You are not allowed to own a third generation Volkswagen Scirocco in the United States. Since the introduction of the Scirocco in 2008, it will not be legal to import the Scirocco for another decade (until 2033). And yet, this 2008 Volkswagen Scirocco is here in the United States, San Francisco to be exact. And it’s not just for sale on Cars & Bids, but you can also register legally. Supposedly.
As Doug Demuro explains in the video below, the owner bought the Scirocco new in Europe and stripped it down so he could import the body and interior as auto parts rather than as a car. He then sent it along with a 2008 Volkswagen R32 to HPA Motorsports in Canada, where they put the Scirocco body on the R32. So you have an R32 Scirocco that you can technically legally own and drive in the US
But the HPA did not stop there. They also added a twin-turbo kit that boosts it to 565 horsepower and 550 lb-ft of torque when running on race gas. It also received new wheels, brakes, suspension and a hydraulic nose lift system. This wasn’t some random custom shop that threw random upgrades on the car to make it go faster, either. It was HPA, one of the best Volkswagen tuners in the world. It may have cost the owner over $100,000, but the end result is a car you’d hardly know had been modified if it wasn’t lowered.
And while Doug’s video of the Franken-Scirocco touches on the car’s performance, The Smoking Tire also got a chance to drive it in the canyons to see how it handles.. As it turns out, he drives brilliantly. It’s almost as if Volkswagen factory built it to go that fast. Except, you know, it wasn’t. Because these are two cars from two different continents, pressed into one.
Could you buy a used Lamborghini for the money it’s likely to sell for? Sure. But every rich person can buy a Lamborghini. Why wouldn’t you rather spend your money on what’s likely to be the only third-generation Volkswagen Scirocco in the US? In fact, it is something interesting and special.
