the very first Golf-based car.
AFFORDABLE COUPÉ
In fact, while the Golf was always expected to be the big seller, the Scirocco was put into production first to catch any snags and deal with them before they could trip up the Golf.
VW built and sold the second-generation Scirocco and its part-replacement the Corrado until the early 1990's before mysteriously ceding the market for affordable coupés to the competition.
This latest Scirocco corrects that strategic error and is a worthy successor to the original; it provides a lot more dash than the Golf in return for a bit of lost luggage space and a small price premium. - The Independent, London