2019 Volkswagen Arteon SEL Premium Review – Gliding Under the Radar – The Truth About Cars

Have you ever seen a Volkswagen Arteon in site visitors?

Odds are, you most likely haven’t.

In line with our pals at GoodCarBadCar

, Volkswagen offered lower than 3,000 models in 2019, and 788 via March of this 12 months. Thus far, there hasn’t been a month by which greater than 400 models had been offered.

To be honest, the automobile hasn’t had a full calendar 12 months of gross sales but – it went on sale in April of 2019. Nonetheless, it’s seemingly uncommon that you simply’d spot one in site visitors, even earlier than the pandemic killed lots of people’s commutes.

Factor is, the Arteon isn’t a nasty automobile. It simply performs in a shrinking class, in a time of crossover mania. It additionally begins bumping up in opposition to Audi, Volkswagen’s luxurious arm, when it comes to value, at the very least on the excessive finish of its value vary.

(Ed. Word – The 2019 Arteon is nearly unchanged for 2020. The native press fleet loaned me a 2019 for overview as a result of that’s what it had out there. I did drive it a number of months in the past, because the snow within the pics will present.)

The Arteon performs above the Passat, and because the new flagship within the VW fleet, it has a sure position to play. It’s additionally kind of a alternative for the equally well-done however unloved-by-buyers CC.

Volkswagen has positioned Arteon as not simply a big, luxurious hatchback, however a sporty one, too, and it’s fairly good at that. Whereas it’s a hatch, it performs in a sedan class.

Acceleration from the two.0-liter turbo 4 is swift sufficient for the city cut-and-thrust, if not mind-blowing. That’s true even for the heavier all-wheel-drive mannequin I examined. There are 268 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque on faucet, and it will get to floor through an eight-speed automated transmission.

The place the automobile shines is the trip/dealing with stability. Whereas it has a little bit of the sunshine and synthetic really feel that’s inherent to most VWs nowadays, it nonetheless feels dialed-in nicely sufficient, and the automobile is responsive. But trip isn’t sacrificed on the altar of sport. It’s not the cushiest automobile on the highway, however it handles all however the worst pavement with aplomb. Adaptive damping little doubt helps with this.

Sport sedans, or on this case, hatchbacks (particularly giant ones), are supposed to strike a stability between fun-to-drive and easy commuter, and the Arteon largely does so. I discovered myself warming as much as it over the time I had it – foolish identify and peculiar place within the car-market universe apart.

It’s a looker, too, if not a head-turner. Easy strains, together with a sloping roofline, remind of the departed CC, however the Arteon’s styling is extra cohesive. It’s Germanic, too – good-looking in a conservative method. Not ostentatious in any respect, however modern.

Inside, you get the usual VW expertise: Black often relieved by metallic accents, logically organized controls, and type that follows nicely behind perform. There’s room sufficient for taller drivers, though it’s not essentially the most spacious cockpit (and the sloping roofline eats into rear headroom), and the seats are all-day comfortable.

There are three trim ranges out there: SE, SEL, and SEL Premium. There’s additionally an R-Line package deal out there. As is simply too typically the case with press automobiles – severely, OEMs, please ship us journos the trims that folks truly purchase, as an alternative of the fully-loaded ones – this one was a top-trim SEL Premium. Beginning value: Only a tick below $45Okay.

Normal options included automated engine begin/cease, adaptive damping, 19-inch wheels, LED lighting, adaptive entrance lighting, rain-sensing wipers, panoramic sunroof, three-zone local weather management in entrance and a separate zone for the rear, heated steering wheel, heated and cooled entrance seats, heated rear seat, leather-based seats, ambient lighting, digital gauges, entrance and rear park help, adaptive cruise management, energetic blind-spot monitoring with rear site visitors alert, forward-collision warning with automated emergency braking and pedestrian detection, lane-keep system, hill maintain, push-button begin, distant begin, hands-free-open rear hatch, navigation, USB, Bluetooth, smartphone mirroring, and satellite tv for pc radio.

Choices had been restricted to heavier obligation ground mats and trunk liner ($235), a safety plate for the rear bumper ($150), and a roadside help equipment ($85).

With the $995 vacation spot payment, that’s $46,410 for a well-rounded sport/luxurious hatch.

Drawback is, as I’ve stated earlier than, who’s going to purchase it? A stretched checkbook is all it would take to get into an analogous Audi, and the front-wheel/all-wheel-drive sedan/hatch class is being neglected because of consumers’ infatuation with crossovers. Simply ask Kia in regards to the glorious Stinger and the way nicely that automobile is promoting. You’re not more likely to get a well mannered response.

The Arteon is a greater flagship for VW than the present Passat (overview forthcoming, and it received’t be fairly for the oldsters in Herndon and Wolfsburg), however a automobile must be greater than good. It has to have a market.

Those that truly give this automobile a second thought will seemingly be impressed. Query is, will sufficient people take discover?

[Images © 2020 Tim Healey/TTAC]

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