Toward the end of 2005 I started to look seriously for a replacement to my then current car - a Volvo S60 2.4T SE. I'd bought the Volvo back at the beginning of 2002 due to a chance drive. Prior to that drive Volvo had not been on my list of potential suitors and I was reluctant to even drive it. But curiosity got the better of me. I drove it, liked it, and eventually bought one.

One major contributing factor at the time was that it bucked the stereotypical view of Volvo and wasn't a car that anyone expected me to buy. In fact most of my colleagues didn't know what it was but they were impressed when I took them out in it. Good performance, extremely comfortable and rarely raising a second glance - exactly what I wanted.
Maybe I'm in a minority but whilst I like nice cars I don't really want to make a statement about myself wherever I go, truthful or otherwise.

My shortlist for a replacement finally comprised just three cars that I thought might meet my non-stereotypical and less than common criteria. The Subara Legacy 3.0R Spec B, Alfa GT 3.2V6 and Lexus GS300 were eventually discarded due to a poor hi-fi, crap dealers (and manufacturer/importer) and a less than interesting driving experience respectively.

The Phaeton appeared purely by chance as I had no real interest in VW. The Golf seems to transcend social classes and I had pondered a new GTI despite some obvious image issues and its ubiquity. I'd booked a test drive of the IS and GS Lexus but had forty minutes to spare and decided to spend them looking at the Golf GTI in Wayside VW. Fortunately for them I walked past a line of Phaetons and I was smitten with a 6 month old silver model at £32,995.

I eventually test drove it and loved it. The deal came in right -£29,995 less a PX on the Volvo- and on the 4th March 2006 I became the very proud owner of a VW Phaeton V6 TDI.

Some 10,000miles on I'm still very happy but there have been some notable incidents and one accident. The accident was my Managing Director clipping a rear corner when parking behind me. Leighton Coachworks charged £410 inc VAT comprising a £140 chrome bumper strip plus paint and labour. I'm no expert on chrome bumper strips but it sounds expensive to me. Leighton Coachworks had never seen, heard or noticed a Phaeton before and after completing the job don't seem too keen to see it again. Apparently it's not an easy car to work on.

That incident was followed by a very alarming blowout on the M25. The alarming part was the cacophony of simultaneous noises and flashing warnings that almost caused me to swerve into another car, but it was 'only' a flat tyre and the car felt quite normal throughout. Anyway, I got to a petrol station and called VW Assist to sort it out, which was just as well as the wheel was stuck to the hub. What surprised me most was that the trained VW man had never seen a Phaeton before, didn't know it had air suspension (I offered to raise it so his jack would fit underneath) or any idea of how to get it into Jack Mode. I had to wait a further ten minutes while the trained professional scoured the frankly appalling Owners Manual for info on how to change a wheel. Quite surreal really, but valid justification for not having attempted it myself as I am NOT a trained professional in these matters!

The full size matching alloy spare was very much welcome but it did highlight the rather confusing tyre pressure monitor system. The warning symbol stayed on but was now telling me I had a defective tyre onboard. I reset the pressures, which took a while to calibrate, and it then came back with another yellow warning asking me to check pressures in both rear tyres. Another long story short - imbalance between tyres on the same axle was the problem, valves are too short for airlines to fit (tried four), lost so much air trying that the system registered a flat tyre again and so I called the trained professionals to come and pump my tyres up properly and evenly. But this time they sent a trained man the AA! And he'd never seen a Phaeton before either…
Following that I got the original tyre repaired for the princely sum of £10 at F1 Tyres & Exhausts, Leighton Buzzard.

Then there was the cracked rear screen, just minor, but a crack all the same. The rear glass carries all the antennae for the onboard goodies - FM radio, Sat Nav, Phone and TV - along with the myriad of near invisible heater elements, so it had to be replaced. Nearest to my office were RAC Windscreens in Tottenham who, obviously, had never seen or heard of a Phaeton.

The glass "in stock" somewhere up North wasn't there but a new one arrived within a week and although hesitant to take it on they did a great job of it. Cost to me was just £60 but the bill to RAC Insurance was probably a little more considering the whole days work to change it.

TYRES! Any driver with a heavy right foot and love of corners knows that tyres don't last long but I was surprised to find my fronts totally worn out on the outside edges but with 3-4mm tread on the rest of the tyre. I took it back to F1 Tyre & Exhaust where Brett stuck it on their super computer geometry thing, downloaded the Phaeton geometry settings and let the computer work out that the toe angles were off on the fronts but that everything else was within tolerance. All reset, a pair of before and after printouts and a bill for £30 plus a Bridgestone Potenza RE040 255/45R18 tyre for £170.

Now that I've had it a while, the speed urge is wearing off and I'm exploiting its potential for economy. Over my first 7000 miles or so I averaged 29.6mpg, but over the last 1000 I've been paying more attention to economy and have been averaging 34mpg on all but shopping trips. It's easily more economical than my petrol Volvo which goes some way to off-setting the additional monthly cost.

There are a few niggly faults to be sorted by Wayside this month and I'll report on them next time round when I'll be ever closer to that first service bill.......!