My Scirocco

In June 2006 Volkswagen announced it was bringing back the Scirocco – an icon was reborn. As soon as I saw pictures I knew I liked it and the day the production pictures came up on my screen I was smitten, I knew I had to have this car.

I built my car over and over on the VW website with only the GT model available and the only engine choice the 2.0 petrol it was all the options that I kept redoing – adding leather seats then taking them off, adding the speaker upgrade and then deciding I didn’t actually need it. The choices were endless but I finally settled on a my spec Rising Blue, Leather Seats, Sat Nav, Pano Roof, Electric Folding Mirrors.

The launch was August 2008 (with delivery aimed for the 58 plate) , due to work I was unable to go to my dealer until Saturday 6th September. Confidently I walked in my spec in one hand, a salesman named David came over to ask if he could assist me, “I want a Scirocco with this spec.” I told him, with a wry smile his reply came back “Certainly Sir, the current wait time is about 5 months!” My jaw hit the floor I couldn’t wait 5 months for my car I needed it now. He suggested we go for a test drive so I could think over what I wanted to do but that just made it worse I wanted it there and then.

We got back to the dealers and we sat at his desk, “Well sir, did you like the car?” what a question to ask, he could see me beaming from ear to ear I cannot remember my exact words but something along the lines of “I loved it, but i cannot wait 5 months for it. Is there nothing you can do?” with a long pause that felt like an eternity he said “Well…..I do have a Scirocco coming in to be used as our demonstrator which is almost exactly the same spec as what you want. It doesn’t have the Folding Mirrors or Pano Roof but it has Rear Parking Sensors and it’ll be here in 2 weeks time.”

Without a moments hesitation “I’ll take it! How much do I have to put down not to secure it?” a mere £700, with a part exchange of £4,500 that left me a little over £20,000 to pay when I picked the car up a few weeks later.

And so my wait began……

Surprisingly the two and a bit weeks I had to wait went by very quickly, so Friday 26th September I went with my friend Lee to pick up my Scirocco (Lee came down in his Porsche 911 GT2 – he just felt he had to). I filled out all the paperwork, signed and waited whilst they brought my car round to the front of the dealership.

My First impression was the colour was slightly lighter than on the website configutator but looked very good on the car, showing off all the curves, tinted windows and the grills on the front. I was itching to get in and drive it but my salesman insisted on showing me round the car – how the petrol cap opened, how to work the sat nav/radio headunit etc. Finally he handed me the keys and told me to enjoy my new car…

My VW dealer is located just off a dual carriageway so naturally the first drive was down this road. Straight up to 40mph (the speed limit) and I was sticking to the Porsche like glue – granted he wasn’t pushing it but it felt pretty good. We drove some of the local roads and the Scirocco felt so planted so much better than any car I had driven previously I just loved it. That first hour of driving was probably the most exhilarating drive I have ever had, going through twisty roads feeling the car respond to my every move.

My petrol light came on, VW had only put 1/3 tank in to get me going and this was fast being used up so we pulled in to the petrol station. Lee could see the huge smile on my face so he knew I was loving the car but asked me anyway. We filled up and headed our separate ways but this day would last long in my memory…

After a quick Google search I found several Scirocco forums and picked the one that I liked the look of best – www.scirocconet.co.uk

I joined and read the site for tips, ideas and the many things people have done to their Roc’s. Finally after a few weeks I decided I should post so I created a thread in the new members section and added some pics of my car. I was immediately welcomed into this great community and asked about what mods I was planning and offered suggestions – getting a remap, bigger wheels etc. At that time my answer was no to mods as I loved the car just as she was (thankfully I saw the error of my ways).

Having been a member of the site since September 2009 my post counts is now over 1000. The people on the forum vary in age and career but all share a passion for the Roc, I have been to a few meets and made some good friends along the way and I hope to continue to make new friends and share my passion with others along my car journey

I used to rent a flat with a friend and we only had one parking space in the car park. We (very diplomactially) drew lots for the rooms and the car space. I got the bigger room, he got the smaller room and car space so I had to park my baby on the road. The flat itself was on a busy main road so parking it right outside was a big no so I settled for a side road about 2 minutes away – very close to my secondary school – a much quieter road in general.

The house on the corner of this road was having a new driveway put in so builders and their vans were constantly coming and going but no matter I thought they are here during the day whilst I am at work and when I park at night the road will be empty again. If I had this time over i would have parked somewhere different.

I cannot remember the date but it was a saturday morning, I walked to my car to head into my local town centre and I saw my wing mirror was gone on the passenger side – the car had been parked drivers side against the curb so it was obvious the wing mirror had been hit but there was no glass on the road no mirror housing nothing it had all been cleared away. Many expletives later I had an extra job to do that day so off to VW to find out how much this was going to cost me, £155 later I walked out to carry on my day.

I’m convinced it was the builders who did it and cleared away the debris but I have no evidence so the case was closed.

November 2010 having just come back from Las Vegas I was catching up on the forum and I saw one of the site sponsors was selling a set of 19″ black Lugano’s I checked my bank balance (which was a minus) so I commented I really liked them but it was just too soon after my holiday. I thought that would be that but oh no, two of my like minded friends jumped in the conversation to persuade me (bully is a more accurate description) to buy the wheels.

2 hours later payment had been sent and I was awaiting my wheels, the first thing I had changed on the car since I had bought her some two years prior. Far from satisfying my urge to modify the wheels simply wetted my appetite for mods – I needed to do more to the car and I didn’t want to hand around.

Time to start shopping…..

Less than a month later searching the forum I found a deal through one of the site sponsors (Awesomne GTI) for £100 off a revo remap – just the ticket. From conversations on the forum and the meets I now had a friend who worked at Awesome. One phone call to him and a description of what i wanted to do was all it took, “Leave it with me” he said “I’ll have a price for you in a day.” with it being the end of the year and the Revo deal being very popular I had to schedule the car in for the end of January.

One month, a 200 mile drive and an evening slept in a pink bedroom (the less said about this the better) I was on the way to Awesome to have some work done on the car. As a few of us from the forum were having work done on the same day we turned it into a mini meet, about 8 members off the forum showed up with about 3 of us having work done or picking cars up. chatting the others helped pass the time as we were at Awesome almost all day but the guys there did a lot and I cannot thank them enough.

They fitted:
H&R Lowering Springs
Revo Stage 1 Remap
Neuspeed P-Flo Kit
Powerflex Dogbone Engine Mount

I was also due to have uprated brakes fitted but when they opened the boxes they found that one of the caliper housing was missing so they were unable to fit them. I later found out that the guys at Awesome had offered to drive anywhere in the country to pick up the missing housing if they could find one in stock somewhere but alas there was no joy with this.

They told me they would get the missing part and then courier them to me and they would arrange for them to be fitted at a tuning workshop close to where I live, a shop they do a lot of business with so knew the people very well.

So Awesome courierd my brakes to me, the courier tried to deliver on the 4th Feb them whilst I was at work. I called the next day and said that due to my work commitments I would not be able to pick the pacel up until the 19th Feb “Not a problem, we can hold them until then.” I was told.

The 19th came and off I went to the courier depot, a 25 miles journey – not far but enough. I handed my card over to the guy at the desk and said I had arranged to pick up a large parcel today. A few taps on his keyboard and he looked at me and said “I’m really sorry but the parcel was sent back to the sender.”
“Why? I phoned and told you I would come down on the 19th Feb to pick them up” I asked
The guy explained to me that the young lady I spoke to on the phone had a habit of not typing in the notes of the phone conversations she had and that it was a regular occurance for people to turn up expecting to collect their parcels but they had been sent back. So i made a complaint about it and she got fired – harsh maybe but I was now looking at another trip to Manchester to have the brakes fitted.

So today I was re-booked in at Awesome to have my brakes done. Drove to manchester the night before and stayed with a mate who cooked an Awesome steak egg and chips. Drove to Awesome in the morning handed over my keys and was ready for a long wait. a few hours later i was all done – just in time to eat my lunch and head for home.

So I headed home now running:
Seat Leon Cupra 345mm Brake Kit
Tarox D95 345mm Brake Discs

Again I have to say a big thanks to all the guys at Awesome GTI – very friendly bunch, very imformative and didnt mind me running round like a kid in a candy store with my camera taking pictures of my car in the various stages of upgrade.

Having had the R Rear lights and the black badges for weeks now I thought as the sun was shining i would fit them.

Out in the sunshine, camera in one hand new badges in the other, trim tool in my back pocket (as a former boy scout I like to be prepared). Gently Slid the flat surface of the trim tool under the rear badge (thought I’d start with the boot so if it went wrong it would be less noticeable) gently lifted the badge and then moved the tool round about an inch and did the same again, repeated till about half way round the badge and it just lifted off. Was nice a dirty where the badge had been sitting so back in the house fetched my “Juicy” buckets and washed the rear before applying the new badge. I removed the VW tape and replaced with some Ultra High Bond tape I bought online so the badges shouldn’t come off in a hurry – even if I want them too…eek!!!

The front badge was just as simple and followed the same steps, removed, washed and then applied the new one. All in all the process took about 15 mins to do both. Now for the Rear brake light clusters…

Opened the boot, removed the felt insert from both sides and undid the white screws (one at a time so the brakes didn’t fall on the floor!), cannot believe how simple this was to do. one screw, one clip and they were off. Installing the new ones was just as simple, if you look at the pictures with the lights off you can see 1) how dirty it gets under there 2) the small black plastic square on the side, the new lights line up with this and then slide over it to hold them in place. Once firmly in place reinsert the white screw from the boot. Simples!

When I bought the car in September 2008 I fully planned on keeping it stock. 3 years later and it is far from stock with most of the work being done within the last 12 months.

I was planning on going to stage II in Jan 2012 but when someone unable to park took a chunk off the rear bumper I thought it was a sign to get all the work done. So in November 2011 I decided to go to Revo Stage II. A quick call to Awesome GTI to find out what I needed and my order was placed. Had to wait a few weeks for some of the parts to arrive to them but I was travelling a lot with work so the time flew by, 23rd December I drove the 200 miles from home to Awesome – Rear Brakes upgrade (to match the front), THS Intercooler, Jetex Quad exhaust and the Stage II software. Got to Awesome for about 8.30am handed over the keys and waited…..

As the day wore on I was getting impatient, I wanted my car back. With the exhaust needing a new hole cut in the bumper and the swap to the new bumper it seemed to take forever. Add in another brake complication (TPS were not my favourite people as this was the second time they messed up a brake order for me) and I had to go home without the brakes being done.

The drive home was fantastic, I actually drove most of it with the radio off just listening to the noise from the exhaust!! The car has real purpose now, she always looked amazing now she has an exhaust tone to match.