For reasons both good and bad, manufacturers do seem to spend a lot of time these days obsessing over the fewest possible number of cylinders they can use to power a car. This is not malicious or dastardly, of course - more often than not they are simply trying to maximise efficiency or adhere to legislation while all the time balancing performance. But for anyone even halfway interested in engines for their own sake, it can feel like a race to the bottom. Especially when you compare and contrast to the recent past.
The Phaeton, of course, needed 12 cylinders like a nuclear submarine needs a sun deck. Even for the famously belligerent Ferdinand Piëch, the decision to equip his Mercedes S-Class rival with the engine developed primarily to power a new Bentley lineup was a standout example of prizing profligacy over prudence. The use of the 6.0-litre unit in a model that looked like an oversized Passat was greeted sceptically at the time; nearly 25 years later, it seems like madness.
But a brilliant, unflinching sort of madness. Electrification has taken the edge off its 450hp output, but the thought of two VR6 engines being pressed together like too many meatballs in a footlong is endearing in the way that no amount of electric motors ever could be. Its superabundance of cylinders and valves was made to seem fitting when a Bentley was the backdrop; in the bizarrely humble Phaeton, it ranks alongside the W8 Passat and V12 TDI Audi Q7 as a VW Group cult classic.
The validity of that reputation only gets stronger as time passes, not least because Volkswagen seems terminally disinclined to do anything like it ever again. Obviously that has less to do with oversized engines (which are now solely the preserve of niche manufacturers) than it does market position: the Phaeton was a bull-headed attempt to show that VW could out-engineer anyone on its way to gatecrashing the luxury exec segment. Now it knows better.
Still, the comparative rarity of the poor-selling W12 Phaeton - and its depreciation-heavy affordability - has only added to its likeable infamy. It’s very rare that one pops up for sale, even in the eclectic treasure chest that is the PH classified ads. Typically, the UK-spec Phaeton is a very leggy TDI V6 that has spent a decent proportion of its life being driven to and from Heathrow.
So the arrival of this Reflex Silver LWB example, said to have been used originally as a VW dealer demonstrator, is worth calling out. Firstly because its W12 has only endured 77k at the hands of five previous owners, and secondly because it appears to be in very good nick - including the timber-heavy interior which has usually wilted considerably in anything used as an airport taxi. Its vendor excitedly claims it can thought of as being among the best big saloons to drive - which was never true. But ‘extremely rare’ is undeniably closer to the mark. Hence the £15,990 asking price and a sentimental tip of the PH cap.
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