Volkswagen Eos 2006 Review

Except, perhaps, Sydney.

If ever there was a Volkswagen conceived with our country's climate (and roads, for that matter) in mind, it's the Eos — a car which, at the press of a button, reverts in 25 seconds from as chic a metal-roofed coupe as you'd wish to see to an even more chic open-top.

It combines the excellent engines, transmissions and chassis that have made the Mark V Golf the leader in its class and the most successful VW in this country since the old Beetle.

It's a superior car in every respect to the New Beetle cabrio — more of a spiritual successor to the classic Karmann Ghia of decades past.

Perhaps more important, in a segment that's hardly defined by practical requirements, the Eos is possessed of a subtle "I want" quotient.

For VW Australia — which has doubled its passenger-car market share with the addition this year of the Jetta and Passat — the Eos will be something of a halo model, a glamorous figurehead on top of a range that is becoming a byword for value and quality, but hardly sexiness.

It reaches Australia early next year with a two-litre turbo diesel engine (yes, an oiler-powered drop top), direct injection petrol, and a turbo version.

The likely starting price will be in the mid- to high-$40K range. If that's not enough to frighten Peugeot, Renault and Saab, the 3.2-litre V6 FSI version, soon to go into production, surely will.

That folding metal roof has been engineered to the nth degree and is apparently able to withstand torrents of high-pressure hosing without dampening the occupants.

It's mounted on a long-wheelbase version of the Golf platform with Passat architecture — proven builds to match the aforementioned working bits. But in terms of perception and appeal, the Eos is about as departed from those cars as anything so grounded in the tried and true can be.

The lid is properly known as a Convertible Sliding Coupe (CSC) roof.

With top up, the front section, which is encased within glass, becomes a sun portal by sliding back a ceiling shutter. It can be opened completely or tilted upwards at the rear.

In coupe mode, the Eos's stance is muscular but streamlined, sophistication oozing from its every pore.

When you want to expose your own pores, the centre console-mounted button folds the roof into the boot in the time it takes to wind an old-fashioned car window down and up again.

Buying a convertible is what marketing people are wont to call a "lifestyle decision", but practicality is not sacrificed at the altar of Eos.

Top up, the luggage volume in the boot is a hatchback-like 380 litres. Down, it's a respectable 205, with goods and chattels protected in a covered enclave.

Weighing in from around 1400kg, up to 1500-plus for the diesel and turbo petrol variants, the Eos is almost 10cm longer than the Golf.

That translates to marginally better than average room in the back, although the lanky wouldn't enjoy a prolonged period there.

But that, in turn, translates to a superb driving position — one that's even more malleable than in other recent VeeWees, which is saying something.

Once settled in behind the wheel, you discover that no matter which powerplant is in front of you, the Eos is an assured and accomplished cruiser rather than a B-road basher.

The test route took Sunday CARSguide from the outskirts of Athens through Marathon and Attica to a particularly pretty promontory on the Aegean coast.

It included freeways, Australian-comparable back tracks and some uniquely Greek winding hill roads.

Most of this was spent in the 2.0 TDI and 2.0 FSI. A brief exposure to the turbo petrol version confirmed our feelings that, rather than being a topless Golf GTI, it's dynamically akin to a conventionally suspended Golf or Jetta.

On those narrow stretches of tarmac that have been scraped from the semi-arid Attican mountainsides, front-wheel-drive understeer came readily to the fore. With minor adjustment of stop and go pedals, and the full raft of electronic safety features providing back-up, this was easily tameable.

Despite the build being extraordinarily rigid for a drop-top car, the Eos's ride was compliant and bump absorption proved to be excellent.

The six-speed manuals on all models sampled (DSG autos will be available come local release) were slick-shifting and decisive in the VW manner.

The Eos won't engage drivers in the fashion of a tautly toned roadster, but it's not meant to. What it does is provide comfortable open, semi-open and closed-top motoring in a stylish and comparably affordable package.

And it will look even better breezing across the Harbour Bridge than passing the Parthenon.

The writer flew to Athens courtesy of Volkswagen