Today’s candidate is a Volkswagen I’ll bet you forgot ever even existed, even though it’s only been out of production a couple of years. Let’s see if this Eos has a price that’s worth remembering.

Put a $600 pricetag on a hamburger and you’ll make the news, but you likely won’t get many takers. Put that same price on ahowever, and, well… people start scheming.

That was the case with Friday’s Probe, a car overdue for a cutch job, no brakes owed to a cut line, and door locks that were AWOL. Despite those foibles its price fell well within crapcan racing’s reach and hence the car came away with both a lot of love, and a 78-percent Nice Price win.

People remember the Probe. They do so because of its iconic and somewhat unfortunate name, and for the fact that it was complicit in the near-death of the Mustang. Today we still have the Mustang, however the Probe is but a memory—gone but not forgotten, as they say.

In contrast, today’s is car that’s gone but most likely also forgotten. Hell, I’ll bet few of you ever gave it much if any thought over the course of its ten-year run either.

That’s too bad because the Eos is one of the most interesting hardtop convertibles ever to hit the market. Not only that but it’s built on Volkswagen’s A5 platform. It shares that with the Mk5 Golf and Jetta and about 60 other VAG products making mechanicals easy to obtain. But enough about what’s common, let’s talk about that unique top.

The hardtop convertible was all the rage back in the Aughts, with just about ever car maker of note building one. The cheapest one on the market at the tine was the Pontiac G6 which was introduced in 2006, the same year as the Eos. Among the most expensive was Ferrari’s 575M Maranello-based Superamerica that dropped a year earlier. That extremely limited production car also featured one of the more innovative tops- an electrochromic panel that pivoted from cabin-covering roof to upside down second boot cover at the flip of a switch. Even so, it had nothing on the Eos and its five panel movable feast of a topper.

That top includes a moveable moonroof within the folding mechanism giving it more moves than Michael Jackson. It’s a triumph of engineering, but of course there are some drawbacks. One of those is weight. The Eos clocks in at about 3,500 pounds. That’s five hundred more than the similarly sized and more commodious Golf. The other potential problem is the complexity of all those moving parts and dozens of rubber seals. What do you think repairs on those might cost should something ever go tits up?

That’s why, should you get a wild hair and decide to let said hair be tousled by the breeze in an Eos, you’d want to find a good one. Preferably one with a lot of life still left in it.

As it turns out, most of the Eos models on the market these days have appreciably low miles. What the hell were their owners waiting for? This one has but 94,000 on the clock, a mere 8,500 and change per year. I do that on trips to the liquor store alone!

The car, in medium blue over a two-tone light sand and black interior, looks to have held up well over the years and those meager miles. The paint does not seem to exhibit any major flaws and the headlights, while somewhat cloudy, are far from the point of no return. The alloy wheels show no sign of curb rash and the tires are reasonably new.

Inside it’s much the same story. The seats and tactile elements all show some grunge, but nothing out of the ordinary. The Eos was introduced at a point in time when Volkswagen was attempting a push upmarket so the car comes with a slew of luxury accoutrements and functional enhancements.

You get leather seating surfaces here, Nav in the dash, and power everything. Plus it has that tidy and familial VW design.

The boot is clean too, however it does demonstrate another foible of the Eos in that, like all hardtop convertibles, you have to choose between carrying your stuff and carrying your top back there.

Surprisingly, for what’s otherwise such a seemingly clean car, the engine bay here looks like shit. It’s dirtier that Stormy Daniels’ trump tweets and just as alarming. The typical cause of so dingy an under-hood presentation is lack of attention. Perhaps just a good powerwash and a Saturday afternoon with some rags will bring it all back.

Underneath the dust is a 1984-cc DOHC turbocharged four good for 200-horsepower. Next to that sits VW’s 6-speed DSG auto-manual thingamabob. There’s no word on when was the last time that had a fluid refresh. The seller does say that everything works as it should, and that there are no egregious dash lights to ruin your day.

His price is $5,200 which falls on the low end of what the sites that are never right say you should pay.

That of course, is why we are here. What say you in regards to this Eos and that $5,200 price? Does that make this VW memorable? Or, does that have you saying fuggedaboutit?

You decide!

Washington DC , or go if the ad disappears.

H/T to edhelmsbakery for the hookup!

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