New VW Eos - A first?

[Douglas]

VW has introduced its new convertible with retractable hardtop with the following copy:

"Experience a convertible. Experience a hardtop. Experience a sunroof. Experience the world's first hardtop convertible with a sunroof. The Eos."

The world's first? We know better. :-)

Douglas Kim
New York
USA

[mdsalemi]

Some interesting information:

One of the product managers for this car in the USA is one Bret Scot.  He also owns a 230SL.  I met him at Meadowbrook this past year; VWoA sponsored the Meadowbrook Tour on the Friday before.  Tried to get him signed up here to no avail, ditto for the MBCA.

Of course what they really mean is a retractable hardtop convertible, and for that they are correct.  We don't have "hardtop convertibles" we have "softtop convertibles" with a second top (that would the be hard top) if one chooses.  But hey that's nit picking.

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored

[rob walker]

Hmm interesting marketing, what would Peugeot (307cc) Renault (Megane cc) say about this as they have been selling the same for several years now, and did the new Astra CC not come out before the Eos.
Thats not to say the Eos is not a great car, I almost bought one, but my wife wanted something a bit sportier so we ended up with a totaly impractical Z4 for the traffic and terrible roads in Istanbul!

Rob Walker
1968 280SL papyrus white/green leather
Spain and Turkey

[mdsalemi]

Hi Rob,

Those cars you mention are not available in the USA, never have been and probably never will be; so VW's EOS advertising for the USA market can be a bit different then for the world market.

But since I don't know about those other ones, are you sure they have a working sunroof inside the hard top in the up position?  The EOS actually has a very complex Webasto system.

You should remember that on the EOS you can have the hard top up as a "coupe" or "sedan"; you can have the hard top up with the sunroof open or closed; and you can then retract the hard top for full cabriolet.  It was not apparent that the Renault Megane CC or the Peugeot 307CC had that same feature, if so they don't make a big deal about it.  They call their entire mechanism a retractable sunroof.  I think VW's marketing (they made a big splash of it here) was that they are the only car that has an integral, working sunroof inside a retractable hard top.

It is such a complex system that every dealer will have one complete mechanism to drop in place should er... when a customer's unit "goes bad"; that way the customer is not kept waiting while the mechanic tries to figure it out.  They drop a new one in, and probably send the non-working unit back to Webasto.

What will this be like in 30 years???[:0]

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored

[rwmastel]

quote:Originally posted by mdsalemi

Those cars you mention are not available in the USA, never have been and probably never will be; so VW's EOS advertising for the USA market can be a bit different then for the world market.

Yes, but Douglas' quote from VW says, "Experience the world's first hardtop......."

quote:Originally posted by mdsalemi

What will this be like in 30 years???

Maybe like our mechanical fuel injection systems!


Rodd
Powell, Ohio, USA
1966 230SL, Euro, Auto, Leather, both  tops
1994 E420

[rob walker]

Michael, yes you are correct that was the one feature on the Eos, the sunroof ability that is not present on the other CCs although the Megane does has a glass portion to the roof. However neither as well constructed as the Eos. Even with VW build quality I also wonder what these will be like in even 10 years. We had one of the first of these types of roofs on a Honda CRX when we were in Dubai in the early nineties called the Del Sol elsewhere. The roof was forever failing and you had the most complex alternative manual mechanism where you had to strip out the trim and use a crank handle that was so hard, my wife could never do it so I used to have to come out of work and wind the roof up, just so she could get home. Back to the Eos though, I was really impressed on a test drive with the diesel high performance model with their automatic box, it flew!

Rob Walker
1968 280SL papyrus white/green leather
Spain and Turkey