Volkswagen's Scirocco, a sporty coupe based on the Golf platform, had gone through a couple generations when it was supplanted in the lineup by a burlier replacement, based on the Mk2 Golf/Jetta, the new VW Corrado.
Introduced to the US market for the 1990 model year, the Corrado was a burlier, more pugnacious-looking ride than its predecessor.
Whereas the second generation Scirocco had been a graceful wedge, carrying over the general aesthetic of the Giugiaro-penned original, the Corrado looked like someone had stepped on a Golf and then gotten it mad.
It was definitely a more serious ride than its predecessor. You had to pay extra for the swoopy engines in the Scirocco, because in the '80s German automakers acted like 4V heads were special unobtainium and priced them accordingly, while the Japanese companies were sticking DOHC fours in every secretarymobile. The base '87 Scirocco motor was an 8V 1.8L four rated at 94 horsepower, and you had to pony up another $2,300... one fifth the base price of the car ...to upgrade to the 127-horse 16V version.
In the new Corrado, on the other hand, even the base motor was a 1.8L 16V unit, now rated at 134hp. Corrado buyers who wanted to party could order the G60, with had an 8V 1.8L sporting a scroll-type supercharger, intercooler, and 158 SAE net horsepower.
In an eight-way comparison test of sporty four-cylinder 2+2 coupes in 1992, Car and Driver gave the Corrado G60 a 5th place finish. The supercharged motor powered the stubby VW to a 7.5 second zero-to-sixty time and a 15.9 quarter mile at 87 mph. With a 130 mile per hour top speed and a 0.81g skidpad performance, these were decent numbers for an early Nineties sporty coupe
When they first came out, I wasn't a fan. They looked so much bulkier than the sleek Scirocco they replaced, but the shape has aged well, and I love the eccentric engine options and funky details like the retractable spoiler.
The one in the photos was snapped in the upper valley region of New Hampshire in April of 2015 using a Nikon Coolpix P7000.
I test drove one of these, in this color, the G60 version, in about 1991. It might have been a leftover 90. I was coming from a bunch of beaters and then my first new car, an 89 Chevy Beretta. The Corrado was easily a better handler and was much quicker. It would not have been much of a stretch for me to buy it. But in those days I was staunch about rowing my own gears and this Corrado was an automatic. In retrospect, I was being silly and should have bought the Corrado.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been a fun ride for sure!
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