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Car #1
Make
Model
Variant
Engine
Car #2
Make
Model
Variant
Engine

compare selected cars
2002. - 2010.
F - Executive car
sedan, 4 door
4 x 4
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2005. - 2009.
F - Executive car
sedan, 4 door
rear

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

5055 mm
1903 mm
1450 mm
500 liters
500 liters
90 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
5076 mm
1871 mm
1473 mm
560 liters
560 liters
90 liters
2002 Volkswagen Phaeton
2005 Mercedes Benz S

Engine

Volkswagen
6.0 W12
Petrol
12 - W config, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
6005 cc
420 hp
550 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Mercedes Benz
6.0 M275 E60 AL
Petrol
12 - V config, 4 valves per cylinder
Bi-Turbo
5980 cc
612 hp
1000 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

 
kg
s
km/h
l/100km
l/100km
l/100km
g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
 
kg
s
km/h
l/100km
l/100km
l/100km
g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

automatic - 5 gears
2266 kg
6.1 s
250 km/h
23.9 l/100km
10.9 l/100km
15.6 l/100km
374 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
automatic - 5 gears
2170 kg
4.4 s
250 km/h
23.1 l/100km
10.0 l/100km
14.8 l/100km
355 g/km

Expenses

4600 EUR
Price from
8400 EUR

Virtual Adviser's™ opinion

Overview

Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by petrol engines and utilizing the 4-door sedan body style within the same 'Executive car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (4 x 4 for the Volkswagen and rear in the case of the Mercedes Benz). The first one has a Volkswagen-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 12-cylinder, 48-valves 420hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 12-cylinder, 48-valves 612hp engine designed by Mercedes Benz.

Safety

Unfortunatelly, neither of the two vehicles was submitted to the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) testing. This makes it virtually impossible for me to pick one over the other and I'm generally against buying such cars as the safety should really always come first. Moving further on, let's take a closer look at some additional safety-related facts. Both vehicles belong to the executive car segment, which is generally a fortune safety-wise, but that fact doesn't break the tie between the two cars. Furthermore, if we'd like to consider vehicle mass in this context too, which we definitely should, Phaeton offers a marginal difference of 4% more metal.

Reliability

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that Volkswagen does have a slight advantage, all the models observed together. These are the official statistics, while our visitors describe reliability of Volkswagen with an average rating of 4.2, and models under the Mercedes Benz badge with 4.4 out of 5. Some independent research have also placed Phaeton as average reliability-wise, and S is more or less at the same level.We should definitely mention that owners of cars with the same powertrain as Phaeton rank it on average as 2.0, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 3.0 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

Mercedes Benz is undoubtly more agile, reaching 100km/h in 1.7 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 250 kilometers per hour, exactly the same as the other car does. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be Mercedes Benz S, averaging around 14.8 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (19 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 5% difference compared to Phaeton.


Verdict

Volkswagen appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, Phaeton offers slightly better overall protection and takes the lead. From there things take a different direction, with Mercedes Benz being considerably quicker, thus putting more smile on driver's face. To make things even better, it consumps less fuel! All together, there's not much more to say, in this case I wouldn't even consider anything but Mercedes Benz. Nevertheless, let's not forget that people have different preferences and needs, so what really counts is your personal feel. I'm only here to help. I suggest you spend two more minutes in order to find out which car, based on your needs and budget, would be picked by the virtual adviser, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.

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