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By Glen Waddington
First drive
19 May 2008 12:16



So tell me, is the Volkswagen Phaeton as dull as it looks?

Fair enough, it’s not going to set your world on fire, though there’s something subtly appealing about those chiselled looks. Painted in a dark colour, it could be a shady European dignitary’s car. Or it could just look like an inflated last-gen Passat.
Get inside and the messages are slightly confusing. Chunky slabs of wood furnish the centre console, fine leather lines the seats, but the doors clang when you slam them and the plastic surfaces are typical unfussy Volkswagen: demure, smart and right at home in a sub-£20k saloon, but lacking in grandeur here. Much of the dashboard’s hardware is shared with the - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER, though the special finishes that are applied to the big Brit are denied the Phaeton.
It is huge, though, and the comfort of its seats is matched by the acreage of lounging space on offer.


What if I want to drive it, not just sit in it?

Good news and bad, here. There might ‘only’ be a 3.0-litre V6 under the bonnet but it endows the Phaeton with decent shove in each of its six automatic ratios. And it sounds good while it does it, with a muffled but steely edge to its deep, multi-cylinder voice. The Tiptronic gearbox is unobtrusive in action yet responds eagerly enough to manual inputs, too.
Where it goes wrong is in the ride/handling balance. This is a big, hefty car and you wouldn’t expect it to handle with any grace yet, despite numb steering, it’s actually fairy easy to plot a course. Four-wheel drive keeps it neat in corners and there’s very little roll.
But driving the Phaeton hard is pointless if you’re doing it for fun: there’s none to be had. What it should do is waft effortlessly, but the ride is always both knobbly and wallowy, despite four different damper settings – there’s more wallow at one end and more knobbliness at the other, and never the optimum combination of tautness and compliance.


Verdict

Few people buy a luxury car not to be noticed in. For those that do, the Phaeton is ideal, but if the company is paying and you want to feel a bit more pampered, treat yourself to the extra warmth, tactility and sex appeal of the equivalent A8.



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I saw one yesterday, and the Phaeton looks definitely great!! Absolutely underrated car!

I agree it's the most underrated car in the world,BTW i've been away on Phaeton news are they gonna make a new model or discontinue it?

The have completely forgotten about what an engineering marvel the Phaeton is... About how the car can do 320km/h with 4 passengers inside enjoying the airconditioning at 20C. Or how the car is built with no regards to weight, using only the highest grade of materials for manufacture... High tensile steel, very few cars use this extensively like the Phaeton does (due to weight concerns). But it's safe, improves stability and feels like a true German car. It's a price worth paying.