It’s always sunny in an Arteon

A family trip across country to rural Wales highlights just what an astonishingly accomplished package this is.

1 IS THAT ALL YOU’VE GOT?

Deep and wide, the Arteon’s boot is huge. At 590 litres it’ll easily swallow the family luggage for a weekend away.

4 OVER THE BORDER

The road over the Berwyn Mountains is a CAR favourite. Taking you from just outside Oswestry to Bala, it’s a swooping stretch of asphalt with amazing views.

2 THINK OF THE CHILDREN

First thing you do every time you reach the motorway is press the blue R button on the steering wheel to switch Dynamic Chassis Control from Sport to softer, quieter Comfort.

5 ACTUAL OFF-ROADING

The Arteon’s 4Motion all-wheel drive is a Haldex system, meaning the drive normally goes to the front wheels until it senses slip, then it powers the rear axle. Up a slippery dirt track, you get virtually no wheelspin.

3 PUNY HUMAN

The Arteon has a 66-litre tank, and when I’m motorway cruising in Comfort mode I can get over 30mpg, meaning a 450-mile range. I still have to stop for coffee, though.

6 WELCOME TO PARADISE

We’ve arrived – and the weather is astonishingly un-Welsh. Motorway, mountain road or mud, the Arteon R Shooting Brake is a brilliant all-rounder. I love this car.

Volkswagen Arteon R Shooting Brake Month 3

The story so far On a journey to a Welsh hillside retreat, the Arteon proves to be a great long-distance family car ★ Performs well on every kind of road

- Noisy in Sport mode – and it defaults to Sport mode Logbook

Price £54,435 (£62,282 as

tested) Performance 1984cc turbocharged four cylinder, 316bhp, 4.9sec 0-62mph, 155mph Efficiency 30.6mpg (official), 26.1 mpg (tested), 209g/km CO2 Energy cost

29.2p per mile Miles this month

906 Total miles 2047