High price to pay for VW’S work of Arteon

IF Volkswagen made a song and dance about the arrival of its new Arteon then I must have been watching another channel. It is a car that seems to have come out of nowhere.

That it’s not entirely clear what it’s meant to be doesn’t help. Obviously it’s a large saloon car and a pretty expensive one. But is it a bigger Passat? Or is it a late replacement for the Phaeton, the upmarket and extremely posh saloon that was launched in 2002 and never sold well?

Whatever, the Arteon is here and it looks quite imposing, especially in our test car’s Turmeric Yellow metallic paint (an extra £595). The front end of the car, according to VW’S design supremo Klaus Bischoff, gives a clue to future models’ styling.

The grille makes the Arteon look extremely wide and close to the road – intentional according to Bischoff – and our test car is in R-line trim which means that its suspension has been lowered by 20mm compared to the more luxurious Elegance model.

You can choose from diesel or petrol engines. Ours has the latter Volkswagen Arteon R-line Four-door saloon

Price: £39,540

Engine: 2.0-litre fourcylinder, 278bhp

0-62mph: 5.6sec

Fuel consumption: 38.7mpg

in the most powerful of two specifications available which means a 2.0-litre turbo with 278bhp (the other petrol has the same capacity but 187bhp). Our test car also has four-wheel drive, or 4MOTION in VW speak, and a seven-speed double clutch gearbox. The

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