RENDERED SPECULATION: If Volkswagen's Phaeton Looked Like THIS Would YOU Consider One Over The Current Crop Of Large Luxury Sedans?

Way back years ago when Volkswagen first proposed the idea of a large luxury sedan competing with the likes of the Audi A8, BMW 7-Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class, folks thought they were crazy. Rightfully so. I mean, even as a VW lover the biggest problem with a luxury VW is that the brand doesn't have the same cachet.

Though anyone who drove a Phaeton would tell you it's one of the best driving experiences, ever. You know it had to be good if Bentley used its chassis in the Continental GT and Flying Spur.

I've spoken to a couple of friends who had the pleasure of owning one and it was anything but that. According to my sources the car had a lot of reliability issues, which more or less downed the experience — it doesn't sound so far off from my Touareg of the same time period. Even worse, they also remarked the dealer service experience was poor, at best.

Clearly if VW wants to bring a Phaeton back to the States it has some work to do in the near term, BUT a rendering recently cropped up showing an artist's take on what it could possibly look like.

All things aside, what say YOU from a design perspective? Does THIS Phaeton rendering show promise OR should VW stick to shipping us Golf's and Passat's?

Read Article

pepito66 - 4/17/2013 8:32:58 AM

-1 Boost

Green light for me , the design is great and elegant .

USNA1999 - 4/17/2013 9:45:42 AM

-1 Boost

This is great car that will be priced just too high like an Acura RLX. Both good cars with lots of extras that people here in the US will completely ignore.

USNA1999 - 4/17/2013 9:56:24 AM

-1 Boost

Agent00R our V8 Touareg has been great (knock on wood) but I cannot say the same for the service at Tom Bush VW here in JAX were it was purchased. If VW expects people to pay huge money for a Phaeton, all VW dealers better really step it up just like Hyundai has done for Equus owners which I heard it is a great experience.

Agent00R - 4/17/2013 7:56:02 PM

+1 Boost

What year is your Treg? I had an 2004 and while I adored it, its reliability AND the service experience was miserable.

USNA1999 - 4/17/2013 8:59:12 PM

-1 Boost

Ours is a 2008. It has been great so far, my wife love it. My only complaint is that it eats the tires pretty quickly and these Michelins are pricey.

HughJass - 4/17/2013 2:14:57 PM

+3 Boost

No.

Drerx8 - 4/17/2013 5:34:30 PM

+3 Boost

In short No.

The rendering looks nice...but it looks to me what a sedan would look like if Jeep started selling a sedan. Either way, maybe I'm too much of a brand snob - but $80K+ would not be going directly to Volkswagen. They may get it through there other outlets though.

scenicbyway12 - 4/17/2013 5:40:16 PM

+4 Boost

Hey, what's with the over sized Passat?

MorePower - 4/17/2013 5:54:05 PM

+2 Boost

Looks were never the issue with the original Phaeton, it was the price.

While this concept looks great, VW has a hard time selling cars that are marginally cheaper than their Audi counter parts in the luxury market.

iamdabest1 - 4/18/2013 9:21:25 AM

+4 Boost

id take a phaeton over an equus .