Eos Rises: The goddess of the sunrise set to enter U.S. market sporting a convertible hardtop
2007 VOLKSWAGEN EOS
ON SALE: November
BASE PRICE: $30,000 (est.)
POWERTRAIN: 2.0-liter, 200-hp, 207-lb-ft turbocharged I4; fwd, six-speed manual
CURB WEIGHT: 3232 lbs (est.)
0 to 60 mph: n/a
The new Volkswagen Eos seats four in a tightly efficient body and has a convertible hardtop that stows itself securely in the trunk in about 25 seconds. Is that enough to make the car a success?
Maybe in Europe, where even secretaries drive SLKs. And maybe here, too, since the Eos does what no other entry in its class can. True, there are plenty of four-seat convertibles here, from the Audi A4 to the Volvo C70a good 10 in all. And there are hardtop convertibles, too, though only the Volvo seats four. So what does the Eos have that the C70 doesnt? The VWs five-piece convertible hardtop sports a fully opening sunroof.
Will America care? In the past it has. The Eos should appeal to the same audience that bought tens of thousands of the old VW Cabrios, a model discontinued about four years ago. This new car is far stiffer and doesnt require that big basket-handle roll hoop to both hold it together and protect passengers in the event of a rollover (there are pop-up roll hoops behind the rear seats in Eos).
The convertible gets its stiffness from an increased use of hot-stamping in the A-pillar and in other crucial frame locations. Using steel so hard it would dent a normal sheetmetal press, VW heats the material to soften it, then whomps it into shape.
Hot-stamped parts are found mostly in the middle section of Eos, which not only supports a roofless structure, but is a distinctive feature from the Golf and Passat parts that make up most of the rest of the car.
Both engines are from the worldwide mix of Golf and Passat powertrainsthe 2.0-liter, 200-hp FSI turbo and 3.2-liter, 250-hp V6. Because the engines fit in a Golf, the front of the car is also Golf-derived. The suspension links are from the Passat. So what you get is a sort of wide-track Golf sans roof, though the line between Passat, Golf and Eos is further blurred once you start looking under the car.
The roof, made by Webasto, weighs less than 200 pounds including all power units necessary to make it work. We have a lot of electronics to make this roof move, said Frank Welsch, director of body development. We have a lot of sensors that find out Did this close? Can it now do this?
Indeed, Welsch says that in addition to almost 200,000 miles of normal testing, the top itself was raised and lowered 10,000 times. That adds up to 3333 openings and closings at a temperature of five degrees F, 3333 times at 70 degrees and another 3333 at 175 degrees. So long after the Eos is parked in the junkyard and forgotten, you could probably walk up to it, hit the one-touch top operation button, and watch as it retreats into the trunk.
The Eos was intended to be a retractable hardtop from the beginning, Welsch said, as that seems to be the future for convertibles. Hardtop convertibles are on the rise in Europe and even Japan, most notably the Peugeot 206 C+C, 307 C+C and the Nissan Micra C+C.
We drove a couple of Euro-spec versions of Eos with the 2.0 turbo and six-speed DSG transmission and didnt find much to complain about. The rear seats are a little tight, and we felt the roof on our dome sitting back there. Its better than a 2+2 configuration, but only short people will likely be comfortable riding in the back.
The 25-second top probably takes too long to operate while waiting for a traffic light, unless you time it just right, and the rear deck clamshells rearward pretty far back when youre raising or stowing it. For the latter concern, if you get the parking assist sensors and they detect something the rear deck might smack into, the top will not operate. If you dont get the sensors, it is best to check behind the car before deploying.
At speed you can activate a goofy-looking vertical wind fence from the top of the windshield header to control cockpit turbulence. Combined with the big wind-blocker assembly that covers the rear seats, you can drive worry-free with even the flimsiest toupee.
Only on medium-rotten pavement did we notice cowl shake. Over your typical Southern California freeway, the Eos is nearly as tight as anything with a fixed roof. We managed one quick jaunt on a curvy mountain road and it was not bad, though enthusiast drivers will want a GTI, roof be damned.
Official numbers are not released, but German specs indicate curb weight at 3232 pounds or 3465 pounds, depending on configuration. That gives Eos a weight-to-horsepower ratio of 16.16 or 13.86, not exactly sports sedan territory.
The sunroof meanwhile is an impressive thing, large and fully functional, though we cant help but wonder how much lower the sticker would be without it.
Eos Prices wont be announced until closer to the car's U.S. launch toward the end of the year, but U.S. VW chief Adrian Hallmark says it will be a price accessible to more people than previously thought possible. What-ever that means.
We looked up the German price for Eos and were shocked to find it translates to $36,516 for the 2.0 turbo and $42,924 for the V6. If you compare German prices with VWs now sold here, you can probably knock 20 percent off those figures, which puts Eos roughly in the $30,000-to-$39,000 range, but thats pure speculation on our part.
For those of you who didnt major in Classics, Eos is the Greek goddess of dawn. If Eos is a hit, and if VW makes enough other hits, as well as handles the quality problems that have dragged it down in the United States, perhaps this car will represent a real sunrise for Volkswagen in America. Sales are up of late, and with a new GTI, a minivan, and possibly even that crazy three-wheeled GX3 on its way, things look sunny indeed.
source:http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060227/FREE/60126001/1009
2007 VOLKSWAGEN EOS
ON SALE: November
BASE PRICE: $30,000 (est.)
POWERTRAIN: 2.0-liter, 200-hp, 207-lb-ft turbocharged I4; fwd, six-speed manual
CURB WEIGHT: 3232 lbs (est.)
0 to 60 mph: n/a
The new Volkswagen Eos seats four in a tightly efficient body and has a convertible hardtop that stows itself securely in the trunk in about 25 seconds. Is that enough to make the car a success?
Maybe in Europe, where even secretaries drive SLKs. And maybe here, too, since the Eos does what no other entry in its class can. True, there are plenty of four-seat convertibles here, from the Audi A4 to the Volvo C70a good 10 in all. And there are hardtop convertibles, too, though only the Volvo seats four. So what does the Eos have that the C70 doesnt? The VWs five-piece convertible hardtop sports a fully opening sunroof.
Will America care? In the past it has. The Eos should appeal to the same audience that bought tens of thousands of the old VW Cabrios, a model discontinued about four years ago. This new car is far stiffer and doesnt require that big basket-handle roll hoop to both hold it together and protect passengers in the event of a rollover (there are pop-up roll hoops behind the rear seats in Eos).
The convertible gets its stiffness from an increased use of hot-stamping in the A-pillar and in other crucial frame locations. Using steel so hard it would dent a normal sheetmetal press, VW heats the material to soften it, then whomps it into shape.
Hot-stamped parts are found mostly in the middle section of Eos, which not only supports a roofless structure, but is a distinctive feature from the Golf and Passat parts that make up most of the rest of the car.
Both engines are from the worldwide mix of Golf and Passat powertrainsthe 2.0-liter, 200-hp FSI turbo and 3.2-liter, 250-hp V6. Because the engines fit in a Golf, the front of the car is also Golf-derived. The suspension links are from the Passat. So what you get is a sort of wide-track Golf sans roof, though the line between Passat, Golf and Eos is further blurred once you start looking under the car.
The roof, made by Webasto, weighs less than 200 pounds including all power units necessary to make it work. We have a lot of electronics to make this roof move, said Frank Welsch, director of body development. We have a lot of sensors that find out Did this close? Can it now do this?
Indeed, Welsch says that in addition to almost 200,000 miles of normal testing, the top itself was raised and lowered 10,000 times. That adds up to 3333 openings and closings at a temperature of five degrees F, 3333 times at 70 degrees and another 3333 at 175 degrees. So long after the Eos is parked in the junkyard and forgotten, you could probably walk up to it, hit the one-touch top operation button, and watch as it retreats into the trunk.
The Eos was intended to be a retractable hardtop from the beginning, Welsch said, as that seems to be the future for convertibles. Hardtop convertibles are on the rise in Europe and even Japan, most notably the Peugeot 206 C+C, 307 C+C and the Nissan Micra C+C.
We drove a couple of Euro-spec versions of Eos with the 2.0 turbo and six-speed DSG transmission and didnt find much to complain about. The rear seats are a little tight, and we felt the roof on our dome sitting back there. Its better than a 2+2 configuration, but only short people will likely be comfortable riding in the back.
The 25-second top probably takes too long to operate while waiting for a traffic light, unless you time it just right, and the rear deck clamshells rearward pretty far back when youre raising or stowing it. For the latter concern, if you get the parking assist sensors and they detect something the rear deck might smack into, the top will not operate. If you dont get the sensors, it is best to check behind the car before deploying.
At speed you can activate a goofy-looking vertical wind fence from the top of the windshield header to control cockpit turbulence. Combined with the big wind-blocker assembly that covers the rear seats, you can drive worry-free with even the flimsiest toupee.
Only on medium-rotten pavement did we notice cowl shake. Over your typical Southern California freeway, the Eos is nearly as tight as anything with a fixed roof. We managed one quick jaunt on a curvy mountain road and it was not bad, though enthusiast drivers will want a GTI, roof be damned.
Official numbers are not released, but German specs indicate curb weight at 3232 pounds or 3465 pounds, depending on configuration. That gives Eos a weight-to-horsepower ratio of 16.16 or 13.86, not exactly sports sedan territory.
The sunroof meanwhile is an impressive thing, large and fully functional, though we cant help but wonder how much lower the sticker would be without it.
Eos Prices wont be announced until closer to the car's U.S. launch toward the end of the year, but U.S. VW chief Adrian Hallmark says it will be a price accessible to more people than previously thought possible. What-ever that means.
We looked up the German price for Eos and were shocked to find it translates to $36,516 for the 2.0 turbo and $42,924 for the V6. If you compare German prices with VWs now sold here, you can probably knock 20 percent off those figures, which puts Eos roughly in the $30,000-to-$39,000 range, but thats pure speculation on our part.
For those of you who didnt major in Classics, Eos is the Greek goddess of dawn. If Eos is a hit, and if VW makes enough other hits, as well as handles the quality problems that have dragged it down in the United States, perhaps this car will represent a real sunrise for Volkswagen in America. Sales are up of late, and with a new GTI, a minivan, and possibly even that crazy three-wheeled GX3 on its way, things look sunny indeed.
source:http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060227/FREE/60126001/1009
