2008
Automatic
30.1 mpg
Tax: £540
Mileage: 123,000
Diesel
As names for cars go, Phaeton perhaps never had the best start in life. The son of the sun-god Helios, when Phaeton ("the shining one") finally learned who his father was, he went east to meet him. He induced his father to allow him to drive the chariot of the sun across the heavens for one day. The horses, feeling their reins held by a weaker hand, ran wildly out of their course and came close to the earth, threatening to burn it. Zeus noticed the danger and with a thunderbolt he destroyed Phaeton. He fell down into the legendary river Eridanus where he was found by the river nymphs who mourned him and buried him. Hardly encouraging stuff and when some commentators heard of Volkswagen's plans to introduce a luxury saloon they predicted a similarly rapid demise. The Phaeton, whilst never cranking out sales to rival the Mercedes S-Class, nevertheless made some respectable numbers in the UK. Enough to justify the huge and shiny factory in Dresden? Perhaps not, but if you're after a nearly new luxury car bargain, the Phaeton might yet have its moment in the sun.
There are a cluster of genuinely modern feeling luxury cars, amongst which can be counted the Audi A8, the Jaguar XJ, the BMW 7 Series and the Volkswagen Phaeton. Of this bunch, the Phaeton probably represents the best value used buy. The V6 has its merits and would seem to be the pick of the range during the steeper part of the car's depreciation curve, but in a year or two, the V10 TDI diesel will doubtless look very tempting as will the 3.0-litre TDI a little further down the line. When spending this sort of money it pays to do your homework and buy at the right time.
Borrow £6,000 with £1,000 deposit over 48 months with a representative APR of 18.1%, monthly payment would be £172.36, with a total cost of credit of £2,273.28 and a total amount payable of £9,273.28.
