Automotive Trends

     There have been plenty of strange cars in the past 100 years, but this must be one of the most ridiculous.
     No, it can’t fly or drive underwater, and it doesn’t even look very weird. It’s fairly mundane at first glance — that is, until you see the badge on the hood.
     It’s a $100,000 Volkswagen.
     You read right. This car costs more than some middle-class homes, yet it’s a Volkswagen, which was known for decades as a cheap economy car. It’s one of the most luxurious, refined, quiet, well-designed cars ever built, yet it has a lowly VW badge glued to the hood like a hairy wart on Miss America’s face.
     That’s not to say new Volkswagens are bad cars. They’re not, especially in light of the fantastic Touareg SUV and rock-solid Passat sedan.
     But that VW badge just doesn’t have the same cachet that comes with Mercedes, BMW, or Lexus. Simply put, if you had 100 grand to spend on a car, would you rather tell your country club buddies that you drive a Mercedes or a Volkswagen?
     No matter the obvious answer, Volkswagen is counting on 300 rich folks to buy a 12-cylinder version of this car — the awkwardly named Phaeton — for about $95,000, or well over $100,000 with a few options. V8-powered Phaetons start at $64,000, but that’s still a lot for a VeeDub.
     Instead of aspiring to please the country club crowd, though, the Phaeton is aimed at people who have ample money but don’t want the world to know it. They want power, comfort, technology, and exclusivity, but they don’t want to turn heads.
     The Phaeton does just that. On the outside, it has the same simple, clean lines of the much cheaper Passat, only it’s stretched to limo-like proportions. You can park it at Wal-Mart, and it hardly draws a second glance.

     Inside, though, it’s like a Learjet for the road, with a better interior than any luxury car for sale today — even the most expensive Mercedes sedans. The level of detail in the wood-filled cabin is amazing, almost like looking at the inner workings of a Rolex watch, with intricately detailed trim on every surface and the kind of materials that would have impressed an oil-rich Rockefeller.
     As if the level of detail wasn’t enough, the technology in this car will make your head spin.
     First off, it lets the driver make precise adjustments to the car’s ride height and suspension smoothness. Just turn a dial and it changes the Phaeton’s ride from sporty to smooth.
     Second, the comfort features can pamper even the fussiest pop diva. Our $104,000 test car had four bucket seats — the back was divided by a roomy center console — all of which were heated, cooled, electronically adjustable, and fitted with an electric massager to soothe aching backs. Each of the four passengers could adjust their individual temperature zone with an easy-to-use control, and each seat had enough legroom for an NBA star. It was heaven.
     Third, it had the coolest, most wonderfully pointless feature ever: retractable, motorized vent covers. When you turn the climate control system off, thick wooden covers slowly slide down Star-Trek style to hide all the vents and blend in with the classy surrounding trim.
     Of course, our Phaeton tester also came with the typical must-have luxuries like a navigation system, keyless entry, and 2.7 million air bags.
     Finally, it had Volkswagen’s 12-cylinder engine called the W12 (it’s basically two V6s stuck together, hence the quirky name). No matter what speed you’re driving, just step on the gas and it pulls like a Union Pacific freight train. There’s no fuss, no vibration, and virtually no noise.
     Compared to the competition — most notably the Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7 Series — the Volkswagen is clearly the price leader. Twelve-cylinder sedans from Mercedes or BMW will set you back at least $120,000, and neither are as luxurious as this strange Volkswagen.
     But no matter how great the Phaeton is, it’s still a Volkswagen. Whether that’s an asset or a liability depends only on how stealthy you want your money to be.