Norlander Wrote:
Lemme guess, the similarities are 4 wheels and 4 doors? The lines are not even remotely similar, unless you think that a sloping cabin and a non-sloping cabin is the same, that a high rear end and a low rear end is the same and so forth

As a luxury car – as a machine for going quickly and comfortably in sepulchral silence – the Phaeton is better than any of its rivals from Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Jaguar and Maserati.

Of course, you may think that £74,000 is a lot of money for a Volkswagen and you may be disinclined to spend that kind of money in a showroom full of men in donkey jackets buying Polo vans. But the main reason you stay away is because it looks so dreary.

This works well, of course, if you are the director-general of the BBC. You want people to think you slipped into a donkey jacket and bought a Passat. But most people, me included, need a bit more, I dunno, pizzazz and zestiness.

We know that when Volkswagen gave this car to a Belgian and asked him to fit a better-looking body, the result was the Bentley Continental. So what I suggest is that VW now gives it to a Dane.

No really. If the Danes can make me want to refit my entire house with new radiators because they look nice, and install an iPod cum bog roll dispenser, I’m damn sure they could transform the excellent Phaeton basics into the absolute must-have accessory.

Let me put it this way. You all want an Aston Martin, don’t you. You know it’s made up of Jag and Ford bits but you don’t care. You want one because it looks just so sleek and amazing. Right. And where was the designer of the V8 Vantage from? Well, let me put it this way. He’s called Henrik Fisker.