The funeral eulogy for a lighthouse project that could never shine brightly.
Dear Phaeton, now you have made it. Have an exhausting car life behind you. 15 years full of malice, perseverance and critical looks.
Because nobody wanted you, except Ferdinand Piech and his subordinates. The unconditional belief in the goal of crowning Volkswagen as a global brand with a noble top model has overcome all objections from controllers. Many nights worked through in the development departments had to create something new, in Dresden a new factory was just built in the middle of the city. Had Twitter and Co. already existed in 2001 at the premiere of the Phaeton, the perfect hashtag would have been #daswarjanochnieda.
I had the pleasure of driving you for a few months, with kind regards from my employer, so to speak. And the interesting thing about driving the Phaeton was that you were automatically an Audi Q7 customer. And this is how it happened:
Volkswagen had not only thrown you into the market as a new car, but of course also brought a complete service concept and special customer service. The idea of the special Phaeton salespeople who serve their customers from AZ was soon given up again - because the Phaeton women and men barely had anything to do - but one thing remained: the promise of an “equivalent luxury class replacement car” when servicing to obtain. You came to me in VW's full development pride as a 5.0 TDI. Ten cylinders. 313 hp. It was an announcement at the time, especially at a time before green badges were stuck on windshields. But not on the V10, which only managed Euro3.
This engine bothered you. And me. One of the loader buckets regularly stuck to you. What was noticeable by the fact that after a leisurely 130 km / h trot on the highway at some point could not be driven faster, you just have blown no more air in your (too) many combustion chambers. At the beginning it was still funny, just ran right, engine off, engine on and you roared again and gas like a savage. But when it came up almost every day, it was annoying. Also the workshop, which only wanted to read out the fault memory, but in which nothing stood. Thank God (?) Then came the message "Generator damage" added. Again workshop, again Q7.
For that had the complete ten cylinder out. And that went out, both (!) Axes. What two and a half weeks Q7 meant. And a bill in the five-digit range. Not for us. No expense paid by VW - on goodwill. A good three years after first registration and with 60.000 kilometers on the clock. Allegedly an isolated case. I was always shocked at how many isolated cases of broken V10 TDI engines were complained on Internet forums.
The group did not earn anything at least on the copy I used. All the workshop visits. And then the leasing levy. Without any fancy. Car parked, papers signed, done. Despite scratches. Despite the lack of summer bikes. Already careless. Because the then exactly four-year-old car, list price 108.000 euros, 71.800 kilometers then stood at 20.800 euros at the Volkswagen Center on the used car space. And stood. And stood.
Nobody really wanted a used Phaeton, either. If, then as 3.0 TDI. The basic six-cylinder. With the one had the maintenance costs still reasonably under control. Halfway! I remember new brakes all around: just under 5.000 Euro. That should not have gone much cheaper with the smaller diesel.
The second technology lighthouse next to the V10 TDI was of course the W12. 450 PS from six-liter piston stroke. But unfortunately as emotionless as an autumn night in the drizzle. Which somehow fit again to the whole car.
In the end there was you, dear Phaeton, only as 4.2 V8 gasoline engine. Because that was the engine that the Chinese bought. And in this market you could at least record something like a respectable success. The Asians have maintained production in Dresden. 20.000 cars a year should actually leave the Glass Factory each year. In the best year 2011 it was just over 11.000, otherwise only four-digit values.
Topic missed? I think: no. Without the Phaeton VW would not have been so easy to reposition Bentley with the building on the Continental / Flying Spur by the hand. Bentley is now dazzling and rushes from one sales success to another.
A Volkswagen is always a car for the people. And of course, the people are normal earners, family fathers and mothers. From customers for Golf, Touran and Passat. But parts of the people are also entrepreneurs, heirs or other better-off people (or people who were a lucky coincidence for me, so I came to Phaeton). These should also be served by the farmer of the Volkswagen. Since I was and am completely at the Wolfsburgern. Or the gentleman who now spends his time in Braunschweig and Austria.
This month, the last Phaeton rolls off the line. We join the funeral march, paying tribute to this splendid specimen of a flop.
Yes, it is right to continue working on a big Volkswagen. Dieselgate has now postponed these plans once, the new Phaeton will drive purely electric. That's a good step. And no matter when he comes - I think he should, he must be called Phaeton again. Until then, big boy!
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by Bjoern Habegger
As the boss in the ring, here on my-auto-blog, I don't have to agree with the opinions of the authors. And what I like best is the lateral minds with the firm, the strong, the convincing own opinion. In the case of the Phaeton, however, I can join this article and still don't have to see everything differently from Bernd.
Phaeton - The First
No, it wasn't easy for him, the Phaeton. But an Audi V8 didn't have that either. I loved driving both cars. Back then, shortly after the apprenticeship, a used Audi V8. Only the little ones with 3.6 liters. Still, it was really big in terms of maintenance costs. Brakes? The UFO disks? They burned the salary of a small automobile dealer violently.
But the Audi V8 combined all-wheel drive, V8, automatic transmission and all that in a discreet sedan, always in the shadow of the Audi 100 construction-saving series. Or was it a sporty 200er? No. The Audi V8 was, no matter what its base was, always a nerd. Something unique. Something awesome. He has always been a solid bond between me and the Audi brand. (Today is different, but for the Audi V8 really nothing.)
And the Phaeton? He was the Audi V8 from Volkswagen. He had the same over-father. The same intentions. The same power with which you whipped up the project. And like the Audi V8, the Phaeton also needed to gain an understanding of the new segment. Where did Audi go with the V8 back then? Three generations later, the quattro drive grips itself precisely in this segment. The Phaeton should repeat this, for VW.
A Volkswagen for the price of an S-Class?
The indignant indignation with which this rhetorical question was too often made by too-obvious experts annoyed me personally. Yes. The simple answer. Some push into the segment below, the other upwards. Who has invented the Golf and a whole vehicle class with the same, who can reinvent the luxury class.
At that time I was able to drive the V10 TDI for 10 days. 10 days in the 313 PS diesel D-train. Steam in all situations. Pressure. In the back of the mind always the idea: Here it is 10 cylinder. What exactly do the others offer?
No. Anyone who had once dealt with the Phaeton was in love. That the Phaeton was confused by passers-by with the Passat? Given.
Last year I was allowed to do that again with the Phaeton on tour. A few manageable kilometers from Dresden, from his birthplace, to Denmark. The birthplace of Dynaudio loudspeakers. These, in turn, are the premium loudspeakers in the VW Group. So also in the Phaeton. The visit to the “Transparent Factory” was the starting point. And it showed once again the standards with which the Phaeton was manufactured. An S-Class, a sevens and also the A8 from Audi can, in view of the white smock, the wooden floors and the slow-moving belts, as shamefully unsubscribe as a mass product. Alone the hinges for the trunk of the Phaeton. They should be on display at MoMa in New York. Solid aluminum, milled from solid. A work of art in itself. The Phaeton.
A flop? Definitely not. Only the first. And sometimes the story overtakes you and the first one stays, we hope not the last one.
