Used 2012 Volkswagen Eos Convertible Coupe Review & Ratings

The Eos, introduced in 2006 by Volkswagen, is a fairly unique design concept obviously aimed at either creating or capturing a niche for a semi-compact four seater convertible, with the subtle difference that the Volkswagen Eon moves smoothly from being a soft top and a hard top in just a matter of seconds with just a press of a button, with no cloth tops around to fold or store.

This type of spontaneity was, not so long ago, restricted to the top end of the luxury sports sedan market. However Volkswagen have succeeded in bringing the retractable hardtop and all of its advantages to a completely different sector of the car buying public. As reviews have it, they are enjoying considerable and favourable response as a result of their wisdom and foresight. Even with the roof in place, the Volkswagen Eos still allows its driver and passenger's exposure to the sun's rays, thanks to a standard fitting tilting and sliding glass sunroof, making the car really unique in its category.

Volkswagen has christened their new design concept the CSC (coupe-sunroof-convertible) and interest and sales seem to be progressing very nicely for them.

Throughout motoring history, there has always been a place for open roofed cars, but there was always a price to be paid. Soft tops were usually always noisy, uncomfortable and inclined to leak, and coupe versions of popular convertibles were neither here nor there. However it looks like the retractable roof solves the problem and closes the gap very nicely between the two. Anyone looking to buy an Eos will know that they are still making a bit of an indulgence because the car is more of a two door, four seater sports than a family saloon with trunk space very limited, especially when the roof is retracted and taking up half of it, leaving just 6.6 cubic feet of storage.

Apart from looking good and making the driver look better the Eos can fairly move along thanks to its two liter four cylinder turbo-charged engine which can be paired with either a six-speed manual transmission or direct shift gearbox (DSG) six-speed automatic in the standard Komfort version while the up-scale Lux is available with automatic transmission only.

Despite falling into the semi-compact category, the Volkswagen Eos is surprisingly roomy especially for front seat passengers, with plenty of head and leg room while the back seat is considerably less so, especially if the passengers are taller than average. The back seat is also pretty narrow and the seat back very upright in order to store the folding roof. All this adds up to a pretty cramped ride for the maximum of two back seat passengers, irrespective of how much sun beats down on their faces.