2008 Volkswagen Eos Quality Review

The 2008 Volkswagen Eos has more room than the typical four-seat hardtop convertible, and it benefits from Volkswagen’s class-leading interior materials and assembly. Truth be told, though, there’s still not enough room in the backseats to make adult passengers comfortable.

Inside the Eos, Volkswagen’s interior quality is typically top-notch. In a testament to the car's undeniable quality, Kelley Blue Book feels that "the Eos' interior is more attractively designed and better put together than those of some cars we've driven with sticker prices twice as much." Other reviewers felt the same way about the Eos's handsome interior, and found little fault with the car's quality. Consumer Reports recently chose the Eos as its favorite four-seat hardtop convertible, besting the likes of the BMW 335i, based in part on its quality.

Comfort doesn't quite live up to exceptional quality scores in the Eos; Volkswagen earns an 8 out of 10 in this category. Popular Mechanics observes that the Volkswagen Eos's innovative roof causes the rear occupants to be "cramped, both in shoulder space and, with the top up, headroom." While cargo space is very good with the top down and there is ample room up front in the Eos, Volkswagen does get marked down for its road noise characteristics. Even with the top up, ConsumerGuide feels that the Eos "[suffers] from noticeable wind noise," and "some testers complain of rear-tire roar on coarse pavement."

Reviewers from all auto Web sites were awestruck by the complex motions of the Eos’s folding hardtop. Edmunds notes that several competing automakers offer hardtop convertibles, but their "execution is nowhere near as polished as the VW's." Kelley Blue Book also admires the "25-second mechanical ballet" that the hardtop performs during its reconfiguration.

TheCarConnection.com’s experience with the Eos, on a long drive in Portugal, brought out the best in the sunny four-seat convertible. With its eight electric motors latching and unlatching the roof at the push of a button, TheCarConnection.com’s car experts enjoyed hours of top-down driving—and some of it merely top-open, as the Eos’s roof has a setting that slides back one panel to mimic a sunroof. It’s advised to leave big luggage at home if you have more than one passenger: the cargo area is a manageable 6.6 cubic feet with the top stowed, larger than that in the Pontiac G6 and Volvo C70 hardtop convertibles, but it's still kind of small.