Test drive Volkswagen Phaeton 2002 - 2009 sedan

Opium for the people

Try, dear reader, offhand naming the heels of firms producing representatives of the highest class. And about Volkswagen, have you forgotten? Is it still unusual for you to see him in such a company? So it’s strange for me: a folk car and a six -digit amount on the price tag. It is clear that the people are different, but still
Therefore, the invitation to get acquainted with the elongated version of Phaeton (there is nowhere else) it seemed interesting to talk with the car, and try to understand which people it was made for.
What are you deigned?
Eh, I will remember youth and present myself to a personal driver of a leading person. Instead of a UAZ, a miracle of German technology, instead of a friend of the colonel, Mr. Director, instead of an army tunic is a black suit. The mouth is on the castle, the face is stone, the driving style is confidently hacking and at the same time extremely soft, so that the owner does not dangle his head. A colleague, acting boss, is puzzling, not in rank, in the front seat. Well, the authorities have their own quirks. How did you get? Where we go? Clear, Dresden, Hotel of Kempinsky.
Hey navigation! Tell me where to steer. Found my companions? That is great. The selector of a six -speed assault rifle to the Drive position manual switching mode let others indulge. Xenon headlights broke out.
You have to be an original to buy a member with a diesel engine. But the bosses chose our business to ride. And to ride such a very good one. When under the hood is more than three hundred horses and 750 (!) Newtons of the moment, what difference does it make that it splashes in the tank. A little stroked his foot and rolled, softly so silently. It is necessary to put pressure faster faster, and this will not be faster acceleration is not at all diesel! Here, however, the motor makes itself felt by uterine muttering, muffled, as if on an American with a huge gasoline eight.
So they got out to the autobahn. The cruising mode: on the speedometer 140, the tachometer arrow barely raised, the transmission is six. The motor is resting too. The device is actually convenient for work, there is nothing to complain about. Unless it is not too nice to spin on such a mastodont in a clogged city. And so all the benefits of automobile civilization that for the chef, for the driver, no division into black and white. And the electronics are different! I felt a truck in front and let's slow down. Thank you, dear cruise control, but I will deal with this truck without you. Smart cars have become, soon they will drive ourselves, and we will be left without work
Well, here we arrived. What are you talking about? Yes, it makes noise a little. Be sure to check. Goodnight. I still have a chief advanced, noticed that the wheels were buzzing. No wonder: on winter tires, but on asphalt. It is to blame for itself, it is time to change it off, although for that kind of money the company could have to manage with noise insulation.
What is the phaeton against the backdrop of competitors? It seems good: space, comfort, equipment rich in stock. The engines are worthy, all -wheel drive, in general, there is everything that is laid for the rank. Two things confuse me: style and brand. But the first matter of taste, and the second habits.
Glass Temple
An expensive car is not just a means of transportation. This is a lifestyle, it is a belonging to a certain social class, if you want, a demonstration of your own I. The circle of owners relatively narrow, and the missionaries from marketing are fighting for the souls (read wallets) of thicknesses. To convince, charm, hypnotize and, finally, turn into your faith. Every religion has its own temple, so the cult of Phaeton is no exception. This place is called a glass manufactory.
Someone pierces the sky with the needles of the minarets, someone covers the dome with pure gold, someone cuts down multi-meter statues in the rocks. Volkswagen built a glass factory. In the center of the city, in the park, in a green lawn. No mud, no charming pipes, even components are transported on a specially built tram. Here they do not just assemble cars, here they are priestly in front of the amazed parishioners.
Do you like this color? The manager moves the miniature model of the Phaeton on the table to a potential buyer. How do you like this skin, and such a tree texture? Samples move along a polished countertop, and the computer screen immediately demonstrates how it will look on a living car. You want to look at the assembly of the car not through the glass for God, just put on a white robe, we, you know, hug the last bacterium yesterday. Do you like our parquet? Well, the floor of glass shops is covered with Canadian maple. Would you like to follow the assembly of your car? We assure, everything is done carefully: by hand, with skillful hands of specially trained working German workers, the best in the world! Only the wedding is automated, the connection of the chassis with the body and the gluing glasses.
Is it time to get a ready -made car? There he is, on the fifth tier of a glass tower. They will deliver this minute! In the meantime, please for lunch. Or choose accessories? Maybe a purse for several hundred euros or a leather portfolio in a couple of thousand? Right, inexpensively, because you bought such a car, you must adhere to a style
Once, to me, a person from a distant religion, had a chance to attend an Easter service in the Moscow Kremlin. He went out of interest, look at the patriarch and church splendor. And it all ended that he pushed along with the old women, trying to get under the spray of Holy Water and almost collapsed from happiness. Some kind of obsession! So in the temple of Phaeton: on people, from the equipment of distant ones, the automotive clergy should affect magically. The main thing is to lure a person, and further professionals will do their job: they will get a fragile soul and turn to their faith. You will forget all doubts, and the brand will cease to seem too folk and prestigious. After all, the classic warned: any religion is an opium for the people.
Man, car!
Now let's play the authorities. Imagine yourself, beloved, rich and successful, and therefore not very constrained in the means. And for the next trip to the office entrance, a dark phaeton was filed. With a gasoline eight (I feel a prejudice for diesel engines) and, of course, long -minded. I love, you know, space. To Wolfsburg, to the factory!
Well, who came up with this manual gear shift! And he installed the levers for this under the steering wheel. For a new driver, they are like a red rag for a bull. That's shocking them, he will not play enough. The guy is young, bastards from all kinds of systems and devices are trying to use everything. Yesterday, on a bad thing, frankly, the road set the air suspension for maximum stiffness: I feel painfully shaking. And in general he drives harshly likes him, you see, the dynamics of the phaeton and the brakes! You will buy your car will practice, and now, be kind, calmer. However, he is a responsible person, leads confidently, does not force to tremble. Well, this Volkswagen liked him, what can you do. Yes, and I do not complain about the car, because
BUT! What! Yes, yes, I understood, we arrived. Sorry, dozed off, in the last days there is a continuous bustle. So, do I like the car or not? I will say this: I have nothing against. Doesn't it sound too loud? Nothing, the main content, and for which it is hidden, it is not important. After all, any thing can be served from different angles. For some, I am a solid holder of a long -ostrated phaeton, and let them guess what kind of beast is. And for others, the modest owner of Volkswagen, the most popular. For the prosecutor, for example. Pah-pah-pah.
Igor Solidov
Photo by the author and Volkswagen

 
 

 

Source: The magazine "Driving"