Rare Black 2004 Volkswagen Phaeton

2004 Volkswagen Phaeton LWB Description

The Phaeton's platform, the Volkswagen Group D1 platform, is shared with the Bentley Continental GT and Bentley Continental Flying Spur. Certain systems, such as the automatic transmission and some engines, are also shared with the Audi A8. Compared to the Audi A8L 4.2-litre FSI quattro, the Phaeton is 545 pounds heavier but is still competitive with the lighter A8 in most driving tests, due to the Phaeton's increased engine power 335 hp.
Intial development of the Phaeton, given the internal project code VW611, began with Piech giving his engineers a list of ten parameters the car needed to fulfill. Most of these specifications were not made known to the public, but a number of them were told to automotive reporters. One of them was that the Phaeton should be capable of being driven all day at 300 kilometres per hour (186 mph) with an exterior temperature of 122F whilst maintaining the interior temperature at 72F. Piech requested this even though the Phaeton's top speed was electronically limited to 250 kilometres per hour (155.3 mph). Another requirement was that the car should possess torsional rigidity of 37,000 Nm/degree.