Overview:
This week I tested the 2004 Volkswagen Phaeton. In ancient Ethiopia Phaeton was the son of an Ethiopian princess and his father was the sun god. Was this the origin of the Phaeton name VW was thinking about or was it inspired by the elegant 1932 Ford Phaeton?

My burning question is how do you sell a VW that is more Bentley like than VW? It also seems odd that they would market this car through Volkswagen dealers. It would seem more appropriate to go through Bentley dealers. VW owns Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Skodo (Chek) and Seat (Spanish Fiat).

My friend and car nut, Merkel, sums up the ride as “Subdued Extravagance Optimized.” Merkel is not easily impressed since he’s an engineer by training. So you can imagine how surprised I was to hear his comment that this is a “Lovely Car.” He guessed the price should be around $50,000. Wrong. Try nearly double that!

I agree the Phaeton is overpriced and further, it is understated. Someone said it looks like a Passat on Steroids.

Handling & Performance:   
D-lightful comfort and extreme when it comes to power. W-12 means exactly that… two V6 engines side by each and it produces 420 horsepower to really impress you. If it doesn’t you are asleep. I understand this engine will also be available in the Audi A8, which is built at the same plant in Dresden, Germany.

The speedometer goes up to 200 mph and I have little reason to doubt it would do that. I couldn’t find a place here in the United States where I couldn’t quite push the needle that far over. But it does move from 0-100 faster than most cars can go from 0-60.

Auto engineer and professor Merkel feels the transmission is not up to the capability of the engine. I happen to agree that it needs work and I was irritated by the delay between pressing the accelerator and the transmission actually engaging.

Only a handful of automobiles today employ ESP – electronic stabilization program – and it is wonderful. This technology will save a lot of lives and it is standard on this car.

Styling:

Understated elegance. 

Fit and Finish:

Pristine. Wonderful attention to detail.
 

Conveniences:

I happen to love the On-Star feature, but the controls are so sophisticated they are almost invisible.

The Navigation system is awful and turns out to be a liability rather than an asset. There is no nice way to say it. It sucks, big time. And it is endemic of the German carmakers electronics. Audi, Mercedes, BMW and Audi are all terrible. The engineers need to look to the American and Japanese approach to interfacing with the driver and passengers since they do a far better job. Simply put, the longer you must fiddle around at the particular workstation / feature in question the LESS you will want to use that feature. I actually could not justify spending any more time trying to enter an address. I could easily have reached my destination faster than the time it would have taken to input the information. I should have known this would not be easy when they gave me a quick start booklet.

Cost:

Merkel’s guess as well as others I asked all figured this Phaeton would cost about $50,000. Guess again. How about two out of three?

Consumer Recommendation:

I discussed this car at length with Merkel as a sounding board and the conclusion is I can’t recommend purchase of this vehicle in the first year of production. VW looks to the consumer to do their QC (quality control), which is an unspoken company policy. (Insider information.) Frankly I have neither the time nor the patience to hang out at the dealership.

And the case in point is that I did find some subtle flaws I’m sure will cause the consumer headaches. An example is the preciseness of the ignition key. I had a lot of difficulty and several times was worried that I might actually not get the car started. This is the opposite philosophy of Japanese carmakers. They build a car that doesn’t break. Then they give it to the consumer. What a novel idea.

The Competition:
VW Phaeton $65-80,000, Acura RL $45,600, Audi A8 $68,500, Volvo S80 $35-49,000, Jaguar XJ Series $60-75,000, Lexus LS 430 $55,375, BMW 7 Series $69-117,000, Mercedes Benz S-Class $74-123,000, Infiniti Q45, $52-62,000.  

Good News:
Outstanding elegance even if a little understated, fast and uplifting to drive.

Bad News:

Terribly difficult to use NAV system and On-Star is poorly displayed, fuel economy is lousy and to add insult to injury you’ll pay a gas-guzzler tax of about $3,000. That will smart a little.

Standard Equipment:
6.0 liter 420 horsepower W-12 48 valve engine, all wheel drive, auto leveling air suspension and electronic damping control (EDC), electronic stabilization program (ESP), 4-wheel ABS power assist disc brakes with electronic brake force distribution (EBD), engine braking control (EBC), power steering, dual front air bags and side air bags front and rear, child tethers, tire pressure monitors system, anti theft alarm with motion sensor and immobilizer system, Xenon headlights and washer system, auto headlights, climate control, remote keyless entry, rain sensor and heated windshield washer nozzles, power one-touch windows, power opening and closing trunk, leather seating, genuine wood accents, 18-way driver and 16 way passenger power seats ventilated with air conditioning, heat and massage feature with lumbar support and memory function, heated rear seats, rear pass through with ski bag, rear power sunshade with side window shades, power adjustable steering wheel, power glass sunroof, HomeLink system, Navigation system with visual and audible commands, trip computer, heated leather wrapped multifunction steering wheel, 270 watt sound system with digital sound processing (DSP) and 6-disc CD changer, OnStar system, 

 Gas Stats:
 12 City and 19 Highway MPG.

Pricing:

MSRP $94,615.

Your comments are welcomed. My e-mail is joe@autolove.com
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