The Volkswagen Phaeton Flew Too Close To the Sun
The Volkswagen Phaeton was VW’s retort to the luxury vehicles of Mercedes in the early 2000s, but it didn’t make the splash it had intended to.
Written by Alex Reale
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
What’s in a name? Sometimes, portents of disaster. Like the mythological Greek demigod Phaeton, whose sun chariot adventures ended in fiery demise, the
Volkswagen
Phaeton didn’t quite get where it wanted to go. Read on to learn how Volkswagen’s foray into the luxury car market in the early 2000s was a bit of a fool’s errand.
Double Deutsche
It was 2002, and Volkswagen was playing cat and mouse with a few other German brands. Though the brand was well-reputed as a maker of affordable, safe, mid-tier vehicles, VW chose this moment to look beyond its purview.
Perhaps it was because Mercedes had recently released its reasonably priced A Class, argues
VW Parts Vortex
, which was enough of a Rubicon for Volkswagen to cross over into luxury. If Mercedes wanted to sell mid-tier, Volkswagen would sell top-tier.Thus, the Volkswagen Phaeton was born. A big, heavy sedan, it doesn’t necessarily conform to our 2022 standard of what luxury looks like, but don’t let this deter you. The Phaeton was designed to impress. The exterior was typical Volkswagen: calm, collected, reassuringly staid. It belied a dazzling interior.
A spacious leather cabin was accented with leather and chrome, and a sophisticated-for-its-time climate control system kept passengers heated or cooled to exact comfort. Perhaps this luxuriousness was built into its very DNA, as the Phaeton shared a platform with the Bentley Continental GT, notes
Car and Driver
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Not just another pretty interior
MORE: Volkswagen Plans to Lease Used EVs to Recycle Batteries
And it wasn’t just the interior that elevated this Volkswagen offering into the realm of luxury. Performance set the Phaeton apart as well. The Phaeton W-12’s 12-cylinder engine amazed a 2004 C and D reviewer with its capacity to unassumingly propel this 5,000 pounder from 0 to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds. Comparisons to futuristic jets and alien spaceships were made with gusto, as the Phaeton’s heft seemed not to affect its quiet acceleration and superb handling.
Though it was fast without being obnoxious about it, and an incredibly relaxing place from which to commute, it cannot be ignored: the Phaeton got mediocre mileage, and its busy proto-infotainment system did not inspire confidence in the drivers of the early 2000s. A couple of these minor flaws were not enough to torpedo the Phaeton, but one major one was.
The fatal flaw of the Phaeton
Volkswagen released the Phaeton in part to show that it could hang with the big dogs at Mercedes, and in some ways, it did just that. But a luxury car costs a luxury price.
The VW Phaeton was a painful $100,000, and many consumers just couldn’t stomach spending that much on a car that came from a brand who was more “good for kids” than “drop me off at the gala.” So the Phaeton eventually lived up to its ill-fated name, and was struck by the firebolt of market apathy.
The good news is that this pricey beauty is getting belated recognition. Phaetons are an elusive presence in the U.S. now, as they were only sold in North America from 2004 to 2006, notes
MotorTrend
. This scarcity appears to be inspiring a cultish fame for them. “Here Phaeton lies who in the sun god’s chariot fared. And though greatly he failed, more greatly he dared,” reads the Greek demigod’s epitaph, according to
History Today
. Volkswagen only saw “dared.”Are you overpaying for car insurance?
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