LABARINTH

Thoughts? It's AWD and has plenty of room. I would most likely get the V8 (I believe it is the same engine as the Audi A8?). Maintenance is a little easier too. I read that the W12 has to be removed for virtually all repairs and it gets worse gas mileage. The cars were $70k+ new and can be had for $10-$12k with 90,000 = 100,000 miles. Since it is more of a chauffeur car most of them were babied. I know that maintenance costs will be high. But I am guessing still less than a comparable BMW, Audi, Merc.

What do you guys think? Great value or horrible decision?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm2swohEtYM

Spec R

do it. haha

LABARINTH

Part of the reason I think the car is a good buy is because it has depreciated so rapidly. No one wanted to pay $70k for a VW so the car failed pretty bad in the US. But for you money you get a hell of a car.

Nightshade

Nice car but I would stay away from VW and Audi myself regardless of how much I liked it unless it were a weekender car. Repairs are an arm and leg in cost on those things, injector issues are common as are electrical issues. Once they start it is a money pit and for the price they charge for their cars there is no way I could find a way to justify the purchase.

Like I said I love the design of their vehicles but too many known issues to be fucking with in my book.

white_n_slow

I know a few people, including my wife, with VW/Audi's with pretty colossal failures (electrical mainly). In my book, a car with less than 50k should not leave you stranded under any circumstances. I think it's a crap shoot.

LABARINTH

hmmm, ok. Do you think that the repair costs would be more than a Mercedes or BMW?

Most of my friends with VW's have experience intermittent problems...nothing major...but more problems than I have had with any of my cars so that was a concern. All my friends with Audi's swear by them tho. I figured the quality control was just better on the higher models. I was hoping the Phaeton would have better than average reliability...maybe not.

Nightshade

I couldn't say for sure, I know with most Audi designs a large number of basic repairs for most cars begins with "Remove motor mounts or engine from vehicle" which adds on 4 hrs of billable shop time if I remember right. My assumption is that the Phaeton is built on more of an Audi platform in terms of overall design and intended audience being higher end clients, this would lead me to believe that the combination of frequency of known issues along with cost of parts and labor would make it a no go in my book regardless of my income.

Mercedes is getting sloppy over the last 8 years or so, again I love their cars but their known issue list and build quality is growing to the point I would probably not have them at the top of my list.

BMW seems to just keep plugging right along with no more or less common failures than they ever have, they are spendy on repairs but you are looking at higher end models so this is expected. I would run each of these through a combination of Consumer Reports reviews, Forums relating to make or model specific looking for common issues and headaches as well as talkign to owners of these various vehicles on the forums to get a solid pro and con list. Separate the fanboys from the honest owners with rounded views on the cars they own.