2007 Volkswagen EOS vs. 2007 Volvo C70

What is it that makes Americans so afraid of going topless? It's so commonplace in Europe, it hardly raises an eyebrow. Yet if you take a count of all the convertibles offered by American makers, you end up with only a handful (Mustang, Corvette, Viper, Sky/Solstice, PT Cruiser, Sebring, G6, and XLR) and of those, just two currently on the market-the G6 & XLR-are retractable hardtops (the 2008 Sebring goes on sale later this year).

The traditional convertible has its charms, but there are drawbacks. Top up, the cabin's noisy, visibility is compromised, space is cramped for four people, and few look as good with the top up as when it's stowed. Enter the retractable hardtop. Once an auto-show eye-catcher or sales gimmick, the technology has improved while prices have gone down, making it possible for entry-level luxury cars and midpack bread-and-butter rides to have droptops of metal. Not only that, the metal top affords coupe style when the weather turns nasty. Two of the newest on the market come from the land where being topless is just another day at the beach.

Volvo's new C70 was introduced in 2006 as a replacement for the previous softtop and coupe. It uses a new platform, shared with the S40 and V50, which caused dimensions to change somewhat-its wheelbase is shorter, but track width increased. The Eos, however, is the first of its kind from VW. Based on a shortened version of Passat's underpinnings, the Eos is a retractable hardtop with a twist-it's the only one on the market that incorporates a sunroof.

Our testers were equipped with 200-plus-horsepower engines, automatic trannys, and kitted out as topline models. The Volkswagen had Sirius Satellite Radio, DVD-based nav, CD changer, and the sport package and still cost $4395 less than the C70. (Want an even better value? Consider the Eos with the turbocharged 200-horse, 2.0-liter, skip the sport package, and get a great top-down drive for about $30K.) Sunblock and bottled water on hand, we headed to Joshua Tree National Park in the Southern California desert for some time in the sun.

Both cars make it easy to go from coupe to convertible. The Volvo uses a pushbutton in the center console, the VW a U-shaped pull/push toggle. Both take around 30 seconds to put up or take down, and both automatically put the windows up after the top is stowed. When the Eos's hardtop goes back up, the integrated sunroof makes it more of a production: Instead of the solid roof pieces arcing overhead as in the Volvo, the Eos has a spindly column that joins the A-pillar on either side, then its sunroof slides into place last. And if you want the full coupe experience once the top's up, you have to pull the shade closed over the sunroof's glass.