By 
Remember the Phaeton? It's a big luxury car sold by Volkswagen in the mid-2000s to compete with Mercedes and BMW. It was the base for the Bentley Continental Flying Spur. It didn't sell well, and few were shipped here before VW stopped sales in the US. Those that remain stateside are often neglected due to high maintenance costs. This one is a little bit different.
Welcome to You Must Buy, our daily look at the cars you really should be buying instead of that boring commuter sedan.
This blue Phaeton, currently for sale on eBay Motors, looks to be an impeccable example of VW's foray into big luxury, with perfect-looking paint, a super-clean tan interior, a working air suspension, and a handful of rare options.
This car is a W12 model, rated at 420 horsepower and 406 lb.-ft. of torque from the factory. Power is sent to all four wheels via a five-speed automatic transmission. Also included is the hard-to-find rear seat package, which comes with heating, cooling, and massaging functions, as well as power adjustments. Instead of a bench seat, the seats are split, and each rear passenger gets their own climate control panel.
Phaetons equipped with the W12 engine are hard to find on their own, but an example as well-specced as this probably won't pop up again anytime soon. Find it here on eBay Motors with a current bid of $11,103.16 and two days remaining.
Road & Track staff writer with a taste for high-mileage, rusted-out projects and amateur endurance racing.
