VW Iroc: Fit to carry the Scirocco name?

Read here a first hand report on the launch of the VW Iroc concept and why the author believes that it's not a Scirocco! Plus see some great shots from the event.

I begged senior editor Joe DeMatio to let me go to Berlin for last week’s unveiling of Volkswagen’s IROC, the concept version of the soon-to-be resurrected VW Scirocco. My argument was simple: I’m the only person in the office who owns a vintage Scirocco, so I should be the first to see the new one.

My tactic worked. I gathered up my passport and some business cards and uploaded a few photos of my mint Flash Silver 1987 16V onto my cell phone. Betting I’d be the only journalist there who owns a Scirocco, I’d show my baby off to anyone who would look at it.

The press photos you may have already seen do this car no justice. It’s gorgeous. It’s wide, low, and muscular. You would definitely notice it coming up in your rearview mirror. The rear fenders are so aggressively flared that you want to caress them. The way the brushed stainless-steel grille surround intersects with the painted, plastic bumperette is fascinating. The cooling ducts for the brakes look hotter than the rotors they’re supposed to keep cool, and the integrated exhaust tips look positively menacing.

The closer you look, the more interesting details you see--the way the hatch hinges are neatly integrated into the big rear spoiler, for example. And I wish I could have just one of those seats in my car. (Or in my office or my living room, for that matter.)