Volkswagen's sublime new Scirocco

Price: £20,940 (2.0 TSI model). Engine: 1,984cc, four-cylinder turbo.Top speed: 146mph. 0-62mph: 7.2 secs. Power: 197bhp @ 5,100rpm.

The wait to drive Volkswagen's "sublime" new Scirocco on UK roads is finally over, says Chris Knapman in Performance Car. But it was worth the wait. Charging down narrow and bumpy roads in it reminds Knapman why he fell in love with the car on its launch back in June: the hard-revving engine, "the whole thing feeling alert, composed and really rather special". It's a difficult car to pigeonhole. It has coup lines, but none of the sacrifices, there's room for four adults, a decent boot, running costs are reasonable, performance unquestionable and, at £20,940, its pricing is "aggressive rather than merely competitive". All that makes it more than a match for any rival coup or hot hatch. And it's "more accomplished as a driver's car than we dared hope", with better steering and handling than the Golf GTI on which it's based.

The Scirocco is "an absolute steal, all the more so when you consider its probable high resale values", says What Car. Fuel consumption could be steep if you drive the car hard, but take it easy and the 1.4-litre model's 43.4mpg and 2.0's 37.1mpg "look reasonable".

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The new car does the same job the "cultish" old Scirocco did, says Gavin Conway in The Sunday Times "takes reliable, proven VW mechanicals and wraps them in a form that will make people point and smile". Jeremy Clarkson, also writing in The Sunday Times, agrees. "To most people it's just another car. But for those of us who had the old one, it arrives on the scene, after a 15-year period of nothing but grey skies and drizzle, like the warm, fast wind from which it takes its name."