Volkswagen's Eos, the goddess of fun

— -- Can't sit here much longer without attracting too much attention. The guy who runs this Exxon, or the other patrons, are pretty soon going to get steamed about the jerk hogging the middle pump.

OK, raise the hood. Act as if the oil's being checked. Use the windshield washer squeegee.

Try not to look as if the VW Eos has up and quit at the gas pumps and you're waiting for the rescue guy. Which is exactly what's going on.

PHOTOS/AUDIO:Volkswagen Eos with Healey's comments

Running fine when shut off to fill the tank. No electrical power at all once topped off.

How frustrating, embarrassing, aggravating. How much like a VW driver's worst dreams, all those stories about shoddy quality coming true right there at a busy station.

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Hold on there; clearly an aberration, VW says. The test car did rigorous duty at international exhibits, VW says, and the battery cable no doubt was unhooked to meet fire regulations at some display hall somewhere along the line. The cable wasn't retightened properly, VW says its dealer's mechanic reported. Thing is, the dealership also found a missing seal in the air-intake system. That's harder to explain.

Not at all, VW demurs. No doubt related to all the exhibits the car went through before being put into the media motor pool. It could happen; some guy takes apart the air-intake snorkel system for some reason.

All that's after-the-fact talk. At the pump, a nervous and unthinking push on the remote-control fob ka-thunks a lock. That means there's juice. Quick, try to start it. Rrrrr, vroom. Engine's running. Drop the hood, close the trunk, drive straight home, skip the errands that would have required shutting off the car.

How cruel for such matters to taint the otherwise marvelous Eos, named for the goddess of dawn. Because, boy, was the car nice when it wasn't broken.

It's tempting to think of Eos as a replacement for the Cabrio, which was a convertible version of the Golf. But Eos is more distinctive (and expensive) than that.

Eos not only is a retractable-hardtop convertible, it's also one with a sunroof that opens for times when you don't feel up to the whole exposed top-down thing. The roof is five panels, including the glass sunroof. The front pieces slide under the rear pieces as the top is lowered and stored under the trunk lid.