VW took a new approach with its 2007 Eos convertible. The roof is a "CSC" hardtop—for coupe-sunroof-convertible—and opens and closes with the push of a button.
An innovative, new convertible is in U.S. showrooms for its first warm-weather season, and it's bound to make consumers hope that plenty of warm, sunny days arrive quickly.
The new-for-2007 Volkswagen Eos isn't just appropriately named (Eos is the Greek goddess of dawn).
On the road or on an auto show turntable, the subcompact Eos two door looks sunny, appealing and, well, youthful.
It's also intriguingly practical, with four usable seats, a full complement of modern safety equipment, including airbags for head protection and roll bars, and a starting manufacturer's suggested retail price of $28,110 with a hardtop roof—not fabric.
Plus, the Eos debuted as the fourth best convertible nameplate in the U.S. in fuel economy for the 2007 model year. The base Eos, with a turbocharged four cylinder and manual transmission, is rated at 23 miles a gallon in city driving and 32 mpg on the highway. Only the 2007 MINI Cooper, Mazda MX-5 and Audi A4 Cabriolet rate higher than the Eos.
That's not all. The Eos has an innovative, stacking, five-piece roof that incorporates a glass sunroof. So, Eos drivers have three choices while they travel: a coupe with closed-up roof and sunroof for excellent sound—and heat—insulation, a coupe with sunroof for use on those not-so-warm and not-so-cold mornings, and a convertible with roof fully down and stowed in back when the sun shines gloriously warm and bright. (Note that both roof and sunroof are completely power-operated. All a driver has to do is push a button.)
Buyers of the Eos in the U.S. won't see a lot of other Eos cars on the roads. Though Eos quickly became the No. 1 selling convertible in Europe after going on sale there in 2006, its U.S. sales are expected to average only some 1,000 per month. This is less than the low-volume sales of Nissan's 350Z sports car and Mazda's MX-5 Miata.
First Hardtop VW Convertible
Volkswagen officials decided to build a first-for-VW hardtop convertible after seeing that major competitors in Europe were designing and planning for hardtops. These included Peugeot and Renault, which do not sell vehicles in the States.
Hardtop roof technology has gotten better in recent years—less pricey and less prone to repair problems. Indeed, besides VW and its Eos, Pontiac in calendar 2006 introduced a hardtop convertible called the G6, Volvo debuted its first hardtop [[%LNKC70|VipModelYearSelMM|Volvo|C70|news%], and Mazda added a hardtop version of its Miata for the first time. Both the G6 and hardtop Miata have starting retail prices in the $20,000s, while Volvo's C70 starts in the high $30,000s.
A hardtop can be safer in a crash than a car with a fabric roof, obviously, because when the steel roof is up on the car it can help keep occupants inside and manage some crash forces.
A hardtop also can be less prone to theft incidents—no slash-and-grabs, at least. And a hardtop that's up on the car can reduce car shake and shudder over road bumps, especially railroad crossings.
But a hardtop is more costly than a fabric roof. It's more complex in how it operates and typically takes longer to go up and down than does a fabric roof. (The Eos roof, for example, has some 470 parts, is operated via four hydraulic cylinder pairs that have to be configured to work in harmony with each other and takes 25 seconds to go down.)
A hardtop also adds considerable weight to a convertible, which already weighs more than a regular car because of the heavy reinforcements needed to keep the roof-less structure rigid and strong. The added weight can affect handling and fuel economy.
The Eos Roof "Performs"
Watching the roof go down on the Eos would likely make the car's namesake Greek goddess beam. The trunk lid opens clamshell-style, side members swivel and roof panels stack on top of each other all on their own in an orchestrated fashion.
The action is confined to a more compact space than you might expect. VW officials even say that the Eos can be opened or closed inside many household garages, because the roof machinations don't extend upward that far.
But be sure to watch there's enough distance between the Eos and a car behind in a parking lot or the garage wall in back. The clamshell-opening trunk lid needs room to move out of the way for the roof parts and could crash into something behind the car. Oops! So, VW even sells a Trunk Lid Assistance option that uses sensors in the rear bumper to prevent the roof from going up or down unless there's enough distance behind the car for the clamshell trunk lid to maneuver.
You may have noticed that many convertible roofs are rather flat on top. This helps condense the space needed for the folding and storage of the roof, which typically has only three panels. But the fully lined Eos hardtop has a slight curvature right over the passenger compartment. This not only improves headroom—37.5 inches in the front seat and 35.8 inches in back, which is nearly as good as the headroom in the roundly roofed VW New Beetle hatchback. It gives the Eos a subtly unique shape. But because the roof folds into five separate pieces, it still doesn't devour too much storage space.
Indeed, the Eos trunk offers a commendable 6.6 cubic feet of cargo room when the roof is down. There's a competitive 10.5 cubic feet back there when the Eos roof is up on the car.
The Eos is front-wheel drive and based on the platform of VW's Jetta sedan. Air conditioning is standard on all Eos models, though it's dual-zone Climatronic in the uplevel trims with a nice feature that automatically adjusts for top-up and top-down driving.
An awesome, 600-watt sound system from Danish high-end audio maker Dynaudio is available from VW. With a 10-channel digital amplifier and 10 speakers, it was especially designed for the interior of the Eos.
And don't fret about having an antenna mounted somewhere on the removable roof. No antennas are visible on the Eos with the top up or down..
Turbo and V6 engines
VW gives buyers a choice of two engines and two transmissions in the Eos.
The base car, with the attainable price tag, comes with a 200-horsepower 2.0-liter turbocharged and intercooled, inline four cylinder with six-speed manual transmission. Torque from this engine with Fuel Stratified Injection (FSI) peaks at 207 lb-ft starting at 1800 rpm and going to 5000 rpm. Premium unleaded gasoline is the recommended fuel.
The optional, six-speed Direct Sequential Gearbox automatic transmission with Tiptronic isn't available on the base Eos. So buyers must move up to the next level of Eos and a starting price of more than $31,000.
Buyers who want leather seats or satellite radio must select a pricey option package adding at least another $3,400 to the car. So it can be easy to get the Eos into luxury-car pricing territory.
VW's compact, 3.2-liter VR V6 generates 250 horses in the Eos and 235 lb-ft of torque at 2500 to 3000 rpm. But starting price for this model, which comes standard with the DSG automatic, is more than $36,000.
VW and Convertibles
German carmaker VW has a notable history in convertibles. Its VW Beetle Cabriolet, which debuted in 1949, brought affordable, open-car motoring to the masses. More than 330,000 were produced over the decades.
Today, the retro-styled, 2007 New Beetle retains the tradition and is sold as a fabric-topped convertible with a starting retail price of just over $17,000. This makes it the lowest-priced German-branded convertible on the market. (It's built at a VW assembly plant in Mexico.)
The Eos, by the way, is built at a VW assembly plant in Portugal.
VW also sold, starting in 1979, a Cabrio version of its Golf small car. The VW Cabrio, as it became known, went out of production in the past decade.
Ann Job is a freelance automotive writer.
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