1982 Volkswagen Scirocco | Retro Review 

We didn't realize how good we had it with 80s hatchbacks. Almost none of these left.

Had a1980 Scirocco. Great driving car. Wish they kept this car around.

The Wolfsburg edition of the Scirocco is still one of the best looking hatchbacks ever made.

I loved these cars when I was young. Almost bought one when I was in high school. My mom "didn't like Volkswagens." It's so nice to be an adult. :)

I bought a brand new '86 Scirocco in '86, shortly after my divorce. It was a real hit with my dates.

My first car was a 1984 scirocco in 1991. Bought it was 82,000 miles for 3,500 dollars and drove It until I was rear ended. Had 271,000 miles on it. Great cars they were!

I miss the 80's everyday...the cars the music the movies...🥰🥰

Love these really older reviews and loved being a teen at that time in the 80's.

The side profile of this car looks so good.

I miss those days when I was a young man in his '82 280ZX cruising the streets of Westwood CA on weekends.

Seeing this car reminds me of my wife's (then- girlfriend) Honda CRX. My buddies and I would frequently pick it up, and turn it sideways in the parking lot, much to her dismay. 😂 Miss those old manual-shift simple cars.

Bring back the punching a seat test!

I had an '84. Simply wonderful little car! It wasn't fast, per se, but, it was light, responsive, and, handled like it was on rails. So, fun to drive, and, with excellent fuel economy.

So great to see these old reviews.

VW in 1982: $10,000 and 40 mpg I've had Sciroccos for many years in Germany. Great cars!

Had a silver 1984 Scirocco as my first car in high school in the early 90s. Learned how to drive a stick on this. A good alternative to the Celica and Prelude and a better alternative to the Dodge Daytona back in the day. Also a cheaper alternative to the more pricey 16V version. Car and Driver had the 0-60 on the 8V at 10.7 sec and the 16V at 7.7 sec (both 5 speed comparisons). Glad MW is posting these classic videos

79 sciroco was my first car. With a 4 speed. It was begging for a 5th gear at 70mph😂. Great little car.

Solid machine. Kinda rare to see one on the streets now.

Gotta love the single wiper. Still a clean classic design.

Wow, I didn't know the S2 kept the single wiper in its early years. I really like the green color of the test vehicle!

Wanted one years ago. Still a nice looking economy car!

I would like to have this exact car today, that green is sexy and the lines are perfect. Early 80's were a rough time for cars but VW had it figured out.

Love that forest green colour

Drove one of these and a Rabbit, too, in high school. Both were fast as heck and handled extremely well.

My family had a few original Beetles and a Fox, but I wanted one of those as a kid SO badly. I’d still drive that one in that beautiful green spec with the tan interior. Currently got the electronic brochure saved showing that very spec.🔥

I love the austere interiors of the '80s.

A VERY special memory I will always have is sitting in a fire engine red Volkswagen Scirocco in the showroom at Atamian Honda/Volkswagen in Tewksbury, MA in the summer of 1984 while my parents checked out a Honda Civic Wagovan right next to me as we were shopping for a replacement for our 1977 Chevrolet Concours, which ended up being our Glacier Blue Metallic 1985 Dodge Colt Vista. To this day, I will NEVER forget how cool I looked in that car!!!!!!

$10,150 in 1982 = $32,150 in today's money 🤔 Always liked the MkII Scirocco though I never had a chance to own one. Review didn't mention the single large windshield wiper the 82-84(?) Sciroccos had. Thought that was the coolest thing back in the day

I owned a 1981 VW Scirocco, fuel injectors failed, reverse gear broke, constantly having electrical problems. Then I purchased a Toyota Celica, reliability and resale, what’s not to love!

I Love these old Motorweek clips ❤ John Davis so serious and honest.A bit Gosche??😂

I had this same car, same color in the ‘80’s in Chicago. Great in the snow. Also could fit 2 guitar cases, an amp road case and a Marshall 4x12 speaker cabinet plus a pedal board. Crazy it all fit. Was a great reliable car.

I owned one of these and drove it all over Canada. Its compact and sexy design appealed to me. The aero must have been pretty good, because that little 1.7L engine gave high cruising speeds, and the car never felt unstable. Still nice to look at and a car with German handing and build quality at a bargain price.

Its a shame that some of the hatchbacks we've seen and heard are no longer sell in America today.

I saw one of these in Cininnati a couple weeks ago. It was in pretty good shape.

Hey) I love these old retro reviews 😊

Had a 75. Ran it hard but it got to the point that I had to have lots to tools in the trunk to keep it running. One time with VW was enough. Only Hondas since.

When I used to autocross my MGB in the early 80s, Sciroccos were the toughest competition in my class.

Owned an 86. Recaro seats. Beautiful car

I had one of these for 4 weeks in 1992. Absolutely loved it. Then I took a very quick shortcut through a gas station just as a girl with a Chevy Beretta was taking a very quick shortcut the opposite way. She t-boned me in the passenger side. The impact knocked the lightweight 'Rocco into a light pole on my driver's side, crumpling the unibody. She was screaming at me about the paint missing from her front bumper as I looked dazedly at my ruined 'Rocco. I had paid $1000 for it, and the insurance company gave me $1200.

This was my first car! Loved it, but like the MKI gen better. Great little cars getting over 30 mpg back then.

God I loved my scirocco. It was fun and practical simple to maintain and just sporting enough.

My dad had one of these but can't remember the year, and he absolutely loved it. Had it for a while until it decided to it wanted to be Italian on the highway. Thankfully he was able to get off and out and wasn't hurt

One of my 80s faves (super fan of 1st gen!). Had no idea Motorweek was putting out material that long ago. Wow!

A friend in high school (1980 - 1984) loved his maroon Scirocco. I had a 1976 Fiat 128 3p, also a hatchback 😊, that always broke down !

UPLOAD MORE!!!!!!!!!! i can't get enough of the 80s music, lol

Owned two of these, an '84 and a really killer '87 16v. Loved both of them!

Had one of these and a fox. Great little cars that cost nearly nothing to drive.

Working on restoring my Mars Red 1985 Mk2 from the rear to the front (RU-vid Project Scirocco). I'm the only owner and I drove it a tad past 100K and then it sat for 15 years. It has been a heck of a ride so far...

I wish they still made simple cars like back in these days

I've always liked VW Sciroccos. I've never really had the chance to see very many though. It was always special to see one on the road.

A buddy of mine took one of the 88' 16v 'roccos with a blown motor in it and took the entire drive train out of a wrecked 1st gen audi tt quatro and put it in the 'rocco. Everything... engine, tranny, haladex AWD system. Stripped the interior, put racing seats and a cage in it, fuel cell... The damn thing was an absolute track monster. The 1.8t engine got alot of work on it, it never got dynoed but it was running well over 20 pounds of boost. We guessed it was making north of 325hp at the wheels. In a chassis that went just about a ton in stock form... the power from that built 1.8t was incredible.

The design of the VW Scirocco II was originally a contest between Pininfarina and VWs own design centre in Germany. VW chose the design of their own studio so it is not Italian design. In the 80s there was a special edition called Scala where you could order a white exterior with almost all white cloths inside.

I had an 81, the last year of the Mark 1 version as my first car in the late 80's. Loved that car.

Oh man I wanted that car so bad in the early 90s

my father still has his alpine white 86 16v. original paint too looks great

74 horsepower... Zero to sixty time of 11.5 seconds

Same 1.7L engine(in carburtered form) in the original Chrysler twins Omni/Horizon. Chrysler purchased engines from VW to launch it's Omni/Horizon twins in 1978.

I love these old retro reviews!

bought an '88 scirocco 1.8 as my first car last year. Still holds up great today and is a lot of fun to drive. Also turns a lot of heads since they've become pretty rare.

I had a 1981, great car. A young man in Atlanta has it now. It is absolutely beautiful, he did a great job modding it. Fast as hell now.

I always thought this was a pretty cool car although not quite as cool as the Corrado. It's too bad the 3rd gen never made it to N.America.

fantastic color

Had a golf from this era. Steering was super accurate and it was fantastic road trip vehicle. The upshift light was best addressed with a piece of electrical tape in the right spot

neighbors uncle had scirocco's in the 80's they looked sweet, VW was always bold with scirocco badging and it goes well with the tough sport attitude of the design.

I think it's cool how you can use the back bumper as a picnic table. 🤣

I bought a used 1982 or '84 Scirocco in 1989 and kept it for about five years. It was fun to drive and I loved the look of it. At the time it had an exotic look the wedge shape was cool in the 80s like a Lambo or Lotus. But the electrical panel which was just above my right knee caught fire halfway through an intersection. Fixed that and sold it as soon as I could.

It's unfortunate that VW did not make it's replacement (Corrado) more affordable like the Mk II Scirocco. By 1990 a base Corrado was like $17,900 while there were cheaper alternatives (ie a non- turbo base version of the Eagle Talon/ Chrysler Laser) which were perfect 8v Scirocco replacements. VW could have capitalized on the market by offering a non- supercharger base Corrado to compete with those cars. Even though the Mk II Scirocco was never a strong seller when they entered the market, I believe that they were stonger sellers than the Corrado replacement. I guess VW did not want to cannibalize GTI 8V sales.

I had a used 76 Scirocco in 1977. When the 1978 redesign with the new front bumpers came out in November of 77 I saw it on the showroom floor and put a down-payment on it and bought it immediately. It was the Wolfsburg edition it was Alpine white all the trim is blacked out the dealership had put 50 series tires on it it has air dam upfront it was all it was the most beautiful car I'd ever seen. I gave him a check to hold it and I'll be back in the morning with financing. It was only $7,000. I kept that car from November of nineteen seventy-seven till summer of 1985. Of course I replace the brakes myself and the batteries the only money that I had to pay for it was a water pump and that cost me a whole $22 I have to say that was one of the smartest and best cars I've ever bought cuz if you amortize that from the year I bought it over the time I had it $7,000 that was a good buy. I still wish I had it today it looks so damn good all white with blacked-out trim. I've never owned a car since that I loved as much as that VW Scirocco.

Drove one all through high school and four years of college. Wish I had never sold it.

Had one. Loved it. Lady blew a stop light and totaled it.

I've had 2 Sciroccos in my years. The first one was an identical twin to this one. Loved that green. Never saw another green since. I carried 7 drunk airmen from Mardi gras in New Orleans back to Keesler AFB in Biloxi. The SP at the gate understood the assignment and let me through since I was sober.

We had a Scirocco when I was a kid and it drove like an Italian sport car. After getting home from the grocery store half of the eggs were broken, then I dropped the shopping bag on the garage floor and that took care of the other half.

These were great cars.

Cool then, cool now

Thanks MOTORWEEK, Wish I could go to the dealership and buy one of these today !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and Volkswagen, taking the Pedestrian Golf away from North America was just plain Dumb!!!!!!!!!!!!

There was nothing "Italian designed " about this update, it was designed entirely in-house. Italdesign (Giugiaro's firm) designed the original Scirocco and Golf/Rabbit. He proposed a design that VW turned down, which was then sold to Isuzu and became the original Impulse.

YES!!! Now we're talkin!

I had a white 1982 Scirocco I traded a CJ 5 Jeep for with my brother. It was an old car then in 1995 and I recall the shifter falling through the floor on the way to work one day. Rubber bushing that held it in wore out. Cheap fix. That car could make a u-turn in a single lane- very fun car to drive!

Oh how I miss mine

I still see these in Europe from time to time when I visit. Red is one of the more popular colors that I noticed. Sorry i got that confused with the Corrado.I know this is a difference reference, but my wife owned a Renault Twingo. Europe always had interesting hatchbacks, and if you could maintain one, it would last for years.

I was in love with the Scirocco II Scala as a kid... of course the 16V was where it was at, but I didn´t know that back then, just walked by a beautiful Scala frequently and thought that I´d want that if I was an adult :)

"What’s this? A Key to a Volkswagen Scirocco? Whats this doing in here? They Don't even Make that car anymore!" - Stewie Griffin

All it needed was VWs legendary 16v engine and some good aftermarket wheels.

these were very light weight and did not need a lot of power to feel zippy.

I paid $10,900 for a metallic red 1982. I like that green color though. It was the best choice for the money. Awesome Seats, Good MPG RX7's were over $12,000 and on a waiting list BMW 320i was over $14,000 1982 z28's were over $14,000

My first car was '83 Jetta with 1.8 GT motor swap but I was always looking at Sciroccos with awe.

That rear bumper though. Yuuuuge!

Love the squeaks when first showing the green Scirocco driving down the road 😂😅

long gone are the days when VW made excellent cars with great styling

A Gen1 Scirocco was one of the cars to have when I was in high school. This car was NEVER a sports car, it was a sporty car.

Love the 2nd gen styling; very similar to the Audi 100/200 Avant of late 80s with that rear glass/spoiler feature.

When I was a kid this older girl had a Scirocco and she was just the coolest lady in town.

I always wanted one I thought I saw one for sale it turned out to be a 77 VW dasher so i bought that instead. VW made very slow but reliable engines back then

Oddly no complaints about missing oil pressure and volt meter gauges from JD this time

Those bumpers are outrageous 😂

My dream car in high school.

I had this one...miss it 😢

Little-known fact: This car's version for the Asian markets was named VW Sriracha.

I've always missed the version of the Motorweek theme like the end of the clip

2000lbs! Kit car weight today. Light cars are simply more fun to drive.