VW Phaeton 2004 reg

Timay

Just been looking at a VW phaeton and was wondering if anyone has ever owned one of these cars?

Just looking for a cheap (to buy) run around for a year or two.

To say that they were/are £50,000+ to buy when new and a used 04 reg car I have been looking at that looks very tidy is available for just under £5000 with only 68,000 miles on the clock.

Just basically wondering if there is anything that goes seriously wrong with these cars? Can see there been any big issues though as its was built as VW flagship vehicle but didn't catch on and sell well, which I guess is the main reason for the low price, that at the looks (as it looks like a big VW PASSAT)

forgotmyname

Big and thirsty. Can you afford the servicing?

If you dont get it serviced properly selling will be difficult,

Too few of them to get an accurate reliability breakdown.

But it will have the running costs of a £50,000 car.

£500+ for a reconditioned alternator, Imagine the price of a new one
from a dealer ££££ ?

JQ.

A mate had one - he's quite wealthy and bought one cheap secondhand but sold it when the servicing costs became very very painful.

The running costs are amazing by all accounts, hence why they're cheap to buy.

Timay

Yeah I gathered the running costs would be extortionate.

I just don't like buying new cars.

I was just think with a car like this you would almost hope it's is built well enough to get to at least 100k miles with very little going wrong, well nothing major.

Guess the best thing I could do is see if the seller would let me take it to a trusted mechanic for a very good check.

Would only keep it for a year or two. 30k miles maximum so might not be too bad of a deal. Not sure how much it would lose in value over that time if kept top notch!

JQ.

I think the issue is that even minor things cost the earth. If something "big" goes then you'll be in a different league.

Nothing major went wrong on my mates car, it was just the normal servicing costs that ended up being huge.

GolfBravo

Timay wrote: »

Just basically wondering if there is anything that goes seriously wrong with these cars? Can see there been any big issues though as its was built as VW flagship vehicle but didn't catch on and sell well, which I guess is the main reason for the low price, that at the looks (as it looks like a big VW PASSAT)

A big VW Passat? Nope. VW Phaeton is the car on which Bentley Continental is heavily based - they both share the same platform. The big VW also shares many driveline components with the previous Audi A8.

All this equals very high maintenance bills.

Yes, they are lovely cars to drive. But just have a look at some regular OEM service parts prices. £36 air filters. £100 (each) discs and £140 brake pads - it is a very heavy car and chews through tyres and brakes quite quickly. £250 for a new OEM brake caliper (well, the car is 8 years old, so quite unpredictable). How much to get a new MOT then? And how much for a new timing belt (plus fitting)?

Not to mention fuel economy.

You've been warned.

jaydeeuk1

I love them, the only vw I would consider buying. A hell of a lot of car for the cash. If running costs aren't aworry then go for it. Shared platform with some Bentley. Get it checked before buying though. Use a good indie for servicing vw will be incredibly expensive.
Also consider jag xj v8, s.type, s class, a8 and 7series.

daveyjp

There are far more common cars which are just as luxurious, but cheaper to run. Merc E or S class, Jag XJ would be better choices due to the large number of independent specialists who can work on them.

rev_henry

Don't know much about these in particular, but would think the usual rules of such cars apply. Superbly cheap to buy used, but the running and maintenance costs will be no cheaper than a brand new one, if not more expensive!

Its the kinda car I hope to buy when I graduate, though I might go for a 7er or S-class for the posemobile value. As someone said, it resembles a big Passat to most who don't know. I want something that looks enormous, ridiculous, flashy, and far more expensive than it actually was.

colino

The Phaeton is such a nondescipt car that you really wonder what they were playing at. I think the car emerged after they tested a lot of the new Bentley running gear on an extended Passat platform (to keep it secret) and some clown with more power than sense liked it and they put it into production.
To get a bargain, luxury car with real presence, looks, comfort and agility, get a nearly new diesel XJ. Someone else will have taken the biggest depreciation hit and you can simply enjoy. (And you wont spend the rest of your life saying, "It really is a luxury car and no, it's not a Passat!"

adamc260

colino wrote: »

The Phaeton is such a nondescipt car that you really wonder what they were playing at. I think the car emerged after they tested a lot of the new Bentley running gear on an extended Passat platform (to keep it secret) and some clown with more power than sense liked it and they put it into production.
To get a bargain, luxury car with real presence, looks, comfort and agility, get a nearly new diesel XJ. Someone else will have taken the biggest depreciation hit and you can simply enjoy. (And you wont spend the rest of your life saying, "It really is a luxury car and no, it's not a Passat!"

Apparently the reason for release was..

"the chairman of Volkswagen Group Piëch wanted Volkswagen engineers to create a car that would surpass the German prestige market leaders, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. The decision to release the Phaeton was, in part, a response to Mercedes' decision to compete directly with Volkswagen in the European marketplace with the low-cost A-Class. It was also intended to support the Volkswagen brand image"