2012 VW EOS

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It’s Labor Day. The last day of summer freedom and then the kids are back in school. I dread this time of year. The inevitable Minnesota wintertime taunts me. Plus the hubs is out of commission after he fell off his horse the day before and broke his wrist, rib and suffered a minor concussion. May lose my mind but then something works to my advantage and I get to test drive the Volkswagen Eos convertible for the week. Mother Nature chimes in with perfect September weather. Momma takes full advantage of this scenario.

The 2012 Eos comes in three trim levels: Komfort, Lux, and Executive. We are testing the Komfort for the week which does not include a navigation package. Anyone that knows me has learned that I get lost easily. I don’t mind being lost, it just means that I may not be on time. The kids are starting a brand new school. At least they won’t worry if I’m late because they know I’m trying my best to find them. I digress. The Eos is powered by a 2.0-liter four cylinder turbocharged engine with 200 horsepower. (A little more power than my husband’s horse that he fell off of. Maybe we shouldn’t be driving a convertible this week.) The manual transmission option has been dropped leaving the six-speed automatic transmission the only choice. EPA estimated fuel economy is 22 to 29 mpg city/highway with 25 mpg combined. Premium gas is the drink of choice for Eos.

My first day driving the car is spent shopping for pants for my button challenged man. His office is casual but not sweats casual. Do they even make dress pants with elastic waist bands? He was feeling a bit ferklempt and the slight concussion wasn’t helping. We have a luckless afternoon of searching and thank goodness too, seriously elastic pants! We are on our way home when a man driving a full sized pick-up truck makes an illegal u-turn and heads right for the driver’s door. I honked and swerved but he kept driving towards me. I swerved even further and onto the shoulder to avoid him. Eos performed well but that is not what I had in mind for a test drive.  Mr. Pick-Up Truck started yelling at me, needless to say I didn’t wait around for an apology.

The following morning is all about shifting into the school routine for my tween daughter and thirteen year old son. It’s their first day at a new school and what better way to revitalize them than to put the top down and let the morning air hit their faces.  Lets just say watching the Eos transform is like watching a real life transformer. In about 25 seconds, the roof folds ever so choreographed into the trunk. Equally as exciting is watching my sleepy faced kids turn into excited happy creatures eager to be dropped off at school. The hubs joins us as I need to drop him off at work and the kids climb into the back. It’s not the easiest to climb in the back (not surprising) and we were all delighted that our bean pole legged kids could fit.

I roll up all the windows with one control button (love this feature) and the roofless front cabin is surprisingly quiet. The interior gets high marks from all of us. The well crafted leather seats are comfortable. The touchscreen radio also includes hard buttons on the side. This combination feature makes it really easy to use. The eight speakers deliver an above average sound quality which add to the pleasure of driving around roofless. (I was going to say topless but didn’t want to give the wrong impression.) Sirius Satellite Radio is included with a three month subscription. Dual control is standard although I don’t care for the ever spinning buttons which makes it difficult to know the temperature without looking. Eos includes the techie gadgets: Media Device Interface with iPod cable, Bluetooth hand-free calling system, and AUX-in for portable audio players.

My one gripe is the flip out key which is long and tedious to use. The Lux and Executive come with keyless entry and push button start. IMHO, this feature should be standard. I’ve become accustomed to not having to dig in my bag searching for the key.

There definitely is a lag from standstill to starting and it took me some time to adjust to it. My husband thought I was driving poorly and wondered why I was wearing wedgie sandals. I threw him the keys. I gave him the opportunity to adjust. Voila, he squealed the wheels while starting at the second stop light. I allowed him to blame it on the Percocet but in my mind I gloated. After some time of city driving he admitted that the lag was genuine. He shifted the controls to automatic Sport mode and resolved the lag.

Eos is a fun car. Come on, who wouldn’t have fun cruising around in a convertible? Throw in the sunroof (the only convertible with a working sunroof), heated seats, and heated rear window and Eos is an option for a year round vehicle. There are of course some drawbacks such as the trunk space or lack there of when the roof is down. I was able to cram in a couple bags of groceries but with the top down you’re looking at using the back seat as storage for buying sprees and the lack of trunk space could really limit weekend trips. Eos is adequate on backseat leg room but not enough to be able to take it on an extended drive. It’s a pleasant driving car but lacks some qualities that make it an exciting car to drive. Overall, if you’re in the market for a convertible, Eos should be a contender.

Komfort from $33,995
Lux from $37,250
Executive from $39,220

3-year/36,000-mile (whichever occurs first) no-charge scheduled Carefree Maintenance™ Program
3-year/36,000-mile (whichever occurs first) Roadside Assistance 1)
3-year/36,000-mile (whichever occurs first) New Vehicle Limited Warranty
5-year/60,000-mile (whichever occurs first) Powertrain Limited Warranty
12-year/unlimited mileage Limited Warranty Against Corrosion Perforation

Thank you Inver Grove Heights VW for my one week of wild hair. Total MSRP $33,995