Test drive Volkswagen Phaeton 2002 - 2009 sedan
Der Phaeton
Do you know what is the most difficult in the work of a car journalist? Be objective and unbiased! Forget the test of your habits, addictions and priorities. Forget about what you like and what you do not like. What to your liking, and what is not very. Forget everything and just feel a new car. Trying to understand - why, why, for whom? ..Usually, I do not have problems with this, in the sense of objectivity and impartiality, and even more so with positioning the model in the market. Little leaf? For a young family, for a woman, for operation in the city. SUV? There are also many options, and you can guess the buyer for sure, only for this you need to travel by car, thoroughly study its technical data and design features. The same can be done with any other car: all models are clearly positioned on the market, so most often the test program is not reduced to the definition of the meaning of life, but like a banal - I do not like it. But this time I came thoroughly.
And it is to blame for this VW Phaeton, the first representative Volkswagen for the entire existence of the company. The first folk car, the cost of which can be shocked even by the owner of the expensive VW Passat GP. The first Volkswagen, which stands on a par with the most famous Germans - representative BMW and Mercedes -Benz. It was this car that put me in a dead end. First of all, his positioning in the market: for whom is it intended? I never found a definite answer ...
The car is high -quality, well -designed. The main targets for Phaeton are models of the representative class, so the engineers had to work hard to achieve an excellent result. Phaeton simply did not have the right to make a mistake: either he manages to perfectly prove himself on the first attempt, or all the further actions of the concern aimed at developing prestigious models will only cause consumers and professionals. The bets were high, they did not spare strength. But how to determine how prestigious and suitable for its class is this or that car? You can familiarize yourself with its genealogy, which in most cases is a guarantee of a successful biography. Or, if the model is completely new and hitherto in this class is not noticed, to delve into its bowels - to familiarize yourself with the design and make a verdict about the level of the technical perfection of the car. Let's start, perhaps, with mechanics.
Characteristic sign: Perfection in the little things
Our regular readers already know almost everything about Phaeton: information about the model periodically appeared on the pages of AG, including a report with a recently held press conference. On which, by the way, familiarization with the device of the phaeton was allotted for no less than half the working day. So, the VW Phaeton is a representative of a representative class, with the corresponding dimensions and mass. It is equipped with air suspension of all four wheels, and it is not custom -made, but standard equipment for all versions. It is regulated not only by stiffness (four modes), but also in height: the clearance of the phaeton changes either automatically, when the car reaches 120 km/h, or forcibly, the key near the gearbox lever. In the basic version, the car is equipped with a six -cylinder, longitudinally located with a gasoline engine with a working volume of 3.2 liters and front -wheel drive. As an option - a unique V10 turbodiesel with a capacity of 313 hp, developing a monstrous torque of 750 nm. The top version is equipped with a 6.0 -liter W12 engine - light and compact, but incredibly powerful - 420 hp. In the near future, the premiere of the intermediate version is expected - with an 8 -cylinder gasoline engine. All versions, except for the base, may have a 4Motion all -wheel drive transmission, and for some it is standard equipment. The choice of transmission is at least wide: 5- and 6-speed mechanical gearboxes, as well as a 6-speed automatic. The list of equipment is simply endless: electric drives, heating, amplifiers, etc.
With the image of the model, its positioning in the market and among competitors to understand, and even more so to tell you this is much more difficult for you. On the one hand, the company has established itself as a manufacturer of high -quality and prestigious (in its class) models. On the other hand, you won’t come from the street to the upper class either: you need either recommendations, or some kind of unprecedented chip. There are absolutely no problems with the first: if there is a first -class manufacturer in the family of expensive models, I mean Audi, making a good representative sedan is not a problem. But with a good chip there is a problem, and even what. Lexus once did as Lexus (see insert), Volkswagen could not, and probably there would probably be no sense: now the times are different. Today's buyer will not surprise either a 16-cylinder conceptual Cadillac or a Porsche SUV. And if so, then the representative model from VW, if it was a clone of some other limousine, would not cause such a wide resonance among specialists and the press. Although even before the premiere of Phaeton there were many rumors that, they say, the car would be a double of the new Audi A8, which no one has yet seen then. They talked about the similarity with the Passat, and that in the best traditions of the concern, many details can be unified with other models. But the leadership of the concern also understood: you will make the model too chic - it will cross the road with your own Audi A8, you will do it easier - it will not be able to reach the level of competitors.
As a result, the VW Phaeton turned out the way both buyers and the creators would like to see him. A good, well -tailored sedan that does not hide its size is quite prestigious and expensive. But at the same time, the Audi A8 does not interfere with the representative model - despite the single -class, models do not directly compete with each other. By the way, it was because of kinship with a well -known manufacturer of cars with aluminum bodies VW Phaeton did not receive a body from this winged metal. Only a few body elements are made from aluminum, although production capacities quite allowed the concern to have two representative models with aluminum bodies in the range.
Knowing in comparison
Honestly, it is extremely difficult to test expensive cars. Firstly, they have everything that the modern auto industry can offer. The same VW Phaeton is so packaged by electronics that two batteries are provided in the car. Secondly, a lot should be evaluated with correction coefficients. For example, in previous Mercedes the steering wheel did not suffer from excessive informativeness that active drivers, and even on a wet highway, did not delight. But even if you are three times authority in testing cars, as well as part -time supergire, do not even think about this lack of stutter. The representative of the dealer, having listened to your claims, ridiculous and inappropriate from his point of view, arrogantly and at the same time explaining: this is Mercedes-Benz. And on this - that's it, the card of the bit. The same can be said about representative bimmers - there are no flaws in such cars, there are features.
Phaeton developers are five times more difficult for this: the car is new, unusual for the consumer. Therefore, he does not have the right to features, but simply must be the best. In principle, he turned out to be this: there are simply no shortcomings in him. Design, ergonomics, handling, running qualities, mechanics - everything works perfectly. But first things first...
Objectively and unbiased
First, in brief about what I did not like. Or raised some questions. You can praise the VW Phaeton endlessly long, it is much more difficult to be boring and objective. So, the first thing that raised questions was an incomprehensible situation with the buttons at the bottom of the central console. If the gearbox sector lever is in Parking, then getting to them is problematic. The massive lever simply closes them, moving almost closely. Question Second: The location of the steering wheel switches. Usually, this is a feature of all high -speed cars, the steering wheel levers that are responsible for turning the turn signals and wipers are located at such a height that with the right grip (the left hand on ten hours, the right - at fourteen hours) the driver could use them without taking his hands away from steering wheel. You go, for example, a 200 km/h autobahn and you need to turn on the turn signal - the little finger pressed the lever slightly, and then returned it back. In the VW PHAETON, the sealing switches were taken by the petals, which can be switched by automatic gearboxes in manual mode. They are comfortable and are just in a very convenient place, but the steering wheel switches moved a little lower. And this means that by controlling Phaeton, you are forced to either hold the steering wheel so that it is convenient to use the turn signals, or to lower your hand down and grop it with steering wheel levers there. An incomprehensible moment ... I still did not like the sighting: if a car is driving in the next lane, behind about half a corps, then you don’t see it in the mirror, you need to turn your head and evaluate the situation through the side glass. The mirrors themselves are also not too good: with such dimensions, you need to do either the size larger, or the mirror itself should be spherical, with the maximum angle of coverage. This, perhaps, is finally finished on this. We proceed to the official part ...
Life is good!
Exactly so, and nothing else. After all, a car for fifty thousand dollars is, in fact, a pipe dream. You sit down, close the door. The first two or three minutes you just sit and enjoy. Everywhere, even in the drives of airplane deflectors, there are electric drives. Front seats - with a massager, electric drives and heating. The rear ones can also have these options, but only heating had only heating on our car. The motor starts very interestingly: you just turn the ignition key to the stop and release. And the electronics itself activates the starter and determines how much revolution he will need to start the engine. While the engine warms up, you can play with numerous buttons: activate the built -in phone with excellent ligament and control buttons on the steering wheel, select the suspension mode, increase or reduce the road lumen. All this farm is controlled, with the exception of suspension settings, through the monitor on the central console. Only in contrast to the I-Drive system from the BMW, which has made a lot of noise, in VW control is carried out not by one single joystick, but by several buttons and a regulator located just below the monitor. Explain how it works for too long, so we will limit ourselves to only a brief comment. Yes, the centralized control system from VW is more convenient than I-Drive, but it also distracts from movement. So there is a draw in this dispute: one is one.
I turn on the drive - let's go. Slowly, with dignity, demonstrating itself and the car. By the way, many are paying attention to the phaeton - these are drivers of oncoming and passing cars, especially the owners of other VW models and prestigious competing models, pedestrians. The base 3.2-liter motor copes well with its duties: smoothly and continuously transfers its torque to the machine, which is very trying not to disturb the riders. Switching switching, the motor is not heard, in the salon there is silence. If you press the gas pedal into the polish, nothing will change: the car will accelerate much more energetic, but in the cabin it will almost not be noticeable. The engine at high speeds responds with a pleasant low -frequency baritone, and the machine is so quickly sorting through the transmission that in a few seconds you understand: it is time to slow down. The brakes, by the way, seemed not too powerful, maybe it's all about the brake uninformative pedal, or maybe in tires with a universal pattern. At least, energetic braking on wet asphalt from 150 km/h to legitimate 60 is not enthusiastic: I would like to brake more hard, so that in which case have a normal distance to the walking car.
The controllability of the VW Phaeton did not cause questions: the car stands cool on the road, not bad, given the mass and size, holds on an arc and can even afford small pranks. But you can’t say that the phaeton encourages such a driving style, even vice versa. If you position it among competitors, then in its running qualities it costs closer to the S-class than to the BMW seven. There is no drive in it, in the car you enjoy comfort, and not from controllability. And this is emphasized not only by setting up the chassis, but also by ergonomics: Phaeton has a very large steering wheel. It is so much so that you want to hold it with one hand, and put the second on the windowsill or hold the battery lever. In addition, the steering wheel turned out to be quite slippery to the touch, with a thin rim. The classic grip of the steering wheel, quite applicable in the representative BMW, is simply inconvenient here, so you yourself do not notice how you remove one hand from the steering wheel.
The problem of Phaeton is its equipped mass, which even at the basic front -wheel drive version reaches nearly two tons. For competitors, it is on average less than three hundred and four kilograms, even in eight-cylinder versions. That is why the representative VW in motion is very different from other models of the highest class. Yes, he goes rather smoothly, but his tread will not be called imposing his tread, since the creators were forced to squeeze the suspension to prevent her breakdowns. Small irregularities for the most part are ignored, and the car sways slightly on the more noticeable ones. This is especially strange when you consider that the VW Phaeton is equipped with a pneumatic suspension with four degrees of rigidity adjustment. But having tried various settings, they came to the conclusion: in comfortable one could make it softer. I understand that when the suspension is unregulated, the factory testers are trying to configure it for all occasions: for high -speed driving, and for a comfortable, unhurried ride. But there are absolutely no problems here: in one mode of operation, the car can go smoothly and imposingly, in the other - hard, like Maserati. And it turns out that the sports regime works perfectly: the suspension really becomes tangibly tougher, riding the phaeton from the rolls, and in the most comfortable special comfort is not observed.
To be continued...
Given the very difficult weather conditions that pursued us during the test, we decided not to endure the VW Phaeton verdict. We’ll wait a bit until the snow comes down and the asphalt dries, then we will go thoroughly both in handling and the smoothness of the course. Take the car for the test again, go to Borovaya. We will even try to take one of the competitors for the test so that the comparison is not conditional. In the meantime, we can say one thing: VW Phaeton is an excellent car. For its class, the car is made just great. The quality of the assembly at the height, the quality of the materials - also. And I even know who will probably like such a car. Corporate clients, owners of powerful versions of VW Passat, who have long had a desire to change their car for something more prestigious. Business people who value not only the prestige of the brand, but also their time: they will probably like a special service program (see insert), developed for the VW Phaeton. So there is a very high probability that the VW Phaeton will take its place on the market, squeezing more eminent colleagues ...
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Speech in the upper class is a crucial moment in the career of each automaker. Not only the image of the company, but also the successes of the rest of the models, depends on how successful the flagship career will be. The most successful example of a competent approach to the development of a new market for the market is Toyota, which appeared to the world Lexus. In the mid -eighties, when the Lexus Brand was not yet known to anyone, and the Japanese models were not considered prestigious at all, Toyota dared to enter the market with the LS400 luxury model. Its appearance on the market was preceded by a long and painstaking preparatory work.
It all started with ... survey of the owners of the prestigious BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The Japanese were, first of all, the shortcomings and some features of these models with which the owners did not want to put up. It also turned out whether the buyer agreed to replace his German limousine with a Japanese production model equal in class and equipment. Thus, a portrait of the future representative of Lexus, an analogue of the S-class from Mercedes-Benz, was received, just as luxurious, massive, but much better and better equipped. What was the first Lexus - the LS400 model. By the way, in the course of the same survey it turned out that the owners of the bimmers would never change their seven to the Japanese model for anything in the world, be it at least three times better ...
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Especially for the Phaeton Volkswagen model, he has developed a unique service program that will work in all markets where the phaeton will be sold. Everything begins with the car dealership: for the representative model, either a separate interior or at least a separate room in the VW dealership is distinguished. Only a specially certified and trained individual manager has the right to engage in the sale of Phaeton. If your city does not have a Phaeton model for repair and maintenance, you just need to hand over your car to the nearest VW dealer - all further troubles associated with transportation and repair of your Phaeton fall on its shoulders. You, as the owner of the representative model, are obliged to give out a rubberized car - either exactly the same VW Phaeton, or, like in the Belarusian market, a Passat in version W8.
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Professional opinion:
Dmitry Popov, External Service of the Department of General Importer Volkswagen
By the nature of my activity, I have the opportunity to test the cars of our respected competitors. Therefore, knowing their product well, I perfectly understood - VW should do not just the same car, but ten times better, otherwise it would be even naive to count on success in the luxury class. With each new line read about VW Phaeton, we were increasingly penetrating respect for German colleagues, who received more than three hundred patents for inventions during the creation of this car. But what we saw, for the first time getting acquainted with the original, surpassed all the most daring expectations. The scrupulous quality of manual assembly, a completely simple logic for controlling the most difficult comfort systems, the strict luxury of the salon and, most importantly, the endless sense of reliability and power erases the boundaries of time and space in the consciousness of a person with VW Phaeton. He gives his owner self -confidence, in his abilities, in turn, naturally, developing into a sense of absolute superiority, based on respect and guarantees of security. This car is able to surprise you and others. I am sure that our respected customers will rightfully be proud that they stopped their choice on VW Phaeton.
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Opinion Ag:
A high -class car with its appropriate merits. Volkswagen's debut performance in the upper class can be considered successful. Although so far it is little like a triumphal procession.
+ Stylish design and interior
+ Good sound insulation
+ Rich equipment
- questions about ergonomics
- mediocre visibility
