[V8] Phaeton anyone?

Mon Nov 2 07:09:33 PST 2009

Last year when I took the V8 to the dealer to (hopefully) trouble shoot the
ABS and cruise control issues, while waiting for the car, the dealer gave me
the keys to their new, leftover V10 Toerag.  I had been curious, since the
idea of a ten cylinder turbodiesel was simply too neat to ignore.  

I am not a fan of SUV's.  Most are long on bulk and short on both sport and
utility, and the Toerag is no exception.  It  is almost as foolish a vehicle
as the Cayenne Turbo, but I digress.

It was exceptionally cold that day.about ten below, and very bright and
sunny as only a cold winter day in central Maine can be.  I headed out in
the Toerag and went up to the Interstate and cruised along, noting that warp
speeds were certainly possible.  The truck accelerated well..like a very
heavy truck with small V8, actually.but once moving it moved forward with
exexorable thrust, the diesel part very, very subdued.

I didn't like it.

It felt big, heavy, and somehow awkward.  It sort of lumbered down the road.
Oh, it was very well controlled and all, but it just felt.well, odd.  

I didn't play with the air suspension on the thing, I was driving someone
else's $65,000 vehicle, afterall, and had NO intention of buying it.  On the
whole I came away from my fifteen miles' drive wondering why anyone would
actually want one of these things.  Seven or eight years ago, on impulse I
bought a 1996 Bronco that had exceptionally low miles and was in
exceptionally nice condition.  I paid the princely sum of $5700 for it.  It
handled better than the Toerag, although wouldn't haul as much nor carry as
many people in such comfort.  The truth is that there are rarely more than
two people in my car anyway.  But the Toerag made me remember the Bronco.

For hauling stuff I bought a new-to-me GMC pickup almost exactly a year ago.
I looked for quite a long time, and found this one on eBay.  On impulse my
wife and I ran down to central Massachusetts to look at it, and bought it on
the spot.  It is a 1997 GMC 3/4ton 4X4 that had had very few New England
winters.  The second owner had traded it in on one of those Honda
twinkietrucksthings.  Anyway, the GMC has a 454 V8, and when I got this
super clean, nearly new truck home, I got the GMC dealer to pull the build
sheet:  the truck is nearly a 1Ton by the way it was spec'd out.  It'll pull
down a large house.  It cost a whopping $6800.

Which sort of brings me back to the Phaeton.  I like the looks of the V12,
and find the idea seductive.  I am not a fan of the S8/A8 body style at all,
and although the Phaeton has some minuses from my standpoint, I like the way
they look, in pictures anyway.  

But I still like my V8 better.

Roger

  _____  

From: qshipq at aol.com [mailto:qshipq at aol.com] 
Sent: Monday, November 02, 2009 9:32 AM
To: rmwoodbury at roadrunner.com; v8 at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [V8] Phaeton anyone?

I've driven the Phaeton, reminded me of a 'nicer' S8, but the S8 has a
better feel, IMO.  The better machine though, is the Toureg v10 tdi.  Much
of the phaeton running gear sits on that truck, and you get 530ft/lbs of
twin diesel torque to boot.  Fellow ex-v8, LT1Q, and 20vturq owner Rob
Dupree bought one of these monsters.  I read the dealer service intro manual
cover to cover, the tdi is the phaeton with a truck body.

Scott J
92 v8 ABT chipped

-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Woodbury <rmwoodbury at roadrunner.com>
To: v8 at audifans.com
Sent: Mon, Nov 2, 2009 7:16 am
Subject: [V8] Phaeton anyone?

I was looking at eBay's auctions yesterday, and happened onto the VWs.

There was this VW Phaeton W-12 four seater that I thought looked pretty

neat.  

And no, I am not going to buy one, nor am I particularly interested, but I

must concede that I am curious about the car.  Like the V8 Quattro, in its

time and in its market, it was enormously expensive and a total sales and

marketing flop.  Still and all VW turned up the burners under this one, and

I suspect that mechanically and reliability wise they may be a very, very

good automobile.

I wonder if any lister has had one, or even driven one.  Although I have

looked, I have never seen one, not in anywhere in Maine that I have been,

nor anywhere else on the road when I have traveled.  

So, my observations:  first of all, the four seater is neat I suppose, but

all of those cars have enormous rear leg room. Very nice if you have someone

riding in back with enormous legs, but that makes the car rather long, I

would think.

Speaking of long, it seems that the car's platform is the opposite of the

V8:  it seems to be ALL wheelbase and not a lot else, whereas the V8 is a

pretty short wheelbase with overhangs. That makes the V8 nimble in tight

places, and I wonder if the Phaeton is a lumbering brute when taken off the

smooth boulevards of southern California?

Any comments?  

Roger 

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