Alternative review of Volkswagen Eos

Fast rewind back to Autumn 2004 when I first saw this car at the Paris Motor Show. I thought Volkswagen's Eos was gorgeous then and I still do, quite the nicest looking of all the current crop of affordable folding steel roof convertibles. And my, aren't there a lot of them these days? After all, it wasn't so long ago that the only examples of this breed you could buy for under £20,000 were made by Peugeot (the 206 and 307CC models) and Renault (the Megane CC). Now, it seems that everyone is in on the act and in recent times, we've seen the arrival of Ford's Focus Coupe-Cabriolet, Vauxhall's Astra TwinTop and smaller offerings like Nissan's Micra C+C and Mitsubishi's Colt CZC. It's the Ford and the Vauxhall that, along with the Renault and the Peugeot, provide the toughest competition for this Eos. Straight off the bat however, the Volkswagen has the advantage: as well as being better looking, it's by far the best built model in its class. I have also to point out however, that's it's also the most expensive. Quality costs you see.

Probably the nicest thing you can say about this car's shape is that it doesn't look like a convertible with the roof up. The combination of the attractive shape and the smokescreen of a sliding glass sunroof in the roof panel fooled me on this point initially. Press a button though and you can send the sexy coupe-style roof on its 25 second party piece into the boot. Once the hood is stowed, the Eos' clean, wedgy hipline and restrained surfacing gives it a very mature yet elegant look. It's easily the best looking car Volkswagen currently makes, sharper in its stance and detailing than the Jetta and Passat models, and of course far more of a head turner than the common or garden Golf. Break out the tape measure and you'll find that the Eos, at 4.41 metres long, is a bit longer than a Golf, at 1.79m a little wider and at 1.44m a tad lower. The boot is one of the more capacious for a car of this ilk, holding 205 litres with the roof cartridge in place and 380 litres when the car is in hard top mode.

It didn't surprise me to learn that many of the oily bits are shared with the Golf. It would have been impossible to translate this car from the Concept C design study I saw at Paris to production reality had not Volkswagen been able to pick as many off the shelf parts as possible. Therefore, you'll find a similar multilink rear suspension set up, an identical electro-mechanical power steering assembly and many of the engines are familiar fare. The engine line up includes a 1.4-litre 122bhp entry level TSI unit, a high-tech 2.0litre FSI with 150bhp and the engine out of the Golf GTI, the turbocharged 2.0-litre FSI that's good for 197bhp. Pride of place in the petrol-powered line up goes to the 3.2-litre 247bhp V6 that should make the Eos a real handful. Diesel customers are catered for with a 140bhp 2.0-litre TDI I tried. The TDI system was once derided as being far less effective than the new wave of 'common rail' diesel engines that have become popular and in terms of refinement, Volkswagen's solution has lagged behind. No longer: the difference is now virtually negligible and this 2.0-litre diesel is leagues better than the previous generation 1.9-litre units.

As you've probably guessed if you've read this far, I was sold on the Eos and, if I could afford it, would see its premium as worth paying over lesser Ford, Vauxhall, Peugeot and Renault rivals. I would even question the need to pay more for, say, a Volvo C70 or a Saab 9-3 unless you really need the rear seat passenger space. The Eos occupies a useful niche between affordable and premium folding roof convertibles - and it's one I'd be very comfortable in.

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