VW Arteon 2.0 TSI

- by Sam Aryes

Sitting low, with a multitude of thin, sharp horizontal chrome lines across the front and focused headlights, the Arteon is one of the most striking front ends I’ve ever seen on VW. It’s an attention grabber, a stop and look twice kind of car that wouldn’t look out of place in a Transformers movie. Regular sporty sedan by day, universe-saving electromechanical robot by night – I suppose we can only dream.

Stealthy Persona

However, as striking as the Arteon is, its persona is stealthy. On the streets, one would call it a “sleeper”. Sleepers are dangerous and can be the source of much embarrassment in front of your mates or worse, bae.  You’d want to be careful if you find yourself underestimating one of these at a set of lights as the Arteon’s 0-100km/h time might be somewhat surprising. Yes, with a Golf R engine, 4motion and 206kW on tap, the Arteon will hit those magical three figures faster than a Golf GTI – 5.6 seconds to be exact.

Sluggish?

While it does share the same architecture, you’d be wrong to think the VW Arteon 2.0 TSI is simply a “bigger” Golf R. The first couple of times I put my foot down I felt I wanted more, was the Arteon sluggish? If I had actually looked down to see how fast I was travelling I would have realised that the Arteon isn’t sluggish at all,  rather a quiet and comfortable cruiser with heaps of power and all the bells and whistles you’d expect to find in a luxury vehicle.

Something Different

Funny story, I’d had the Arteon on test for around 3 days when I was asked, “ What car is this?” Before I could even spit a word out, my dear wife chirped up “ It’s a Mercedes”. She’d only ever rode in the vehicle at night and never really paid much attention to the badge, so after lovingly correcting her, I asked her why she thought this. Her reasoning’s were due to the Arteon’s looks, technology and build quality. My wife is accustomed to cars of all shapes, sizes and price ranges so for me, this sums the Arteon up.

If you’ve been enticed by the likes of a 4 Series gran coupe or A5 Sportback then you should probably open your eyes and check out the VW Arteon 2.0 TSI too, because it offers something a little different while rivalling in performance and quality.

Whether the Arteon sells well in South Africa or not depends largely on how it is perceived. The owner of a Golf R or GTI doesn’t need to jump ship when they are ready to take a step out of hatchbacks and into something bigger, whether that’s a SUV or in this case, sedan. At the end of the day, a badge isn’t the be-all and end-all.

For me, this specific Arteon offers a great all-round package. There’s no arguing that it looks fantastic, but not only that, it appeals to the guy inside of me that likes a little speed and performance as well. It can be fun when it needs too, but also a fantastic cruiser when you want it to be with plenty of kWs and comfort for the open road.