[ajmat]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

Seems like VW dealers got a Phaeton each for a steal. The owner of VW Pune West owns a Phaeton too. Surprising because he never spent money on luxury cars.

I get the feeling they were "encouraged" to buy one.

Adding to my story, I asked the salesman - why spend Rs 50L on this when I can buy a good used S or 7

His reply - "Those are common"

My counterpoint- "This looks like a Passat"

silence

[S2!!!]

Originally Posted by ajmat

I get the feeling they were "encouraged" to buy one.

Adding to my story, I asked the salesman - why spend Rs 50L on this when I can buy a good used S or 7

His reply - "Those are common"

My counterpoint- "This looks kike a Passat"

silence

Have had a ride in the Phaeton. It is quite a competent car and honestly at 96L it was not worth the price especially when you have the S-Class and 7 series as your competitor. BUT at 50L it was definitely worth every penny considering the air-suspension, 4zone climate control and massage rear seat. Yes the car looks drab and the (3.6 V6) petrol engine doesn't return more than 4kmpl but the back-seat does tend to spoil you and cocoons you from the outside world, hence, as a chauffeur driven car for daily use, it definitely is worth considering if you are the one who wants to enjoy your money but don't want people to know you are rich.

[Kaumad]

Originally Posted by ajmat

My counterpoint- "This looks kike a Passat"

The same can be said about all the new gen Audis and the 3 & 5 series BMWs. Just because the Phaeton looks like a bigger Passat, it is not worth buying?

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by S2!!!

Have had a ride in the Phaeton. It...........use, it definitely is worth considering if you are the one who wants to enjoy your money but don't want people to know you are rich.

Agreed, the qualities of the car are skewed toward engineering depth as opposed to presence (which the market depends). My issue is Rs 50Lakhs for a three year old Phaeton was pushing it

Originally Posted by Kaumad

The same can be said about all the new gen Audis and the 3 & 5 series BMWs. Just because the Phaeton looks like a bigger Passat, it is not worth buying?

I think you missed the big picture - the normal buyer will buy a BMW/Audi because of the brand. Most of us need more than a glance to figure whether it is a 3/5/7. Glance at a Phaeton, its a VW first and the normal buyer will be looking at the brand and not the car for itself. Even driving dynamics are very capable as opposed to be outstanding. Except for engineering quirks and over perfection in HVAC systems, the car does not stand out. During the Passat launch, the VW product manager was bewildered at why 10 Phaeton's were sold that month!

I still stand by my opinion - it looks like a big Passat. What was your opinion apart from

BTW, I forgot to mention the rest of the conversation - I went and bought a tiny Phaeton errm no, not it was a small Passat, whoops actually, it was a large Vento, cut to the chase - a Jetta!

[S2!!!]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Agreed, the qualities of the car are skewed toward engineering depth as opposed to presence (which the market depends). My issue is Rs 50Lakhs for a three year old Phaeton was pushing it

oh I think we both were not on the same track. I was talking about the discount being offered on a 'new' Phaeton which had brought down the price to nearly 50l on road. I guess you were talking about the pre-owned Phaeton.

when you say 50L for a pre-owned Phaeton was pushing it even though its a V8. Still a brand new 3.6V6 is worth a look at 50L. But I doubt they have any cars left over for sale. Last I heard was they had cleared their inventory and are expecting a newer model by next year.

[ghostrider]

It's a fairly well established fact that the Phaeton was one of Ferdinand Piech's two follies as Chairman of VAG. The other was the Veyron (more on this later in the post).
The Phaeton design blueprint as specified by Piech was insane, the most telling of which was that the Phaeton should be capable of being driven all day at 300 kilometers per hour (186 mph) with an exterior temperature of 50°C while maintaining the interior temperature at 22° (never mind that the car was limited to 250 kph). If you dwell on this statement for a moment, you'll realize that this is a testament not just to the air-conditioning, but to every aspect of the car.

Unfortunately, what VW built was a car that was over-engineered to the extreme, but had no styling presence whatsoever and when VW asked people to fork out as much cash as they'd pay for an S-class, they were bringing a knife to a gunfight.

It's a similar story with the Veyron. I rate it as the best car in the world today and it's a feat of automotive excellence, but what has it done for VW? Absolutely nothing.
99% of the car-buying public doesn't associate a Veyron with VAG, they associate it with Bugatti and despite the average $2 mil price-tag, Bugatti loses money on every Veyron that they make.
You could argue that this was good for Bugatti's brand image, but they don't make any other cars so that argument doesn't hold. I can't see how it's good for VAG either because there's no part-sharing or tech trickledown to other brands happening either.

[volkman10]

Volkswagen confirms a new Phaeton is under development.

New details are starting to emerge about the 2015 Phaeton as Volkswagen's research and development chief has confirmed the model is currently under development.
Speaking at the Paris Motor Show
the publication says the model will have an aluminum body architecture which will enable it to be lighter than its predecessor, also says the Phaeton will keep its premium positioning and target the Jaguar XJ

http://www.insideline.com/volkswagen...us-return.html

[anoopGTkrish]

Just stumbled across a VW Phaeton for sale in Bangalore Classifieds section. Seems very well maintained, but could be a potential lemon.

I was surprised and happy seeing this car after a long time.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by anoopGTkrish

Just stumbled across a VW Phaeton for sale in Bangalore Classifieds section. Seems very well maintained, but could be a potential lemon.

This has been on sale for a while. I dont think that they are that bad but when something goes, you need a good technician or perhaps a Bentley expert to sort it out!

[v12]

I doubt the Phaeton even crossed the 70lakhs barrier when it was launched in India. I haven't come across any for sale online , but have seen a couple of them at dealerships in pathetic condition. This one seems to be in good shape (OE Bentley CFS wheels too). An S Class competitor for E Class price.

[drsk]

Originally Posted by anoopGTkrish

Just stumbled across a VW Phaeton for sale in Bangalore Classifieds section. Seems very well maintained, but could be a potential lemon.

I was surprised and happy seeing this car after a long time.

The car is still available for sale:
https://www.olx.in/item/volkswagen-p...iid-1575149812

However, in 2 different photos (attached here) it sport 2 different reg. nos.
One with 9094 (MH12? - remember seeing this no. in another website sometime back) and the other with 5380 (MH14). Fishy?

[anoopGTkrish]

Originally Posted by drsk

The car is still available for sale:
https://www.olx.in/item/volkswagen-p...iid-1575149812

Interesting find. Definitely fishy. Would stay miles away from this deal.

[tapasvi.l]

Yes I have seen 3-4 cars in Bangalore. I wish VW does another car like that but price it against a 530d and E350 CDI. It was the last of a kind, late 90s and early 2000s approach to cars, too over engineered and an era of excess when environmental laws weren’t as strict as they are now. You could get a 6ltr V10 Diesel engine and it was a beast, and not to mention a W12 petrol you find in the continental GT and the A8. The late Ferdinand Piech’s last brainchild, it was fabulous and amazing. VW built a separate factory for that. Fortunately to the Chinese customers, they still get an iteration of this discreet billionaires’ car in the form of the Phideon. It’s such a rare car in India that even Ferrari and lambos have outsold that.

[RomanPearce]

I remember seeing and even recording a video of a white Vw Phaeton in Hyderabad where I live. It was the only time I ever laid my eyes on one. The car was such a flop in India that the last batches were sold with over 20 lakh of discount!

[akshaymahajan]

There is a thread on the 25 lakh discount that was available on the Phaeton here (VW offers Rs. 25 lakh off on Phaeton 3.6).