[s-cars] Sciroccos and Audis

[Steve Voit]

My Scirocco was a '77 which I bought new as a college kid after my bro
totaled my Honda car, cobalt blue with tan inside; I even rented a garage
off campus so I could lavish attention on it during the winter months. I was
in Boulder CO and worked up at Winter Park 2 days per week - my winter
driving skills were very well honed.  Used to take pride that I went 150k
miles w/o snow tires, and used chains only once.  In those days the hwy dept
used to place retirees in lawn chairs with blankets and thermos bottles in
the middle of the 2 lane highway to stop traffic (can you believe that) and
verify that snow tires were in place before heading over the pass.  I used
to pull up and say, 'snows all around' and they would wave me through - I'm
not sure they knew what a tire was, much less the snow version.  Handbrake
turns were a marvelous aspect of this car, too, and I used to be able to
spot a parallel parking spot on the other side of the road and execute a 180
right into position.  It was very cool.  I recently attempted this on a biz
trip in a rental Toyota Corolla - 30 years later -- in Spokane, WA right in
front of a coffee shop I was to visit.  Bad idea: no damage, but no friends
made either.  Fortunately my appointment had not yet arrived.

A BMW 3.0CS, 944, Turbo Volvo, Turbo Saab later I find that the S6 is the
only car since that has rekindled the kind of fondness I had for the
Scirocco.  It's the combination of engineering content and performance,
sure, but there's somehow a soul to the car that I think stems from
understated competence and exquisite design - all at once.

BTW, I can see why the S8 guys are getting  their rocks off.  I think the S8
has much the same persona, but with V8 torque.  My concern is for mileage,
and I don't think the trans has the personality of the new stuff, does it?
Related, I drove a friend's VW Eos with the V6 and auto/manual transmission.
Can't say enough about how well this trans worked - I really is a different
experience from the auto-stick that we've all experienced in the rental
fleet - nice (fast) 6 speed shifts, rev matched downshifts, multiple
programs - an engaging driving experience.  While I'm a die-hard for
manuals, I would consider the new VW/Audi boxes as an alternative and I
NEVER thought I'd say that.

Thanks for the memories,

Steve, soundin' old but not so very old as I sound, V.

95.5 S6 Seattle