Volkswagen Arteon It impresses as new dawn fades
A painfully early airport run emphasises the big VW’S charms
WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if a cut-price luxury offering can be as urbane to live with as it is to look at
Ihaven’t exactly warmed to our Volkswagen Arteon long-term test car over the course of the two months we’ve been running it. That’s not because I think it’s a bad car – far from it – but it’s easy to overlook the VW’S subtle charms when I’m distracted by some of the more engaging and exciting vehicles in the car park.
However, there are times when a big, comfortable and refined saloon is just about the most desirable car on earth. I recently had one of those times when the vagaries of Autocar’s test drive schedule meant I had to f ly from Europe to the UK late one night and then fly back to the country I’d just returned from for a different test drive the very next morning. I know, ‘first-world problems’ and all that.
And so at 4.30am – bleary-eyed from the previous day’s flight and with toothpaste still clinging to the corner of my mouth – I climbed aboard the Arteon to drive back to Heathrow from my overnight bolthole. From the moment I lowered myself down into the seat, I couldn’t think of another car on our test fleet that I’d rather be in. Firm suspension, unforgiving bucket seats and a loud, raucous engine weren’t really what I was in the mood for, and the Arteon succeeded by not featuring a single one of these things. I imagine my snoozing neighbours were equally appreciative that I wasn’t firing up a frenzied performance car.
Instead, I turned the seat heater on and set the climate control to offset the early-morning chill, aimed the sat-nav at the short-stay car park (not that I needed directions for such a familiar journey) and tuned the DAB radio to BBC Radio 6 Music so I could listen to whichever DJ was unfortunate enough to be awake at the same time I was.
And despite the ungodly hour, it was a pleasant-enough journey. Our passively damped, front-wheel-drive Arteon – which is fitted with 18in wheels, the smallest offered – rides with the pliancy and suppleness you’d expect from a big executive saloon, so you don’t emerge at the end of your journey broken and defeated, although it does have a tendency to thunk over the odd lump or bump.
The turbocharged 1.5-litre TSI Evo petrol engine is quiet and unobtrusive at speed, and the driving position is comfortable, with the as-standard nappa leather seats offering a blend of six-way electric adjustment (for the seat backs and lumbar support) and manual levers (for all of the other settings).
For these sorts of trips – you know, the ones you really, really don’t feel like making – the Arteon just works. I arrived at the airport car park still not quite feeling fresh, but certainly a hell of a lot more relaxed than I would have been in, say, a Renault Mégane RS 280 Cup.
So being reserved and prioritising comfort over raw driver engagement isn’t always a bad thing, then. Am I any more enamoured with the Arteon’s under-the-radar vibe, though? Well, the fact I forgot where I parked it immediately after I arrived back at the airport terminal might answer that question. Just as well we spent an extra £595 and specified our car with eye-catching Chilli Red metallic paint – it stands out a mile. SIMON DAVIS