Time to hit the Brake
The new Vw Arteon r is The saviour And star on A soggy campsite
It was on a day like this that Noah looked out of his window and said: “Blimey, I think I’d better build a boat.” A camping weekend in Sussex to celebrate a friend’s 50th birthday and it hasn’t stopped raining.
Fortunately we have just the right car on test for a weekend such as this. It’s the new VW Arteon R Shooting Brake.
The Arteon seemed to come out of nowhere. Bigger than a Passat but not so big that it rivalled a BMW 5-series or big Volvo. But it looks really stylish so it doesn’t matter what it’s meant to be or what it rivals. Then VW made an estate version, the Shooting Brake, which looks even more striking, especially to eyes that love estate cars.
Now its maker has decided to give the Arteon the R treatment both in saloon and estate bodies.
That means VW’S ubiquitous 2.0litre TSI turbocharged four-cylinder engine, a seven-speed DSG gearbox and 4Motion four-wheel drive. That latter item could well be a lifesaver this weekend because the campsite car park looks like Passchendaele.
Our car is the most flash looking and the other campers are no doubt thinking we’re going to be in trouble. They might be disappointed. The Shooting Brake’s boot isn’t a great deal bigger than the hatchback’s, with 564 litres available in the hatch and 590 litres in this. We folded the seats down to give 1,632 litres of capacity – a useful increase of almost 80 litres over the hatchback. It has allowed us to pack for an end-of-theworld weather experience.
Fast, subtle estate cars hit the spot for me and the Arteon R is quick. The engine produces 316bhp and 310lb ft of torque.
VW says it will sprint to 62mph from rest in 4.9 seconds, which is respectable. You have a choice of several driving modes from Comfort though Sport to Race. Most cars that offer this choice are almost always at their best in Comfort mode but the Arteon R is better to drive in Sport.
While carrying most of our house in the back you’d expect its reactions to be a bit blunted, the steering and gearbox response feel a bit sluggish and un R-like in Comfort.
The Sport setting doesn’t spoil the ride comfort. Despite the fact our car is riding on 20in wheels and the R has suspension that’s lowered by 20mm over standard, the ride is still smooth over speed bumps. The Race setting ups the exhaust noise but no opening up of valves will make this four-cylinder engine sound as good as the V6 that in the old days would have been under the bonnet of a 300bhp VW.
The R treatment inside the Arteon consists of a splash of faux carbon fibre trim and aluminium, plus blue stitching on the steering wheel and seats. It could be more special, especially for the £52,585 it costs.
But happily the Arteon hasn’t got the hard-to-use and widely criticised infotainment system that’s on other VW Group cars. There are plenty of buttons to control functions even if many are touchpads on the steering wheel.
We had to carry out a mercy mission for fellow guests and a 100-mile round trip to collect dry clothes resulted in a fuel consumption of 34mpg – a bit better than the official 30.6mpg.
Emissions of 209g/km will make the Arteon R expensive for company car users and also brings with it a fruity £1,345 for the first year’s VED, but then this is going to be the same for any 300bhp performance estate car.
It made light work of driving itself out of the campsite car park,as did the SUVS other campers arrived in. But our car looked ten times cooler and was more fun to drive. As a quick, stylish and practical family car, it’s hard to beat. Rain or shine.