Brisbane Scirocco R Oldie & Newbie!

[flying doc roc]

Hi to the VW forum community. I am a 73yr old recently retired solo GP. I have maintained my medical registration & stay up to date with CME.

I was seduced by the design, pictures & reviews of the Scirocco in overseas motor magazines from about 2008. Prior to my retirement from a busy solo practice with long hours in 2011, I had visited VW Dealers & phoned VW Australia three times over two years as to whether they intended to import the Scirocco to Australia. As late as Feb.2011 i was assured it was not on their list & would not fulfil Australian ADRs. I lusted over the SciroccoR but decided the few imports at $80K was excessive.

My steed at that time was an APS modified 1997 WRX with an output of 206KW(ECU upgrade, cold air intake, mandrel bent 3" exhaust with twin s/steel 3" tips, & water injection).It served me well until I bequeathed it to my youngest son in 2012 (then aged 35 yrs)

In March 2011 my wife needed a new vehicle, so we bought a Lexus IS350, a very comfortable, well finished performance "sleeper". Within a month, VWA announced they were importing the Roc R.I was NOT amused!

In Sept.2011 i ordered an Indium Grey Scirocco R with DSG,Dynaudio & Sat nav. It arrived in Mar2012,with personal plates ROC 41(for one) & had window tinting, Infinity paint protection (with yearly top up), stainless steel footrest covers, & boot mat since added. It has been upgraded in 2015 & 2016 to APR Stage 2+ with the excellent help of Harding Performance & Prestige & Performance. I was initially hesitant to upgrade because of warranty issues but now wished I had done it earlier. I must complement Guy & Louise Harding & staff on their approachability & guidance in these upgrades & note my absolute disgust in the manner that they were treated by APR in 2016.
I decided to upgrade after I developed a rare, aggressive, locally advanced Ductal Variant form of Prostate Cancer in 2014 which does not produce PSA to give any forewarning of disease & had a grim prognosis. With negative PET Scans on follow up in 2015 & 2016, I decided a suitable reward was performance upgrades.
I have been delighted with the vehicle & the upgrades. With wider tracks & lighter weight, it is more agile & fun to drive & prettier to look at, than a Golf "R", but requires a gentle progressive R foot to avoid wheel spin even into 4th gear. I drive it only manually with paddles.Keeping it pristine is one of my delights of retirement.In 38000km my only problem was a fuel line rattle below 1000rpm that was quickly picked up & fixed by P&P. It seems it was more common on the Polo from my forum reading.

I have read from the sidelines of this forum since 2010 & gleaned lots of useful information, & I have been a registered member of Scirocco Central UK since 2010. I have now joined the forum to avail myself of Track Days & "Happy Laps"(of which I was totally unaware until I started to read the "Today Posts") & hopefully to contribute to the Scirocco Forum as contributions have declined with no new Scirocco development on the horizon due to the cost to VW of the "Dieselgate" debacle.Personally, I think the same issue has occurred in other European brands & is yet to be uncovered.

I graduated in Medicine 50 years ago this year, & after serving my residency at the RBWH & getting married in 1968, being a State Fellowship recipient, we were despatched to a far western Qld remote town of Augathella of which I had never heard!! They were 8 good & happy years of family & medical practice in a friendly & grateful community with our family growing almost every year!
My "flying doc roc" forum name is derived from my years serving in Augathella Base Hospital as a Med Super with Private Practice where I serviced 2 other hospitals, one day each week, @ 110 miles(Morven) & 75 miles(Tambo) in a Candy Apple Red XW GT Falcon(1969-1971) & a Monza Green Phase 3 XY GTHO Falcon(1971-1976).Concurrent with the GT HO I ran a Burnt Orange XB GT Coupe from 1974.I was soon given the nick-name of "The Flying Doctor".After I returned to B'bane in 1977 my record times for these weekly trips became folklore & notoriously shorter with the 75 miles reduced from 50mins to 40mins!
I kept the HO until 1982 when I sold it for $16K( bought for $5280).Before the GFC they went >$800K!!!

I have been a "petrol head" since primary school when the throb of a Customline V8 was exciting.I started reading "Popular Mechanics" in the library of the One Mile State School in Gympie in Grade 6. I have read most motoring magazines since I was a teenager. I have owned some interesting performance vehicles over 56 years that I may list in a later post.With six children to educate, bring up & accomodate, the choice of vehicles was cost limited & my wife's vehicle needed 7 seats.
The notable advances have been in safety, braking, handling & performance.A Falcon Phase3 GTHO would not see where my Scirocco R has gone with the Roc producing 270+KW from 2Litres & the HO fewer KW from 5.7L.& my only regret in selling the HO would be financial but not motoring enjoyment.
My only other European car experience was a Lancia Beta Coupe which I bought in 1976 when the V8s were starting to get strangled by emission controls.(Sold the XB GT Coupe) I can't say it was wonderful, always feeling nose heavy & easily bottoming out on its front suspension. I traded it in 1981 for a "Brock" Commodore & that is where I should stop this car story for now.It will be continued at a later date on a different forum.

At the moment I feel well &, within the limits of PET Scanning, I am disease free having had a local recurrence in 2016 that responded to 7weeks of Radiotherapy.I look forward to writing more in the Scirocco Forum, reading this Forum daily, & to hearing your comments.

[tigger73]

Welcome and good to have another Rocco owner/enthusiast on board


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[flying doc roc]

Thanks tigger73. You have kept the Scirocco forum alive with your thread & I have enjoyed reading of your progress & your more recent regression to Stage !. Noise can be overwhelming but I find the VWR cold air intake & APR Downpipe to a standard exhaust comfortable wrt noise.

[tigger73]

For me it wasn't so much about the noise (the Ram Air intake was quite noisy), however drive-ability was better with stage 1 for general running around town which is what I do 95% of the time.

The stage 2 real benefits were at the top end above 5,500rpm where it would keep pulling to redline. However if you're on the road doing that at the top of 3rd gear then you're quickly heading into lose-your-license territory. And I kind of need to have my car for work.

The reality is even going for runs through the hills the stage 1 tune is more than enough. I do miss the DSG farts and over-run crackle but I think the trade-off to have improved throttle response at low rpm for everyday driving far outweighs the pops and crackles once a month on a hills run.