Volkswagen latched onto the coupe-convertible game relatively late but, on occasion, biding your time can pay dividends. Rather than launch feet first into the melee of mass market machinery, the German company set its Eos a step or two removed from the fray. If, like me, you were wondering why they chose to name a car after a Canon camera, Eos was, according to legend, the Titan Goddess of the Dawn who rose from her home at the edge of Oceanus, the ocean that surrounded the known world, to herald her brother Helios, the sun.

It won't have failed to dawn on most savvy customers that this is, in effect, a Golf convertible and although Volkswagen does much to lever some distance between the two model lines, if you're familiar with Golf brand values, you're not going to be in for a big shock when you drive an Eos.

The figures speak for themselves. This Eos, fitted with the brilliant twin-clutch DSG gearbox as standard, will zip off the line to 60mph in just 7.3 seconds and race on to a top speed of 154mph, the V6 possessing a cultured and charismatic soundtrack to boot. These figures are impressive but only marginally better than the excellent 2.0T engine found lower in the Eos line up.

This is certainly a lot of engine for an open-topped car of this ilk to contend with. With fully 247bhp on tap, it's relatively easy to generate rather a lot of force in the car's chassis rather quickly and, with the hood down, there is the odd creak and shudder when hitting road imperfections. By the accepted standards of the class, it's a very accomplished showing, but a sense of proportion is worth retaining. This is by no means a sports car. It's a very rapid coupe convertible that can entertain with a bit of smooth, open road ahead of it but it doesn't have the sheer grin factor of a well sorted hatch. Ride quality feels notably better with the roof in place, fixing the hood giving the car a significant extra measure of torsional rigidity.

"Definitely more Jennifer Lopez than Johnny Vegas."

The acid test of any car of this ilk is how it looks with the roof in place, as many have curiously distended posteriors. There is a slight chubbiness to the Eos' rear but it's definitely more Jennifer Lopez than Johnny Vegas. With the hood down, there's no debate. The Eos aces all of the opposition in the affordable folding hard top class, the clean, wedgy hipline and restrained surfacing giving it a very mature yet elegant look.

To this eye at least, it's the best-looking Volkswagen since the Corrado. Coming on the heels of the slightly awkward Jetta and Passat models, this is a welcome return to form from a company that had hinted at a sharper design direction with cars like the Golf.

At 4.41 metres long, the Eos is a smidgeon longer than a Golf. It's also a little wider at 1.79m and, at 1.44m, a tad lower. Interior space is decent in the front, not so smart in the rear, back seat space being sacrificed in order to offer meaningful boot capacity. The boot itself is one of the more capacious on 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.

Although the footprint of the Eos is closer to the Jetta than the hatchback Golf, Volkswagen rather disingenuously claim that it occupies a position between Golf and Passat, therefore opening a new market sector. Volkswagen was late to this particular party and proclaiming they've started a new one doesn't really wash.

The Beetle Cabriolet will continue, effectively usurping the old Golf Cabriolet's role as the affordable and fun drop-top in the range. Volkswagen has higher plans for the Eos and that, rather than any notion of creating a new market sector, is what will separate the Eos from humbler fare such as the Renault Megane CC and the Peugeot 307CC. In short, it's a good deal pricier.

Standard equipment on this Sport V6 model includes ESP, pop-up rollover bars, twin front and side airbags, plus specially designed thorax airbags but you'll still need £29,035 for this model. It's worth remembering that this figure includes the DSG gearbox, which would be a £1,150 option on certain other Eos models. The added equipment such as Vienna leather, Westwood 17-inch alloy wheels and niceties such as an auto-dimming rear-view mirror go some way to explaining the price differential between this car and the 2.0T Sport model.

If you're counting on traditionally strong Volkswagen residuals when buying an Eos Sport 3.2 V6, it might be worth doing your homework first. It's already apparent that the market has taken a shine to the 2.0T version, regarding it as a better engine in a car that offers better value than this rather thirsty 3.2-litre model, so it wouldn't surprise me to see the six-cylinder car suffering in comparison.

Owners will pay a premium in terms of fuel bills too, the 3.2-litre model averaging 30.7mpg as opposed to 34.4mpg for the turbocharged car. Emissions are also in a different bracket, the V6 putting out 219g/km, the 2.0T 194g/km. Insurance compares at Group 17 versus Group 15.

Therefore, on a pure basis of cost of ownership, it's tough to make a case for the 3.2-litre Sport model. Of course, a test drive may well be enough to seduce you, the smooth low-end torque and sonorous soundtrack being qualities that the 2.0T can't quite match but most customers are nevertheless voting with their wallets.

The Volkswagen Eos Sport 3.2 V6 is a very good car with a very good engine. Taken in isolation it would get a solid mark of eight out of ten from this judge. The thing is, buyers never buy cars in isolation. They compare and contrast, shop around for the best deals and, when spending this sort of money, do their homework rather thoroughly.

It doesn't take too much spadework to uncover the fact that when faced with its junior sibling, the 200bhp Eos Sport 2.0T, the 3.2-litre car emerges as a bit of a turkey. It does very little better and it does some things quite significantly poorer. Running costs are far higher and it can't match the smaller-engined car's nimble handling and superior steering response. A brilliant engine has thus rendered this model rather redundant. My advice would be to choose the 2.0T and trouser the £4,500 difference.

TOP 1 EOS DEALS

The results below show the top EOS deals on buyacar

	Volkswagen EOS 3.2 V6 Sport FSI 2dr DSG Cabriolet Convertible
	ETR	Mthly £519	Saving £2,588	Price £26,997

typical 9.78% APR

PCP finance quote over 48 months,  10,000 miles pa,  deposit of £1000