The great Phaeton

The Volkswagen Beetle, introduced in the U.S. in 1949, didn’t even come with a gas gauge. The company, which had just been handed back to German ownership by U.S. occupation troops, was building about 50,000 cars a year.

They were not exactly the last word in luxury, featuring a split rear window, cable-operated brakes and a 1,100-cubic-inch engine giving a top speed of just 63 miles per hour. Instead of air-conditioning, there was the option of a folding canvas sunroof. The price was $800, and just two were sold that year.

Fast-forward 55 years, and Volkswagen is still selling economy cars like the Lupo (in Europe), Jetta and Golf. But it also owns Bentley (British aristocrats must suffer daily chagrin over this) and wants to compete in the luxury-sedan market. Enter the V12-powered Phaeton. A 12-cylinder Volkswagen!

Now we’re in uncharted territory for a company that won awards in the ’60s for its underdog advertising. The challenge this time will be getting big-bucks buyers to fork over 64 large (and that’s the base V-8 model!) for a car with a big "VW" logo on its prow. The company’s goal is 3,000 to 3,500 cars a year, which may be a stretch.

To build this big rocket, it helps that VW has Audi in the family. The Phaeton shares some powertrain components and an overall look with the A8, though it has its own identity. The Phaeton I’m testing is the upscale W12 model, which makes 420 horsepower and can reportedly zoom to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds. That’s only 1.4 seconds faster than the V-8 model (with a mere 335 horsepower).

I suspect that no one will be holding drag races with their Phaetons. The advantage of the 12 cylinders lies not in acceleration but in smoothness. Like the best Benzes, this more than 5,000-pound vehicle is silky-smooth through the entire power band, and as quiet as its Bentley stablemates.

You pay for it all at the pumps, however. The W12 demands premium fuel, and a lot of it. In addition to paying the $3,000 gas-guzzler tax up front, owners will have to deal with just 12 mpg fuel economy around town, and 19 on the highway. But buyers of cars like these rarely worry about fuel prices, even when it’s over $2 a gallon.

OK, so assuming you’ve paid the $104,615 of a loaded W12 Phaeton, do you get your money’s worth? Well, the back seat is limousine-like, with all the amenities falling readily to hand. One can easily imagine the W12 being chauffeur-driven, and in many ways it resembles the Maybach, a rarefied Mercedes-based limo from DaimlerChrysler.

The V-12 Maybach is powerful competition. Donald Trump told me, "I buy 25 limousines a year for my various hotels, and I’d certainly be willing to look at the Maybach." Would he say the same about the Phaeton?

Maybachs are partly handmade. Prospective owners are flattered with factory tours to watch their cars being built and 24-hour contact with attentive "Personal Liaison Managers."

Driving the Phaeton is certainly great fun. The chairs are like thrones, and the interior is beautifully done. The biggest hassle I encountered was the screen-based controls, which unfortunately bear some resemblance to the poorly received "iDrive" system in BMWs. Just tuning the radio is a challenge, and I’ve yet to figure out why pushing the red button on "temp" doesn’t make the temperature go up.

The name "Phaeton" recalls some of the senior classics that occupied our roads in the 1930s. Those cars were mainly killed off by the Great Depression. Whether this Phaeton will suffer the same fate in George Bush’s America is yet unclear.