Further to my last thread regarding an A3 Cabrio, we have ended up putting a deposit on a 2008 Volkswagen Eos. 2.0 TSI 200hp petrol Sport with Motorpoint. Half the price of the Audi, and should be as much fun.
It seems like many early cars had leaky seals for the roof, so I have agreed with the dealer (Motorpoint, so should be OK) that when we go and see the car we can sit in it whilst they get the pressure washer on it all arround the roof.
We get to test drive it of course, and if not 100% happy we just say no and get our deposit back.
What else should we look for and does anyone have any feedback on theirs if they have one?
One worry is that it's on silly 18" wheels, so will the ride be rock hard? On the A3 cabrio we drove last week it had the same engine and sport suspension, and seemed quite compliant, but the Eos is a different car.
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I've a sneaky suspicion you might grow to quite like that engine... A lot :-)
The ride will be busy on the 18s with 40 profile tyres. 18s are desireable to a lot of customers, would they be willing to upgrade the alloys on another car in stock in order that you could downgrade to 17s or 16s?
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leaks:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/volkswagen/eos-2006/
". Take it through a carwash on the test drive. "
Last edited by: AnotherJohnH on Fri 15 Jul 11 at 12:00
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>> I've a sneaky suspicion you might grow to quite like that engine... A lot :-)
Where do I collect my prize now? :-) good luck with it and enjoy!
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>> One worry is that it's on silly 18" wheels, so will the ride be rock
>> hard?
My worry would be that the thing will creak and rattle like a tin of stones.
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Roof leaks are unlikely to be a problem, rather like my CC3, some of the early ones leaked, but far fewer of the later ones.
I don't think the pressure wash test will tell you anything, the vehicle is not designed to withstand that, so if it leaks, you've not proved anything.
If it doesn't leak, you haven't proved much either, because it could still leak in light rain - we had similar conundrums with sunroofs in the 1980s.
It shouldn't creak and rattle with the roof down, but there may be some noise with the roof up.
Most of the noise comes from the seals.
There are many forum threads about how to quieten the seals, but VW sell some special stuff, so I would start with that.
It's made by DuPont and is called Krytox.
www.my-gti.com/1922/dupont-krytox-lubricant-door-seals-hinges-latches-squeaks-and-rattles
Last edited by: Iffy on Fri 15 Jul 11 at 12:48
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>> My worry would be that the thing will creak and rattle like a tin of
>> stones.
I'm optimistic that a VW should be fine; we had a Megane CC on 17" wheels which was virtually rattle free after three years / 40k miles - certainly no worse than the hatch that preceeded it. If Renault can manage hopefully VW can too!! My A4 cabriolet on S-Line suspension and 18" wheels is likewise absolutely fine; the only way to provoke any noise is drive roof down/windows up at speed through potholes - that'll cause a slight rattle from the windows - and an annoying screech from the passenger seat ;-)
Peter
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May be a little late now, but its worth comparing Motorpoint with your VW dealer. My trusted VW dealer can usually match Motorpoint, but the service is better as is the warranty. Also free 2 years servicing on used VW's at the moment.
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Good suggestion.
However I looked at dealer prices online for equivalent cars and they were dramatically more expensive, or had many more miles / were older.
Online valuations for the car we are going for were £15,500 (dealer), £15,000 (private) and £13,100 (P/Ex).
We are getting the car at £12,000 dead.
I considered it unlikely that VW would go that low.
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>> Online valuations for the car we are going for were £15,500 (dealer), £15,000 (private) and
>> £13,100 (P/Ex).
>>
>> We are getting the car at £12,000 dead.
>>
>> I considered it unlikely that VW would go that low.
>>
Would it be worth asking yourself why they can go below px price? I know that online valuations can be wildly optimistic but if they have a zero margin or somehow got the stock for way less than book should it arouse suspicion ?
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Motorpoint sell lots of cars, and I've heard very few complaints.
Most of those are about small things such as missing radio code or documentation.
Worth checking the car carefully because Motorpoint don't seem too good at after-sales care.
Eos's fetch good money, and you won't find one on every street corner, so SFD could waste a lot of time looking elsewhere.
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Well, car collected from Motorpoint in Newport (just a short skip and a jump............and 200 miles from home) and we are delighted. 2008 2.0 TSI Eos (200 hp 2.0 Turbo petrol) in Silver.
You know what it's like. You see something and you like the look. Restaurant, hotel, holiday, etc, I don't care what it is; and you 'Google' it. Most people say "really nice", "loved it", etc, and then you get the doomsayer who says "No!!!. Awful. Never ever.., etc". Possibly due to a genuine bad experience, (so this is not getting at them), sometimes a sneaky competitor...... Some people have for sure bought an Eos and had a nightmare. So far, not us. (Early days though, I accept!)
Motorpoint to be praised for really good service (well done Barry & co). With me being anal in checking certain things and holding the sales guy to them, it was good to run through the list.
For example, they agreed to a service as last done 12 months ago. Turned up and immediately when queried they saw it had not been done. No bull, they checked the phonecall to confim the discussion with the sales guy and many apologies and we waited a while whilst they did it. Now I am a cynic and suspect an oil and filter change was what took place, but with condition based servicing, that is probably what I expected and was OK. And they did it very happily. The 6 months warranty FOC (followed by the following 12 months at a reasonable charge) all in place, a decent test drive around the bendy stuff then on the dual carriageway, roof up and down did not disappoint. A proper hand-over to check we were really happy and off we went. We were not a number, we were customers. People. Nice to see. Whilst I am unrelated to them, a few weeks one of our sales guys got a 12 month old S40 Volvo from here and he was very happy with the service, albeit not needing a test drive ("a car's a car Gav, it's a Volvo so it will be fine").
When it's my own money I am a bit more particular..........
Got home after a Friday afternoon drive from Newport to near Eastbourne (M4, M25, M23, etc) and my wife gave it a vigorous 'thumbs up'.
Drove it myself on Sunday and comments are: Fantastic. Bright, airy, cold aircon, seamless roof, no scuttle-shake (that I could detect), waterprooof (peed down in Wales just before we got there, and all dry inside and no water stains). Huge side windows, nice cloth interior (prefer it to leather believe it or not) and felt rock solid.
Blimey. It shifts. Not the same torque as my 520D Touring, but more power. 200ps (197hp) Smooth as silk. Very bright cabin with the sunroof blind back (yes, sun roof with the folding hardtop). And with the roof down? Fab!!
Really tight steering and no flex that I could feel. Room for 4 (albeit a bit tight in the back for a 6ft 19 stone guy like me. OK for about an hour, which ain't bad).
Will report back after a few miles, but so pleased to fight against instincts against horror stories on the internet. Most owners love them, and so far, so do we...........
Oh, my wife also commented that she prefers it to the Audi A3 that she loved and we tested before 'downgrading' to this. Happy wife, happy life, and I love it too!
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3 month update.
The car is still great, albeit not having done that many miles, since our daughter gets the bus to secondary school now and the school run is a distant memory!
My wife still loves the car and feels both confident and safe in it. I rarely get the chance to drive it, but have done a few bits and bobs. For a start we got a nail in the tyre after just a few days, although the low profile tyres are so low profile you can bearly tell the difference between fully pumped and flat :o(. Found that there was not one locking wheel nut on the car so had to buy a set.
Bought a rubber seal cleaning kit (very small, sachets of impregnated wetwipes that barely covered all of the seals), and then discussed with the local VW dealer the merits of spending £40 on a bottle of Kyrox that Iffy kindly suggested, which I then did. Have then done all appropriate seals again. VW mechanic suggested that I bring the car in and he would show me what to apply where and how which was good of him.
Service light came on 100 miles after we got the car home and so got that done properly at VW, just for peace of mind and at a fair cost.
The car is as tight as a drum. There is some small creaking of the roof on a very tight, almost completely back on yourself left hand bend going downhill on one of our regular journeys, but that is not an issue.
Other than that it is quiet inside, has an amazingly powerful stereo (albeit the basic version) and it shifts when you want it to! In my case that is often, in my wife's case that is not too often, she just likes to know the power is there if she needs it.
One of the wheels is scuffed and the lacquer seems to be poor quality on at least one other wheel, so something to get donw at some stage, but other than that, the boot is a good size, roof up or down and we are very happy.
It is a very nice airy place to be in with the roof up too because of the large glass sunroof.
Any niggles? Yes. Open either door after any rain at all and a flood of water is released over your feet from the sills. I just stand back a bit, but it took a while for my wife to accept this was a design quirk, although I do perhaps need to confirm that with the dealer before I get all glib with that!
29mpg average.
Happy bunnies here in Sussex. Can't wait for the sun in the spring!
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...Can't wait for the sun in the spring!...
Open-top journeys are also fun on a dry frosty morning, with you well wrapped up and the heated seats on.
I'll be interested to hear how you get on with the Krytox.
My seal quietening routine has changed recently when I thought to try some bike chain lube, which I already had in stock.
Bikers/motorbikers use it because it goes on 'dry', so doesn't attract dirt, and doesn't fly off when the chain spins round.
Results on the CC3 have been very good so far.
The door windows on the CC3 drop a fraction to allow the door to open.
It's worth keeping the top edge clean and well-polished, and maybe applying some seal-antifreeze for winter.
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Hi Iffy,
Interesting. From my biking days my chain lube was mineral-oil based, and from my work life I know that oil onto rubber can cause significant degradation and absorbtion (different rubbers than for cars, but same principle) and my understanding with the Kyrox was that it was specially developed to add moisture without the degradation. Thats part of the reason why it is so damn expensive!
Before I read into it I would have stuck a bit of WD40 onto the window rubbers for example to, moisturise and lubricate the rubber, but I am told that would have been a really really bad idea, and knowing what I do about rubber in my work life (no sniggering at the back, different industry!) I now know why.
Is the chain lube something special?
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Volkswagen Eos Coupe Cabrio - What do I need to check for? - Skoda
