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By
EWAN KENNEDY
5 March 2006
Fifty eight years and over a million cars after its first Beetle
cabriolet in 1949, Volkswagen has taken an all-new route in the soft-top
field. A new model called the Eos (Greek for the god of dawn) uses a
complex folding hardtop instead of the soft-top seen in previous
Volkswagen and Karmann Ghia cabriolets.
The biggest design problem with most folding hardtops is the
necessity to fit the roof into the back of the vehicle when its
down. Often resulting in an overlong tail that can distort
proportions. And in a roof that’s rather small, so the
windscreen has to be sloped a long way back to meet it.
Volkswagen has solved this by dividing the hardtop into two
sections, stacking them one on top of the other when the roof is
down, therefore making for a shorter tail and a greater open area
within the car.
But there's more! Cleverly, the VW Eos has a conventional
sunroof built into the folding roof. A glass section that powers
up and back in the manner of a normal sunroof. This can not only
be used when you don’t want a full-on convertible, but can also
be operated while the car is moving.
It’s still, obviously, necessary to come to a complete stop
before folding down the complete roof. This is a relatively slow
operation because of the complexity of the mechanism – but is a
huge improvement on the old get-out-and-fold-it-yourself operation
of early model cabriolets.
Another disadvantage of the double-stacked roof system is the
loss of boot space. However, this isn’t as great as we had
expected – with the roof up the Eos can cope with up to 380
litres of luggage, drop the top and this is still a reasonable 205
litres. To make the best possible use of that 205 litres, you can
buy a matched pair of suitcases that fills up just about every
inch of it.
VW is quick to point out that this is not a Golf cabriolet, but
is a separate design constructed on an all-new platform.
Still pushing strongly in the diesel-engine stakes, Volkswagen
offers a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel unit in the Eos. With 320 Newton
metres it has strong pulling power and little turbo lag. Fuel
consumption on our initial test drives on the Great Ocean Road
(where else!) was around the 7.5 litres per hundred kilometres, so
there's economy for the asking. The Eos TDI is priced at $47,990
plus on-road costs.
A 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine is also offered, at $49,990. It
puts out up to 280 Nm. We love the extra quietness and refinement
offered by a petrol engine and could probably live with the fact
that it will typically use about 25 to 30 per cent more fuel. But
it’s very much a matter of personal taste.
Both come reasonably well equipped, with a six-CD MP3 stereo,
automatic lights and wipers, power windows and door mirrors and
climate-controlled air conditioning. There's an extensive options
list, including a couple of types of leather trim and a
high-quality Dynaudio stereo with additional speakers.
On the road we were impressed with the refinement of the Eos
with the roof closed, but found it noisier than expected with the
top down, probably because of the large opening created. There's
virtually no scuttle shape, which is an impressive feature in a
four-seater convertible.
There's good space in the front seats and back pair of seats
can cope with adults in the legroom department, though it’s a
bit tight for headroom. The width of the back seat is restricted
by space taken up by the side of the roof mechanism. Access to the
rear isn’t all that easy, but nimble kids will do it with ease.
Nevertheless, for the typical two-person crew in a car of this
type there's very good space in this new Volkswagen Eos.
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Marque Publishing Company
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