My £2k (ish) VW Phaeton adventure!
My £2k (ish) VW Phaeton adventure!
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Discussion

mattyprice4004

Original Poster:

1,342 posts

202 months

Wednesday 7th November 2018
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Well, as I mentioned in the Bargain Basement thread I've done a silly - picked up a VW Phaeton 3.0 TDI for a smidge over £2k (once necessary bits and pieces have been factored in).

Some basic details:
139,000 miles
2006 (private plate going back to original owner shortly)
6 speed ZF 6HP-19 transmission with full-time 4WD
Lots of silly toys - 4 power sockets, massage front seats, heated and cooled front seats, memory function for everything (inc rear view mirror!), puddle and footwell lighting on all doors, fancy (but outdated) nav / entertainment system

First observations - FANTASTIC. What a car, in every way. It's quick (for the weight, these weigh over 2T!), relatively nimble for something this size and so, so comfy. Massage seats with heating and cooling in the front really made the trip home fly by.

Some pictures:











I'm amazed it got me home, but everything major is working as it should. smile

Outlay so far:
Car (inc spare front bumper, we'll get to that) - £2100
Bits for aux in wiring - £3
Paint etc for replacement front bumper - £20
Wipers, cabin filters, air filter, oil filter, oil, transmission oil (not much history with it) - £70
Just under £2200 all in - can't be too bad!


Issues to sort after a good going over, and with the help of VAG COM:
Faint smell of exhaust in the car - going to get her up on the ramp and see what's what. Engine bay is free from soot etc.
Fault code for upstream lambda is present - not put the EML on, but I'll change it shortly. Cost ~£70 for Bosch.
Front driver's bass speaker doesn't work. Quite a common issue - tinsel leads are weak but can be resoldered.
Front bumper has quite significant damage to the passenger side - bought a replacement for £25 but needs respraying (wrong colour).
The gearbox oil needs changing - feels much more sluggish to shift than my last 3.0TDI Phaeton, which had fresh fluid.
All 4 tyres are the wrong size (and are made of Chinese flip flops) - 245 rather than 255.
MOT due in a month - existing advisory for front drop links, so they'll be changed shortly.
Bulb warning is for a fog light that's been damaged on the passenger front (but there was a replacement in the boot! Score).
Spare wheel completely missing.

Looking forward to getting stuck in. She's going to Krov in Germany shortly, so needs to be tickety boo! smile

Edited by mattyprice4004 on Wednesday 7th November 01:42

Brother D

4,415 posts

204 months

Wednesday 7th November 2018
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Lovely, bookmarked. Are you doing the work yourself?

Tommie38

998 posts

222 months

Wednesday 7th November 2018
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Looks like a great buy. Keep us up to date!

spreadsheet monkey

4,742 posts

255 months

Wednesday 7th November 2018
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Cool car. Love the 200mph speedo!

Who needs a Bentley?

amoeba

212 posts

194 months

Wednesday 7th November 2018
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Assuming this has the same 6-speed ZF box as my Jaguar S-Type R, the gearbox oil might not do the trick.

I had to have the valvebody refurbished, because of internal wear. Info here (someone elses): https://www.jaguarforum.com/showthread.php?t=11044...

It's moderately expensive, but not ruinous.

philipbrown123

406 posts

145 months

Wednesday 7th November 2018
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Great purchase. I have had 3 petrol A8's all bought 2nd hand. No major problems with any of them. Huge amount of car for the money.

BlueHave

4,717 posts

136 months

Thursday 8th November 2018
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That's a lot of Germanic Barge for £2k

Had to rofl at the speedo going 200mph, no chance.

Probably nicked from the Bentley Flying Spur parts bin, the one with a 6.0 W12 power plant.

Barchettaman

7,242 posts

160 months

Thursday 8th November 2018
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Nothing silly about any of this, it all seems perfectly sensible to me! Top work!

Super Slo Mo

5,374 posts

226 months

Thursday 8th November 2018
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BlueHave said:
That's a lot of Germanic Barge for £2k

Had to rofl at the speedo going 200mph, no chance.

Probably nicked from the Bentley Flying Spur parts bin, the one with a 6.0 W12 power plant.
You mean the same engine that was fitted to the top of the range Phaeton? I suspect the Bentley has nicked the speedo...

I reckon VW just fitted the same speedo to every car in the Phaeton range, even though they were officially limited to 155 mph. If de-limited, the W12 models could exceed that quite comfortably I bet.

S100HP

13,754 posts

195 months

Thursday 8th November 2018
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This is either going to be a brilliant purchase or an epic fail. I'm in!

strain

419 posts

129 months

Thursday 8th November 2018
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Looks awesome

Look on autotrader...

anonymous-user

82 months

Thursday 8th November 2018
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That's a lot of car for £2k

Cupramax

10,999 posts

280 months

Thursday 8th November 2018
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bulldong said:
That's a lot of car for £2k
Indeed, are they the correct wheels? Offset/tyre size doesn’t look right from the pics.

SpeckledJim

33,785 posts

281 months

Thursday 8th November 2018
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Super Slo Mo said:
BlueHave said:
That's a lot of Germanic Barge for £2k

Had to rofl at the speedo going 200mph, no chance.

Probably nicked from the Bentley Flying Spur parts bin, the one with a 6.0 W12 power plant.
You mean the same engine that was fitted to the top of the range Phaeton? I suspect the Bentley has nicked the speedo...

I reckon VW just fitted the same speedo to every car in the Phaeton range, even though they were officially limited to 155 mph. If de-limited, the W12 models could exceed that quite comfortably I bet.
Great bravery, OP, nice one.

The W12 in the Phaeton wasn't turbocharged, unlike that in the Bentleys, so I don't think there's any chance of any standard Phaeton getting anywhere near 200mph.


ElectricSoup

8,202 posts

179 months

Thursday 8th November 2018
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Oh my sainted trousers, great purchase. I've wanted one of these for ages. I shall follow with enormous interest. Could well be tempted with such a thing myself.

Mr-B

4,923 posts

222 months

Thursday 8th November 2018
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Love these barges, you got plenty of metal for your buck there. So anonymous too, they look like a big Passat at first glance, great Q car.

Cupramax

10,999 posts

280 months

Thursday 8th November 2018
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SpeckledJim said:
Great bravery, OP, nice one.

The W12 in the Phaeton wasn't turbocharged, unlike that in the Bentleys, so I don't think there's any chance of any standard Phaeton getting anywhere near 200mph.
Wasn’t the original design spec of the W12 to be able to do 186mph (300kmh) in 50 degree desert conditions whilst maintaining a comfortable 22 degrees in the cabin?

geeks

11,553 posts

167 months

Thursday 8th November 2018
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Have always wanted one of these especially one with the W12 in there but the V6 diesel will do! Good choice OP.

Mr-B

4,923 posts

222 months

Thursday 8th November 2018
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Cupramax said:
Wasn’t the original design spec of the W12 to be able to do 186mph (300kmh) in 50 degree desert conditions whilst maintaining a comfortable 22 degrees in the cabin?
I think that was the design brief for the Bentley but don't know if that filtered down to the Phaeton.

snoopy25

2,101 posts

148 months

Thursday 8th November 2018
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Wow thats a lot of car for £2k!