Comments On The Review?
I've absolutely fallen in love with the Eos - so apologies if this review is a little bias. But I really like this car - it's an absolute ripper. Volkswagen's new Eos personifies the definition of the good value, head-turning lifestyle vehicle and you know what? You could even do away with Viagra with this thing sitting in your driveway. This car not only looks good, feels good but is actually fantastic to drive and although a stylish convertible, it's still very functional. I had the pleasure of driving the 6-speed manual model and did I have fun with it. The turbo enhanced 2.0-litre engine is beautifully matched to the 6-speed gearbox in a way that offers both serious and relaxed drivers something satisfying. The ballet-esq movement of the complex 5-piece rooftop mechanism morphing this car from coupe to free rider had me reminiscing my engineering lectures at Uni. My dynamics lecturer would be turning in his grave working out how many degrees of freedom were taken into consideration when designing this little beauty! The transversely mounted 1984cc inline 4-cylinder engine features aluminium alloy cylinder heads and engine block.
Dual overhead camshafts (DOHC) work with 16-valves (4-valves per cylinder) that feature direct fuel injection. The engine has a 10.3:1 compression ratio and will only tolerate the highest quality premium petrol grade, 98 RON, when filling its 55 litre fuel tank. There are a lot of good things about this car and the main one that stands out is that it is a lot of fun to drive. The handling is tight and steering precise so when you decide to take the car for a long drive up through the hills you won't be disappointed with its dynamics. The car isn't too long (4.4 metres) or too wide (1.7 metres) which makes town and traffic driving easygoing, while parking the vehicle isn't bad either. It has that certain European style that many will love, which only adds to the enjoyment of driving the car. It is an absolute delight for zipping around town thanks to its powerful 4-cylinder engine, and especially with the top down because it looks so exclusive.
With the roof up - the car feels like a fixed coupe and has all the weather protection of a normal car. Sound intrusion into the cabin was at a low level and the body felt quite rigid and sedan like which improves drivability. With the roof off (and windows up) you could still get very clear sound from the stereo, low levels of wind swirl, and still enjoy the open air feeling of driving a convertible. The roof system is very good. Volkswagen calls it a CSC-roof, which stands for convertible sliding and coupe roof. It is completely automated - you hold a button and in 25 seconds the roof can be completely opened or closed. I even managed to do it while waiting at the traffic lights, which caused a flurry of attention. When you do open the roof for that big sky feeling, the automatic air conditioning ("Climatronic" in VW's words) adjusts accordingly. If the car detects it's cold outside the heater blows warm air onto your feet, and the hot air rises to warm your body.
But when you open the roof and the car detects that it's hot and sunny, the air-con turns on and blows the cooler air through the adjustable dashboard vents. Driving the car is very easy as well. It did tend to bunny-hop and scrabble for grip in wet weather and I figured it was the extra power coming from the turbo petrol engine that was causing a little grief. Perhaps the lads at VW will give it some extra consideration in a MK2. Another option would be to test the diesel version. It's slightly cheaper, but has less of a power hit than this turbo petrol model. But even with some hiccups in low grip conditions like wet roads, the suspension conforms well to its surroundings and provides a smooth ride. You will feel some pot holes in the road coming through the chassis as the wheels roll over them, but most of the time the Volkswagen Eos's suspension soaks up the road biscuits. At the end of this seven day road test, my opinion of Volkswagen had risen quite a bit. The 2.0-litre turbo engine certainly has plenty of thrust.
This makes the Eos a lot of fun to drive. If 4-cylinders, intercooling, turbocharging, 4-valves per cylinder and direct injection are a foreign dialect to you, just think of the engine as small, frugal, efficient, but with enough power to keep a V6 honest. You can feel the torque right through the rev range which gives the Volkswagen Eos a real sports car identity with a genuine get up and go feel. To quote Mr Torr, it's not slow. Volkswagen says it'll hit 100km/h in just under 8.0 seconds, but it feels much quicker than that. It's also got a claimed top speed of 232km/h, and I guess we'll have to take VW's word for it! With an expanse of torque, 280Nm from down low in the revs (1800rpm), the wife will enjoy its ease of use and smooth drivability, while you can show off to your mates with its turbo power. Or vice versa if your wife or partner is the rev head.
