Jalopnik: Return of the VW Phaeton 2018

Is MacGuffin trying to suggest that Germans are not susceptible to brand marketing?
 
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Yes, I laughed, too :)
 
Spectre is all over it but missing what I think is the cause of VW's problem in the US (or maybe he knows it but just didn't specify it in exact terms).

As a multiple VW owner who knows many other multiple VW owners from the past 5 year models or so, VW has two big problems. 1) Getting away from the MKIII and MKIV image, and 2) The Jetta. A brand new upper end Golf (TDI, GTI, R), Passat, CC or Tiguan/Touareg is great value for money when compared to a similarly positioned Japanese or American car (and even some German cars - I priced my CC against the new A3 and went with the CC because for $2,500 less I was getting FAR more quality, a German assembly as opposed to Hungarian/Mexican and far more standard equipment), but people don't buy them because they, 1) think VWs are still unreliable electrical failures waiting to happen and 2) think VWs are supposed to be $15,995.

I have no idea why Volkswagen of America has this bipolarity thing going on right now. On one hand they're producing cars that compete with the Corolla which are in fact loads of trash (hi Jetta and every other model powered by the 2.5L) and on the other hand they have excellent cars priced in the upper 30's-to-40's range and ridiculous concepts like the R400... I wish they'd just forget about being a competitor to the Japanese and Koreans and just become a slightly more budget alternative to Audi and BMW.
 
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Phaeton.....the only thing that comes to mind is "52 air flaps for draft-free AC, I had 10 air flaps in my Ibiza and they all got issues".

Also I really like the Phaeton, but would never get one. I like it especially for being luxurious while undercover.

A friend of mine ran one for half a year with PASSAT there instead of PHEATON and 2.0 Tdi on the side, ultimate trolling.

SchriftV10.jpg
 
Yay! The Phaeton is back! Now I can fulfill my dream of buying a common unreliable VW for the price of an expensive unreliable Audi.
 
Yay! The Phaeton is back! Now I can fulfill my dream of buying a common unreliable VW for the price of an expensive unreliable Audi.

Yes, from what I've been repeatedly told here, the rest of the world gets the good cars, while you only get the crappy ones that fell off the production line ;)
 

I would take one of these is a heartbeat. Very cheap in the USA and the V10 is one hell of an engine. I have one in my "tow" vehicle and it is one of the best daily drivers you could have. I wish we could get the 4.2TDI here, but, sadly, ... no.
 
Looks more like a facelift of a long-in-the-tooth model than an all-new design, which I feel like a re-launched Phaeton really needed to succeed.
 
Looks more like a facelift of a long-in-the-tooth model than an all-new design, which I feel like a re-launched Phaeton really needed to succeed.

Old Phaeton:

New Phaeton:

Looks just like the last one - which means it looks just like a Jetta - basically, the car the pizza you ordered just showed up in. So, looks like the last one, likely going to be marketed like the last one, almost certainly going to fail like the last one.
 
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That's a matter of taste really. And you cannot discuss taste with anyone.

Personally I prefer design made with a soft brush over design made with an axe but again, it's a matter of taste.
 
And you cannot discuss taste with anyone. [...]

Of course you can. For hours. Or days, months, years. That discussion must not be going anywhere and be productive, but that?s not always the point with discussions ... and I thought that you of all people would know this ;) :p

On the Phaeton subject - they haven?t fixed the main problem the car has among it?s competition. The Interior and especially the dash. It?s from 2002 and looked old-fashioned and boring (compared to Audi and Bmw) 10 years ago. Put that dash next to a current A8 (already 5 years old!) one and you see why this car does not sell. The only people who would buy this are people who have not seen a competitor from the inside. And those will be very few people.
 
Of course you can. For hours. Or days, months, years. That discussion must not be going anywhere and be productive, but that?s not always the point with discussions ... and I thought that you of all people would know this ;) :p

I'm almost 50. Every minute of my life counts and I don't wanna deal with anything that wastes time :p

But there are of course others on the forum who seem to be willing to sacrifice lots of their lifetime in fruitless discussions ;)
 
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That's not the new one. I mean, I'm serious, it isn't. New one will be out in 2017 and there isn't a single shot of it so far. The pictures are showing the latest (and very small) chinese facelift.
 
The photos make so much more sense to me now, and it matches my previous hunch.
 
I would take one of these is a heartbeat. Very cheap in the USA and the V10 is one hell of an engine. I have one in my "tow" vehicle and it is one of the best daily drivers you could have. I wish we could get the 4.2TDI here, but, sadly, ... no.

Hey, another Ariel owner who is also a VWAG fan. :p
 
Good news! The Phaeton's been pushed back again as VW has decided to try to make the car actually profitable this time.

Volkswagen AG is delaying the introduction of the new Phaeton as the automaker seeks to improve returns on the slow-selling luxury sedan by lowering production and material costs, people familiar with the matter said.

Even though a new version of one of VW?s least successful models is ready for production, the manufacturer is again reworking the Phaeton, which costs more than three times the mid-sized Passat sedan, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the discussions are private. The Wolfsburg, Germany-based automaker didn?t comment on its plans for the model.
?There is always the element of the Phaeton being the answer to a question no one ever asked,? said Tim Urquhart, a London-based analyst at market researcher IHS Automotive. ?Who wants a VW limousine??

More at the link. There was also this tidbit:
Herbert Diess, who previously headed purchasing and development at BMW AG, has been in charge of the VW brand since July.

Not sure if potentially good or if VW is now doomed in the US market as a result.


Also, a review of the final model year of the Phaeton to be sold in the UK:

VW Phaeton 3.0 V6 TDI LWB (2015) review

You may be wondering how this idea ever got off the ground. A luxury limousine? with a Volkswagen badge? The People?s Limousine? A Prime Ministerial ride for Jeremy Corbyn? Back in 1999, who would dare pitch that doozie to truly terrifying VW boss Ferdinand Pi?ch? Answer: no-one, but they didn?t have to. It was Ferdy?s idea.

The Phaeton is dead ? axed in the UK this summer after 13 years, ostensibly because its engine no longer cuts the Euro emissions mustard. But there?s another reason: nobody buys them. They sold just 31 in the UK last year (we probably bought more aircraft carriers than that!) and the decks need to be cleared for a new model on its way in 2017.

Let?s take the old girl for a final spin.

Surely only the chauffeur has to drive it?

If you?re this unostentatious you don?t have a chauffeur. Which is a pity because it means you?re stuck up front, leaving offspring and friends to enjoy the best bit: the ridiculous amount of space in the rear. Not only are you stuck up front, you seem also to be stuck in 1982, to judge by use of wood veneer so abundant a whole forest of caramel-coloured trees were surely harmed in the making.

This is odd, as the Phaeton dates back only as far as 2002, but you quickly realise that it?s really only the veneer (and an analogue clock sourced from a giant bucket just near the checkouts at Ikea) that makes it feel old. Oh, and the automatic gear selector (there?s veneer on that too!) which finally yields some royalties for the bloke who designed it back in 1971, if he?s still alive.

Again, more at link.
 
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