Well, when I moved back to N.I. I decided to blow my hard earned on something really nice and comfy, and after many many test drives I chose the VW Phaeton 3.2V6
Many people asked me why I went for the petrol over the diesel and the answer is because the car was for my wife, she would do around 3k to 5k miles per annum in it, the petrol did about 26mpg and the diesel about 30mpg, so working this out, the petrol only cost a few hundred pounds more to run, but about 5 grand more to buy
The dealers were absolutely fantastic (Agnews, Boucher road, Belfast) I didnt have to deal with the normal sales men when iI was looking at the car, but the "Prestige" sales manager, when we were "discussing" my purchase (read, me haggling like mad) we sat in the "Prestige lounge" and because you were a "Prestige" customer, you got preferential treatment over the normal car range owners when it came time to service. For example, when I arrived and checked in at reception, I was sent immediately to the "waiting area", I was there around 10 seconds when the service manager came to meet me and bring me to his desk
I also had the choice of dropping in my car and getting a courtesy car, or having them drive a courtesy car to my house and taking the Phaeton away for its service.
Also, because my car was an automatic, they always made sure they gave me an automatic courtesy car (always a Touareg).
Over the time we owned the car, it was in for a couple of recalls.
The first one was when I got a phonecall from the service department to tell me that when the car was being prepped for me to pick up, the engineer noticed that the glovebox was not seating properly and he had ordered up new parts, I hadn't noticed this, or complained about it lol.
The next one was for when I got a call from them to say that it had been moticed that a piece of trim on the outside of the car could discolour if sitting in bright sunshine for long periods of time (I mean is that seriously likely in this part of the world lol) apparently it had happened to an owner in california, so they were changing them all rofl.
Both times, I was treated like royalty (actually better than the service I got at the local Mercedes dealership, and that wasnt exactly bad itself)
Servicing itself was not exactly cheap, but it was not more expensive than my Merc CLK, I think it was about £180 for a service, but the car decided itself when it needed a service and I think it was only serviced once or twice while we had it ( 3 years).
Tyres were quite expensive for it when we changed them the first time, at nearly £200 a pop for Pirelli P Zero Nero's, but that was a mistake as they were the worst tyres I have ever had on a car, with very poor grip and very poor tyre wear. The problem with the Phaeton and tyres is that the thing weighs nearly two and a half tons, so you need extra load tyres (which are hard to get in low profile) It also does 150mph (that is the least powerful cars top speed, all the rest are limited to 155 I think).
On performance, the car was not exactly a rocketship off the lights, but it was not exactly slow either, managing 0-60 in around 9 seconds i think, but in sport and from about 60mph upwards it can really shift. I remember being tailgated by a Renault Megane Sport (the turbo one) at about 70mph so i moveed over to let him past, i moved back behind him and sat with him to around 130 mph, then flashed my lights at him to let me past he was not happy, but as he was near Vmax i passed him with no effort lol
Obviously the Megane would be quicker round twisties, but this is just to demonstrate that the smaller engined Phaeton (although 3.2 is not exactly small, but then again there is a 6 litre W12 engine) has ample "Get up and go"
NB, all of this took place on a private track for those of you about to complain of dangerous driving
Many people asked me why I went for the petrol over the diesel and the answer is because the car was for my wife, she would do around 3k to 5k miles per annum in it, the petrol did about 26mpg and the diesel about 30mpg, so working this out, the petrol only cost a few hundred pounds more to run, but about 5 grand more to buy
The dealers were absolutely fantastic (Agnews, Boucher road, Belfast) I didnt have to deal with the normal sales men when iI was looking at the car, but the "Prestige" sales manager, when we were "discussing" my purchase (read, me haggling like mad) we sat in the "Prestige lounge" and because you were a "Prestige" customer, you got preferential treatment over the normal car range owners when it came time to service. For example, when I arrived and checked in at reception, I was sent immediately to the "waiting area", I was there around 10 seconds when the service manager came to meet me and bring me to his desk
I also had the choice of dropping in my car and getting a courtesy car, or having them drive a courtesy car to my house and taking the Phaeton away for its service.
Also, because my car was an automatic, they always made sure they gave me an automatic courtesy car (always a Touareg).
Over the time we owned the car, it was in for a couple of recalls.
The first one was when I got a phonecall from the service department to tell me that when the car was being prepped for me to pick up, the engineer noticed that the glovebox was not seating properly and he had ordered up new parts, I hadn't noticed this, or complained about it lol.
The next one was for when I got a call from them to say that it had been moticed that a piece of trim on the outside of the car could discolour if sitting in bright sunshine for long periods of time (I mean is that seriously likely in this part of the world lol) apparently it had happened to an owner in california, so they were changing them all rofl.
Both times, I was treated like royalty (actually better than the service I got at the local Mercedes dealership, and that wasnt exactly bad itself)
Servicing itself was not exactly cheap, but it was not more expensive than my Merc CLK, I think it was about £180 for a service, but the car decided itself when it needed a service and I think it was only serviced once or twice while we had it ( 3 years).
Tyres were quite expensive for it when we changed them the first time, at nearly £200 a pop for Pirelli P Zero Nero's, but that was a mistake as they were the worst tyres I have ever had on a car, with very poor grip and very poor tyre wear. The problem with the Phaeton and tyres is that the thing weighs nearly two and a half tons, so you need extra load tyres (which are hard to get in low profile) It also does 150mph (that is the least powerful cars top speed, all the rest are limited to 155 I think).
On performance, the car was not exactly a rocketship off the lights, but it was not exactly slow either, managing 0-60 in around 9 seconds i think, but in sport and from about 60mph upwards it can really shift. I remember being tailgated by a Renault Megane Sport (the turbo one) at about 70mph so i moveed over to let him past, i moved back behind him and sat with him to around 130 mph, then flashed my lights at him to let me past
he was not happy, but as he was near Vmax i passed him with no effort lolObviously the Megane would be quicker round twisties, but this is just to demonstrate that the smaller engined Phaeton (although 3.2 is not exactly small, but then again there is a 6 litre W12 engine) has ample "Get up and go"
NB, all of this took place on a private track for those of you about to complain of dangerous driving
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
