Eos vs. Astra
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Hopefully, by this time next year both models will be available here in the States.
So we’ll be able to make up our own minds.
The Eos has a glass roof. But the Opel can’t be as unreliable as most VWs are.
And I saw the Eos in person. That roof mechanism is more complicated than any other I have seen.
Good luck to VW getting this right when they still have problems with the “old fashion and simpler” new Beetle Convertible tops…
This is the conclusion I have come upon: buyers seeking luxury, style, and sophistication will more likely fall for the Astra, while buyers wanting charm, fun, and an image will go for the Eos.
Hahaha I remember when I was driving through autobahn, most of the cars pulled over on the shoulder broken were either VW or Opel. lol This was awhile ago of course, but still… to think that those two companies are making complicated hardtop… :shudders:
that’s just what we need, 2 kraut car companies battling it out in the us
how did gm get into this mess of importing kraut cars into our beautiful country?
Opel is owned by General Motors. The GM headquarters is in Detroit Michigan, United States, and is run by four United States men. That makes Opel pretty much an American car.
Saw the Eos at the la auto show on the regular floor not on a stand and was explaining to my bud at how the roof pillars actually go around the back seats when the roof is down, and how the sunroof retracts back, and telling him this seems overly complicated and the VW people where listening to my description as a few others and he went and grabbed the key and opened and closed the roof 2 times so we all could watch.
While this surely is a blast to watch, all i can identify with is 3 years down the road some pimply faced vw tech trying to figure out all the servos and motors and wires and not being able to figure out how to get the roof moving once again, it also seems that any kinda crash that might damage any of the roofs sections in any form would total out the car cause its too complicated to fix at any body shop, again staffed by under trained kids or old men that dont wanna learn this new technology ! soo id be more comfortable spending the extra bucks and buying the mercedes slk knowing they have like 10 years now figuring out the retractable hardtop and having sufficent techs to work on it.
I´ve read in some magazines here in europe, that the 7 piece Eos roof doesn´t seem to be totally water or air proof, they were reporting air sucking in below the rear window (and i guess water would do the same), haven´t read anything like that about the astra. Plus the Eos costs (ofcourse that depends on the market,but here in Austria) up to 5000(!) EUros more.
I wouldn´t pay that premium, that´s sure…
the BIG problem with the EOS, is how many roof sections/pieces there are.
the more pieces = more seams = more wind-noise, and more places for stuff to leak in.
Simplier designs like the SLK, XLR, SL, and G6, have 2 piece roofs that lessen the complexity, and chance something will go wrong.
if VW can’t even make the New Beetle issue free, who really wants a car with a super tricky roof, that the people who designed it don’t even understand?
Ok, just saw both cars in person – the Astra does actually look much better (imo), sharp lines while the very organic VW shape reminds me of some mid 90s Mazda or stuff like that…
(And the Eos i saw didn´t have the chrome around the windows which you see an all pictures, actually everything black bar the grille – looks cheap and ruins the design. but typical VW – everything is an option)
It is total speculation on your part that the Astra Twin Top will be comming to the U.S. as a Saturn. All we know so far is that the Astra is comming in what form we don’t know.
As far as I know, just one company makes retractable hard tops. So all convertible with hard tops are made by the same company…
So the mecanism must be as reliable as the ones on other similar car.
But sdcarnut got a point. If the mechanism is crushed in an accident, it must be like hell to straigten it to make it work once again. So those cars will probably cost a fortune to insure.