Description

With its retractable hardtop and excellent drivetrains, the new Eos convertible is a welcome addition to the Volkswagen lineup and to the market as a whole. VW has a habit of releasing convertible models in the fall (if twice makes it a habit). The last time was the Beetle Convertible, a soft-top. This time it's a little more appropriate because the Eos' retractable hardtop makes it more viable as a four-season car. Eos is also the goddess of dawn in Greek mythology ? daughter of Hyperion and Theia. This being a convertible, it might be more relevant that she's the middle sister of Helios and Selene (the sun and moon). In "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey," Homer describes Eos as "rosy fingered" and "saffron robed." The convertable top is sectioned and articulated to store in the trunk; you'd only know it's not a fixed-roof coupe if you got close and looked carefully, or observed it going through its 25-second transformation. Though it shares its platform with the Rabbit, the Eos has the Jetta's plunging chrome grille, combined with more interesting, scalloped headlights. An intriguing U-shaped aluminum lever just under the center armrest operates the powered top: push down on the lever to lower the roof, lift it to raise. Press the black center switch and only the frontmost roof panel motors back, like a sunroof. On the driver's armrest is a global window switch that raises or lowers all four side windows at once. Nice. When the top's up, the lower two Eos trim levels have 10.5 cubic feet of cargo volume. Naturally, it's smaller when the top is stowed: 6.6 cubic feet underneath a rigid partition that must be in place to define the top's space. While there's no provision to raise the stacked panels for better trunk access, the clearance is actually quite generous. There's also a pass-thru to the cabin. Convertibles, especially retractable hardtops, are heavier than fixed-roof cars, so the Eos comes standard with a 200-horsepower, turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder.