Well, Saturday was simply too nice a day to ignore and we-- that's my wife and I-- packed up and went for an Eos Driving Adventure (EDA). After a brief drive around the Vancouver area, we decided to cross the border and go check out our southern neighbors.
Although we went a lot further than this map shows, this stretch of road was BUILT for the top-down Eos:
MAP
I have to say, that the curved road with the mountains on one side and the beautiful water on the other was truly spectacular. At some points the water was at the bottom of a "cliff" and the road was driving right on the edge. It was amazing.
So, I'm sure that everyone will like to hear about the car. It handled the roads beautifully! Some of the corners were almost "U" turns, and posted "suggested" limit was 15 m/h. The automatic DSG was superb in how it predicted what I was going to do, the next gear I needed always seemed to be ready for me and there never was any lag during the shifts. Smooth was definitely the best word for the automatic.
I ended up having to turn around and drive the road again, it was just a required event. This gave me the chance to try out the "sport" and "manual" modes for the DSG on the same road. My loving and tollerant wife still believes my cover story for the instant-replay: "I wanted to check out what restaurants were in the area so I could take you to the nicest one!" Although it cost a few bucks having lunch in a fancy place with an amazing view, it was well worth the bucks. (side note: the food was really excellent)
I flipped into Sport for the second attempt at the road and the car totally changed personalities. Luxury was partially left behind as the car took on a more aggressive persona. Several times my wife had to remind me that we were on a really narrow winding road in a park, and perhaps I should put things back into "luxury mode".
After our meal, I was able to drive the stretch in manual mode with the "paddle shifters". It is hard to believe that a car can have three completely different feels to how it drives. The manual mode really got me to feel like I was part of the car keeping me alert and entertained. It was all I could do not to turn around and go back again.
After this, we went back to the I-5 and headed back towards the border and into Canada (home).
Had two people ask me about the car during our refueling stop. They were really impressed with the look of the car, and had (of course) never heard of a VW Eos.
Well, that was part of my Saturday! Hope you all enjoy... If you get a chance to drive this stretch of road, make sure it is a top-down day... I am confident that you won't be disappointed.
