VW Scirocco GLi (1980-1982)

Before the Mk1 was revealed, the Scirocco was the vehicle of choice for Volkswagen fans

- Peter Palm

Model: VW Scirocco GLI 0-100 km/h: 9,80 seconds Top speed: 181 km/h Fuel cons: 7,00 L/100 km (at 100 km/h) Price: R17 750 CAR test: November 1980

The South African Government in the 1970s did not take too kindly to cars being imported instead of locally assembled, so hefty duties were imposed on those who wanted to buy something exclusive. It did its intended job of severely limiting the choice of driving more individualistic models unless you had some money to burn.

PACKAGING

The name Scirocco comes from a North African desert wind, in a similar fashion to Passat (trade wind) and Golf (Gulf stream). As with the Golf, the Scirocco was designed by Giugiaro but built by Karmann in Germany. It is a two-door body style with slim B-pillars. Flip-forward seat backrests allow access to the rear bench, which was covered in tan-colored velour upholstery, similar to the Golf, Jetta and Passat models. Instruments consisting of a speedometer and rev-counter were set into a rectangular binnacle. The rev-counter space was shared by the fuel level and coolant temperature gauges, while a neat centre console housed an analogue clock and a voltmeter. While lesser versions overseas had just two headlamps - either rectangular or round - our more sporty local version came with four headlamps.

POWERTRAIN