luxury1

I was in Sams Club today and on the floor they had an '05 phaeton for $54k brand new! I was absolutely shocked. I love my E but I might have actually considered the VW if it were in this price range at the time of my purchase since it has a lot that my 320 doesn't (V8, AWD, size, etc.). Obviously it lacks some of the prestige but I might be able to get over that for that price.

slk55lvr

Thats a ton fo new car for 54k! The problem is you'll suffer when it's time to re-sell the car as well, but if you must buy new that's a steal.

jprescott

I would not worry about residual. At 54k the hit is taken. My 2003 E500 had 19k miles and after 2 mos I dumped it on Audi(MB wanted less) for 34k. I bet the Phaeton wont drop 26k in 2 years. Either way for that price it's way more car than E500. Only prob may be service. That's what turned me off when I test drove it. I was between A8L( I ended up with it) and Phaeton several mos ago before news of Phaeton being discontinued. Walking into VW dealership was pretty downscale. I think they thought I was there to buy a car for my kid. If you think all the threads about MB service are disturbing I'm sure VW will put you in a different world. But hey, you could look past that for 54k.

slk55lvr

I'd have to agree that the service experience will be sorely lacking. My biz partner was looking at a touareg, and it became obvious pretty quickly that we we're inj the german version of a chevy dealership. What I would fear about the Phateon is driving it for 3-4 years and finding out you can't get 15k for it once it was out of warranty. If you keep it until the wheels fall off, though, that is an excellent buy for that price.

shoes

I owned a Phaeton and thought I had a very good deal buying it for invoice at the time (around $60K). I lost more than $20K when I dumped it.

First off, this is very large car, more akin to the S Class not the E. Second, it is a very complicated car and VW probably needs a few more years to perfect it and its systems. As it stands, I had a lot of troubles with the car and the VW technicians had no idea how to handle. VW has already abandoned selling this car in the US, so you are asking for even more trouble now.

If you buy a Phaeton for $54, it is guaranteed to be worth $30K three months later.

lig

The Phaeton @ 54K in one sense is a good value but it's too big and *way* too heavy to interest me.

The fact that VW is discontinuing the Phaeton says something about their belief in that car as well.

If I had 54K to spend on a really big car I would look for a used S8.

pfphipps

Maybe you should see the Autoweek article on their long term test:

http://www.autoweek.com/article.cms?articleId=103428

From this article at the end of a year of testing: Original sticker price: $74,365, Trade-in value: $38,275

Plenty of Autoweek articles on it. In another Autoweek article, they said, "This is one expensive, overdone and way overweight Volkswagen." They seemed to like it but wait for parts took forever.

CE750

The Phaeton or "Beltley lite" as I like to call it is a great car, but the marketing end of it was a disaster... should have been a name other than VW on the grill.. people can't bring themselves to spend 75K+ for a VW no matter how good it is.

$54K for a loaded one, I'd do it.. residual be damned.

RJC

Exactly, VW should have created a specific luxury brand name for the Phaeton and the Touareg.

CE750

that's what the japanese did with Lexus after all..

I used to think Audi was that.. but there seems to be a divide growing between the two.

mick1

all VW had to do was to re-badge it as a Lamborghini Phaeton and the car would have sold well but they didn't do that.

CE750

Hey, don't laugh.. it worked for the Continental Flying Spur..

I mean compare these.... the one is 6700lbs, the other 5400lbs..
the one has a solid steel grill, the other plastic
the one has 690 ft/lb of torque from a British 6.7L V8, the other 500 from VW W12..

One is hand made, and the other is not (except some interior assembly)

One retailed for just south of $400,000, the other is south of $200,000, or 1/2 the price.

which is a Bentely? Some would say both.