Autoblog

There are some cars on the market that you can tell just by looking at them were designed for one particular sex over the other. Prime examples include Volvo's station wagon lineup or any of the Peugeot cabrios, but until now there's been no definitive answer as to which car is best suited for females. Thanks to EveCars, a website on motoring skewed towards women, we now have one car that was picked over all others as the ladies' choice for Car of the Year.

Readers of the site were able to nominate their favorite cars for this year's voting, which were then reduced to a list of 27 finalists. The cars were then picked by an eight-member jury comprising editors and industry experts (one male was included) who ultimately chose Volkswagen's Eos convertible as the clear winner.

Things the judges looked for included how popular the cars were in their respective categories, as well as how much overall appeal they had. The VW was picked because of its metal folding roof, space for four occupants and a sporty chassis. We're sure there are a lot of Autoblog regulars out there who could name a few 'ladies' choice' cars of their own, but we think EveCars got this one right.

[Source: Eve Cars via VW Vortex]

click above image to view gallery of 2007 Volkswagen EOS

Even though Volkswagen has one of the fullest lineups in its history of selling cars in the U.S., these aren't the best of times in North America for the German automaker. Since 2005, VW has lost somewhere around $2 billion in the U.S. and the company has decided to lay off 30% of its workforce by moving its U.S. headquarters from Detroit to Virginia. Horrendous Euro to Dollar exchange rates are certainly part of the problem, but VW is having much more trouble offering Americans vehicles that fit our tastes.

The Volkswagen EOS hit the scene with surprisingly little fanfare, even though it combines the sporty 2.0T engine and athletic driving dynamics of a Rabbit with a killer hard-top convertible. The EOS appears to have everything it takes to be a summer classic, a claim we put to the test by inviting the car into our Autoblog Garage for a week.

USA Today's James Healey really liked the new VW Eos. "... boy, was the car nice when it wasn't broken." Uh oh. Broken? In technical terms, giving a non-working car to the nation's highest-circulation newspaper is offically called a "whoopsie." Healey loved how the Eos looked, drove and operated until he stopped for gas. After filling up, the gorgeous hardtop convertible showed signs of electrical problems by refusing to start. Not Good.

After waiting a few minutes for VW's mechanics to show up, Healey nervously played with the key fob, inadvertently opening the car's locks, thereby accidentally discovering the Goddess of the Dawn had awakened. After returning the car to its makers, Healey is told the car's battery cable had been disconnected for a recent car show and not properly replaced. Forgivable, we suppose. But then he's also told the mechanic found a missing seal in the car's air-intake system. A bit more difficult to explain.

Probably just an honest mistake that will never happen again and is not indicative of Eos's reliability. But then, not exactly the kind of thing you want printed in more than 2.2 million newspapers nationwide, or on Autoblog for that matter.

[Source: USA Today]