I am guilty of a bit of light hearted leg pulling further up this thread. However, on the broader point of whether it is a wise or foolish thing to make a once in a lifetime indulgence purchase, only the individual who does or does not do it is in a position to really judge that.
I have known people, myself included, who have bought cars which locked up too much of their money. In my case I really don't regret it. It didn't harm me other than financially and I enjoyed the cars. I am not in that mindset anymore. In fact, quite the opposite. I pay only what I can ignore for cars now but I'm glad I've had some treats along the way too. I might do it again one day. Who knows? I don't.
I have a friend who did something like this about 15 years ago. He had always coveted a Merc SL. He really wanted a new one. Unsullied so to speak. Somehow he got the money together, despite it being way more than he could justify and bought his dream car. He still has it and still loves it. He claims it will never be sold. Admittedly he has also run a succession of workaday cars in parallel with it so it has been rather pampered.
Edited by Humph Backbridge on 03/11/2008 at 22:55
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He still has it and still loves it.>>
We are on this earth only once. Make the most of it...:-)
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Absolutely agree with Stuart's last comment, and despite being a chartered accountant I'm always on the side of people who want to go mad just for once. Mind you, my £8k, Y-registered Z3 fun car is sensible compared with the proposed Phaeton.
Maybe the 'you should get a Mondeo' doom-merchants are away at the moment. So forget them anyway, Alanovich, and have fun. The only thing I'd suggest is to think -
Is there anything else - equally illogical - that you'd rather spend say, £25k on?' (£25k is what you should offer, and while they're thinking about it, you can try out some other ideas.)
Do you want a big saloon (as the Touran can do the IKEA run)?
Will it still be fun in 10 years (as you'll have to keep it that long)?
If yes to all, and it's what you want, then go for it. If it were me, given that the Touran will carry as many people and things as you want, I'd want a convertible. But that's just me. I live near Reading, like you, and if I see a black Phaeton around I'll know who it is!
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By the way, what is the difference between being 'nuts' and just being plain old-fashioned mad?
I don't think there is one. So Alanovich is both, or either; and he is not alone.
I don't know whether I would advise the Phaeton or not. I'm sure it's a fabulous discreet luxury motor, well made and probably long-lasting, and unless it was a rogue example it would keep an owner contented for years. I think though that I could have more motoring fun for the money. But then my circumstances and Alanovich's are likely to be different.
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I always say this - but think about spending the 30k on Lexus LS460 instead.
Nobody will notice you, there's not so much chance of anything going wrong, well, pretty well ever, and double glazing is a mere nothing. The damn thing even parks itself.
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>>By the way, what is the difference between being 'nuts' and just being plain old-fashioned mad?>>
You could also wonder why the expressions "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean pretty much the same thing...:-)
The suggestion made about considering the Lexus 400 is also worthy of consideration but, and I could be wrong, it seems to be a much larger vehicle than the Phaeton.
Incidentally, I've only seen one Phaeton since its launch - a superb black example a couple of years ago.
Discussing the sighting with a pal who buys a new S-Class or other big Mercedes model every couple of years, he commented he was highly impressed with the Phaeton when viewing one in a Liverpool showroom out of sheer curiosity, but still wouldn't buy a luxury car with a VW badge.
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Phaeton is longer and wider. Lexus is higher.
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Re Badges. Begs the question, Is a Phaeton a remarkably cheap way of buying a Bentley? Or is a Bentley a remarkably expensive way of buying a Phaeton........?
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> "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean pretty much the same thing
That's irony for you.. :-)
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Is there anything else - equally illogical - that you'd rather spend say £25k on?' (£25k is what you should offer and while they're thinking about it you can try out some other ideas.)
That seems to me to be the crucial question. If you have the money, and don't need to set it aside for a rainy day, what else could you get?
* 10 £2,500 holidays
* A beach hut
* Plenty of change after buying an ocean-going yacht: tinyurl.com/5jj5pq
* More than 500 sessions with a good aromatherapist, i.e. one a month for the next 9 years
* Full training for a private pilot's licence for under £10,000, with lottsa cash left over to hire planes thereafter
* Commission a portrait or sculpture of yourself or someone you love: www.commissionaportrait.com
* A canal narrowboat: tinyurl.com/6h42gm
* With a bit of haggling, a nearly-new, high-quality German campervan: tinyurl.com/5ecskk
The Phaeton will do all your everyday stuff of getting you from A to B, though in a lot more comfort than you are used to. Which will give you more pleasure? An incremental tweak on the daily routine, or something completely different? You decide :)
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The OP doesn't say, but if he's already running a car, the difference may not be that great.
Say £25K for the Phaeton, deduct £15k for the Passat/Insignia/Mondeo he would have bought, and the dream only costs £10k.
Cheapskate, he should be on the lookout for a Maybach. :)
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Say £25K for the Phaeton deduct £15k for the Passat/Insignia/Mondeo he would have bought and the dream only costs £10k.
£10k upfront, but as discussed above the servicing costs on an ageing Phaeton could be huge.
In any case, a Mondeo with lots of life in it can be bought for £7k.
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And a burger will fill you up as well as fillet steak, but hardly comparable.
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And a burger will fill you up as well as fillet steak but hardly comparable.
The same cash will buy you a fillet steak, or a burger and a bottle of fairly good wine. Is the steak more important to you than the wine?
It's a matter of personal priorities. But for anyone who ain't super-rich, life is full of such choices between apples and oranges.
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In any case a Mondeo with lots of life in it can be bought for £7k.
I did exactly that in about 1999. I bought a year old Mondeo 1.8LX estate with 13k on the clock for 7k at Car Giant. At a bit over 100k it was still driving like new and I sold it on to my sister at a trade-in price as a favour when she was in need of a family car desperately. It was undoubtedly the most sensible buy I have ever made, sister also loved it but her Forces husband managed to drive it in to a tree on Salisbury Plain and that was the end of it.
So, I've done that before. At this point in time I really don't need a new car and I wasn't even thinking about it until I spotted that *thing* sitting in the dealers. And I'm going to see it again in a few hours when we test drive the auto Touran. blasphemy snipped.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 04/11/2008 at 13:43
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And now
the end is near
it's time to face
the final curtain.......
I....did....it.....my......
;-)
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I have seen some early large petrol Phaetons for £7995. These are very attractive for these prices. I am considering a petrol one, upon which I would have a top-notch LPG conversion done.
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Lexus - "The damn thing even parks itself."#
So does the new Skoda Superb if you tick the right option. Interestingly the Superb I drove had this and it was over £25k - makes the Phaeton look very cheap.
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Our company hired the services of a chauffeur company in Germany to ferry clients from a show to a separate event about six years ago. They used a fleet of LWB W12 Phaetons, this being just months after the car had been launched.
I was driven *very* swiftly back to the hotel one night by one of the chauffeurs who was keen to impress, and I can honestly say I've never been in anything quieter, more comfortable, or with the exception of the Jaguar XJ-R, so relentlessly swift. Not fast in the normal sense, but a relentless tide of acceleration that just keeps going well into ban speeds.
One of these for £8k plus an LPG conversion would be ridiculously tempting, although so would a nice six year old, sensible mileage Lexus LS430.....
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Read just now that the Phaeton is being updated with a few bits and bobs, so maybe the run out model is cheaper anyway. Just remember depreciation will be even worse with "yesterdays" model.
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the HJ homepage is listing cheap Mercs.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/best_deals/item.htm?id=5381
I would have thought an E320cdi at around £30k would be a much better bet.
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I would have thought an E320cdi at around £30k would be a much better bet.
...we're not far away from a new model but the last of the current version are well sorted cars now and should run and run. MB workshops are all bombing their servicing prices for older cars as the latest models need so little work.
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>>E320cdi<<
If you want to look like a taxi driver yes.
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If you want to look like a taxi driver yes.
Might be a handy thing to fall back on if push comes to shove!
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I dont think any of my dream cars come with taxi driving images - playboy, millionaire, director maybe, but not taxi driver. A neighbour of mine who works as such a driver has an E320 diesel. Anyone who lies awake at night dreaming of one has rather simple dreams.
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OP said"But I have always hated "prestige" brands like BMW and Mercedes"
So Mercs are out..
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Well, the decision has been made for me. For the time being at least. I turned up at the dealer's yesterday for the Touran test drive, and there was the Phaeton. Gone. It had already been shipped down to their sister dealer's at Newbury to be registered and put on the road as a demo.
I have asked the sales guy to call me when they are ready to sell it ex-demo, should the circumstance arrive.
Meantime, we're placing an order for a Touran SE DSG 2.0 TDi - they are offering 15% discount and three years' free servicing. I think that's reasonable at the moment. The deal *almost* matches an internet broker, so that's good enough for me. It will be our first ever automatic. There's a sign that middle age is creeping upon us.
The other thing that caught my eye there was the Passat CC. Now that's a very nice set of wheels, and probably a wiser buy than a Phaeton.....
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The other thing that caught my eye there was the Passat CC. Now that's a very nice set of wheels and probably a wiser buy than a Phaeton.....
Yes, I kicked the tyres on one of those before ordering my company car recently. It was specced up to the eyeballs the interior is lovely and it's an impressive beast to look at. The leasing rates are also very attractive. Sadly, no 6 cylinder diesel, none planned (according to the sales guy) and I can't justify a petrol car as I'd be filling it up 2 or 3 times a week so had to strike it from the list.
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I dont think any of my dream cars come with taxi driving images - playboy millionaire director maybe but not taxi driver.
Each to their own - I get in the car some days and do a 500 mile round trip. My C270CDi does it well (and at 50MPG) but an E320CDi would be even better.
I read the other day of someone who bought a BMW M5 for such use and is desperately trying to sell it, it's just altogether too "intense".
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If you don't care about prestige, why not get yourself down to your local Cadillac dealer. I'm sure they must be giving their cars away by now.
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Since when did Volkswagen have more prestige than Cadillac? How many times did VW win the Dewar trophy? At least if you kept the Cadillac for longer than ten years you would still be able to get parts for it.....
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I truly dislike Yank Tanks, wouldn't countenance a Caddy. Don't see the point of importing inferior American cars to Europe, they aren't designed for our roads and needs. IMHO.
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The fact that the Phaeton has been shunned since it's launch nearly 5 years ago makes the idea of a VW garage deploying one as a demo plain barking. It'll be the little green sticker on the staff wall calender, so each salesperson can take it home every fifth weekend. It certainly won't be doing any real demo miles.
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From my experience working at large dealership, I would say that either the salesmanager or dealer principle will be hoofing around in it. When I was at an MG Rover dealer, the DP always had an un-saleable Rover 800 coupe, both a V6 and latterly a Vitesse. When the 75 was launched, he had an over-specced 2.5 with every option possible.
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I agree with Sulphur Man - this won't be a demo car that leads to sales.
Although the Phaeton has ever taken off, I'm not sure it ever would - it is a lot of money for a VW badge and if you wanted a VAG car of that size you'd surely go for an Audi A8. But one has to remember the underlying car lends a great deal to the Bentley Contintental GT so the development cost of the Bentley were basically paid for by VW (IMO I should add). The body shells of the Bentley's come all the way from Germany on transporters, probably made in the VW factory with the Phaeton - indeed there was talk of Bentley parts going back to Germany for assembly due to demand and the lorries were going back empty anyway.
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Alanovich - if you want a new Phaeton then this won't be relevant - but if you do a national search on Autotrader for Phaeton's there are currently 94 of them starting at £8k.
On the first page there is an 03 reg 90k mile W12 for £14500 (!!!) and below that a 55reg 3.0TDi for £14975! How about getting your dream car and saving £15k off the £30k you were considering.
And before anyone asks, the first 5.0V10 TDI I can find is in Crawley at a VW franchise and they want £19k for an 04 52k miler!
Go and buy one Alanovich and write a verbose review.
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If you really want one, VW will be giving them away in 2010 with a Golf. There willl be no takers as no-one will be able to afford a Golf:-(
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this one sold on Ebay recently ;
cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1502...3
petrol engine . low miles
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Parked next to one at work today and had a good look around - what a car! A real sense of quality about it.
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Very nice. "The car has had practically one owner from new" - hmm - does that mean pre-reg + 1 private owner?
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Am I right in thinking that a 2005 V6 model has front wheel drive only rather than 4 wheel drive?
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You are right, Bagpuss. I had one: lovely car!
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If that one is 4WD is it the same bits as the A8 4WD that kills gearboxes, according to a thread last week?
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"practically one owner from new"
Isn't that like being a little bit pregnant..?
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