Volkswagen Scirocco (2008 - 2018) 2.0 TDi BlueMotion Tech GT (Nav/Leather) 3d Owner Review

So I bought my Scirocco 2.0tdi [138] in March 2022 for £8000 while it had just under 93,000 miles, which i'm aware was massively overpriced, but I bought into it at the wrong time as all used car prices were ridiculous. I'd only briefly driven a mk5 golf GTI Ed30 and a 1.0 Polo [52] prior to this so was fairly open minded about stepping into the realm of Volkswagen. I was sold immediately after test driving it, as it was a rare colour combo (red with black and cream leather interior and black roof lining). That and the way it felt and drove, was just spot on. Unfortunately that's where the initial love stopped, as 6 miles later the EML made an appearance, I did the diagnostics myself and it was an electrical EGR issue, which upon further investigation required an entire new EGR, which I didn't have the money for, so unfortunately that issue went resolved for the length of my ownership due to the dealership acknowledging but disregarding my complaint. That being said it didn't seem to cause any real issue with the running of the engine which was solid and never let me down. However due to the way in which the EGR valve works, over time diesel would seep into the crankcase, which would leave me having to carry out at least an oil and filter service every 2500-3500 miles at most, as by this time there would be in excess of 7.5 litres of total fluid in the sump, VW specify that the car takes 4.3 litres of oil which shows the extent of the problem.

Now with all of that being said, I loved the car. I regularly commuted from my home in Liverpool to my work in Mannheim, Germany via the Calais/Dover ferry route and would finish the drive with a quarter of a tank remaining, and the cluster would show an MPG reading of anywhere between 60 with a heavy foot, up to 84.8 with a deliberately frugal driving style.

So economy is definitely a box well ticked, but also the way it handled was beautiful, for the lowest factory power output of all diesel engines in the pre face-lift model, it certainly could take a B road in an unfathomable way. It would take any and all abuse I threw at it and never gave me any moments thinking "this is going to end badly". The quoted 0-60 time for this particular engine was 9.3 seconds, but I accurately timed it to 8.4 myself consistently.

Only other niggly bad points that are worth mentioning are the drone from the engine which at around 2000-2500rpm was noticeable (until I deafened myself further with excessively loud music), and the visibility out of the rear window, both through the rear view mirror and while turning round to look, is lacking somewhat due to the sloping roof line.

There are a few other problems I had that were somewhat intermittent, the boot latch was temperamental and wouldn't open unless you pulled on it whilst pressing the key fob, and the bonnet latch wouldn't secure the bonnet when I closed it, fortunately this was a short lived issue.

So to summarise it's a brilliant drivers car, regardless of the type of driving, with fantastic fuel economy and a beautiful design, but just take heed and thoroughly check the car over if you're considering buying one, including plugging in via the OBD port for hidden issues.

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