We’re all eager to eek out a as many miles as possible from our cars but VW Heritage customers, Stephen Metcalf, has taken things to the extreme with his mint-looking Mk2 Scirocco. With a cool half a million miles clocked up and counting, this is certainly one seriously leggy VW – and one that bears testament to our favourite marque’s granite-like build and longevity…
Looking as pristine as it does, it’s difficult to believe the sparkling red ‘Rocco has truly covered such an intergalactic mileage but as Stephen confirms, it’s all down to unfettered love and care – and keeping on top of regular maintenance.
“The key to its long life has been to treat it well, look after it, keep it serviced – and to drive it regularly. The only problems I have had is when I stopped using it for a month or two,” smiles Stephen.
The Scirocco was purchased by his brother in 1995, when it had clocked up just over 100,000 miles, and it was sold to Stephen five years later after just 25k had been added. It was at about this time that the mega miles starting piling on…
“I had just moved to Oxford and needed a car to commute back and forth to High Wycombe,” explains Stephen. “I had the car converted to run on LPG in 2000 at a cost of £1200 which was twice the cost of the car! However, this money was claimed back in the first year with the fuel savings. When I changed jobs in 2001 to become a field engineer, I was able to use the Scirocco as my company car, travelling between 40k to 50k each year for the next five years then between 15-20k a year for the seven years after that – hence the high mileage!”
Despite getting more use in this short period of time than most cars get in an entire lifeftime, unbelievably the rugged Scirocco has not had any major restoration work – merely regular running repairs with oil changes being carried out every 10,000 miles on the dot. The engine and gearbox are both the originals and have never been rebuilt or repaired and Stephen’s kept a close eye on what’s needed replacement and when.
Clutch – 150k-200k
Drive Shafts – 200k
Suspension – 150k-200k
Steering Rack – 200k
Radiator – 100k
Master cylinder – 400k
Said Stephen: “I swapped the original exhaust with a stainless system in 2004 and the same one is still on there and I changed the interior for a more modern version at about the same time and refurbished the driver’s seat. The carb was changed in 2005 for a Weber and I added inertia rear seatbelts so my kids could sit in the back. It doesn’t drink any oil or use any water. The only big bills were incurred when I refurbished the brakes and suspension, but this has been more than covered by the amount of money it earned when being used as a company car – on top of the car allowance I received I made a profit of 9p per mile for all those years. In fact, I’ve always been surprised by the car’s economy – I find it’s still cheaper to run than my 2009 Vectra diesel.”
Impressively, the car is still used every day for Stephen’s regular commute (a round trip of a 100 miles) and he reports it still returns roughly 37mpg while travelling at 65mph. Build in the fact that it’s running on LPG, that means the driving range is an impressive 300-360 miles per tank – and it only costs £27 to fill up!
Jobs to be done, says Stephen, include fixing a blowing exhaust manifold – which he intends to change replace with a stainless steel item and a cambelt change. Oh, and apparently the horn’s a bit iffy…
As we write the speedo reading is 476,000 miles but as Stephen found a VW receipt for a brand new speedo when the car had covered just 24,000 miles, there’s a good chance it’s already passed the half-a-million-mile mark. No doubt when the magic 500,000 finally does appear on the odometer, there will be a glass of champagne raised in the Metcalf household. And you never know, the leggy Scirocco may even get let off its daily drive in celebration…
Ian
The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of VW Heritage