Great car.

Not a sensible used buy. Especially if you are motoring on a budget.

It's too complicated by half with some repairs only possible at a main dealer with parts needing to be electronically matched to the car.

Other parts - like brake disks are going to be inflated. For example £163 for the Phaeton from Eurocar Parts compared to £41 for a Diesel Golf from the same year. Image what dealer prices on those would be!

Phaeton has a conventional torque converter /planetary gears type with Tiptronic - they were sold by selected Premium VW dealers so many dealer don't have a Phaeton-trained technician.

My son is interested in a 16 plate Diesel Phaeton.

Grateful your opinions especially about the auto box. Would this be a DSG ?

Initial assumption would be that it has a DSG box, but according to the Autocar review i found, and at least one other source, it is a T/C auto.

As for whether or not it is a sensible buy, compared to what?. If it compared to a Range Rover, probably quite sensible, but not sure what else it would be more sensible than!. my recollection of the reviews and roadtests of the Phaeton was that it is an extremely complex car, also an extremely heavy car (i believe about a quarter of a ton heavier thanan Audi A8).

I also seem to recall it not doing very well in the JD Power survey but wouldn't swear to that.

Just say to your son something to the effect that the cost of repairs when they happen will be in proportion to the cost of the car when new, not what it costs secondhand.

I'm sure that it's suffered huge depreciation and sounds like a lot of car for the money - but it's a VW and someone else has had its best years.

My son is interested in a 16 plate Diesel Phaeton.

Grateful your opinions especially about the auto box. Would this be a DSG ?

Buy a Lexus instead.