A number of styling tweaks make the Arteon even far more eye-catching. 


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The Volkswagen Arteon is a really great vehicle that nobody’s purchasing. Ok, no one is a bit harsh, but with fewer than 3,000 units offered in the US by September of this year, the Arteon is a single of the slowest-offering cars and trucks from a mainstream automaker. And that’s a damn disgrace.

Table of Contents

Like

  • Heaps of conventional infotainment tech
  • Smooth driving dynamics
  • Great style, within and out

Don’t Like

  • Lacks the punch of some rivals
  • Sloping roof usually means lousy rear headroom

“It truly is surely far better than 400 units a thirty day period,” a Volkswagen govt said of the Arteon through an interview previously this year. But truthfully, at this issue, even 400 units a thirty day period would be an advancement. So in the hopes of location the battling Arteon on a far better training course, Volkswagen is giving it a number of considerate updates for 2021, every one a single of which tends to make this strong sedan even less complicated to like.

Visually, the Arteon’s modern silhouette does not change (that’s a great issue). The frameless home windows are interesting and the hatchback shape tends to make this sedan tremendous purposeful. Section of the 2021 redesign, outlined air intakes flank both facet of the front bumper, and the R-Line types have an LED light strip that spans the width of the fascia, cleanly built-in into the grille bars. Restyled eighteen- and 20-inch wheels are offered (in addition to a established of 19s that have about from the very last Arteon), and a few extra paint colours are on the docket, far too.

The biggest updates are actually located within the Arteon, in which the cabin gets a thorough zhushing-up. The dashboard design and style is a minimal far more upscale and you will find a redesigned (and Arteon-certain) steering wheel with haptic contact controls. New air vents line the major of the sprint, and thirty ambient lighting colours span the width of the cabin, flowing into the digital gauge cluster and together the doorways, both front and rear. Eventually, Volkswagen’s old, frumpy-seeking weather controls are long gone and in their place you can expect to obtain a swanky new digital/contact set up, though oddly, in contrast to the steering wheel, these buttons will not have any haptic comments. Odd, appropriate?

In addition to the conventional digital gauges, every Arteon comes with Volkswagen’s MIB3 infotainment technique, housed on an 8-inch touchscreen. MIB3 has embedded navigation, as properly as wireless Apple CarPlay, Android Automobile and VW’s App Hook up smartphone integration. The MIB3 technique is fairly uncomplicated to use, with menu buttons that automatically existing on their own when the technique detects your grubby fingers approaching. 

The 2021 Arteon’s inside is way far better than just before.


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Commonly speaking, the Arteon has a high quality aura that’s been missing from a great deal of Volkswagen’s current goods. It has the large-high quality in good shape and finish I remember from the firm’s older cars and trucks — an attribute that definitely established VWs apart from other mainstream companies. The seats are supportive and comfortable, and they are heated and cooled on my fully loaded SEL High quality R-Line tester. The sloping roofline type of impedes rear headroom, but you will find a shocking total of legroom, so just slouch, I guess. Additionally, will not ignore, you can fold the again seats flat, revealing fifty six.2 cubic feet of cargo place. That’s enormous.

There aren’t any noteworthy mechanical alterations for the 2021 Arteon, but I constantly preferred the way the old a single drove, so I’m not complaining. A 2.-liter turbocharged I4 is the only engine offered, with 268 horsepower, 258 pound-feet of torque and an 8-velocity computerized transmission. The foundation Arteon SE is only offered with front-wheel drive, but 4Motion all-wheel drive is optional on the SEL and conventional on the SEL High quality.

The Arteon is not necessarily brief, but the turbo punch is plenty of to get this four-doorway up and out of its have way. The transmission does have a tendency to keep gears ensuing in a bit of drone through acceleration — to the issue in which a single passenger actually requested if the vehicle experienced a CVT — but gear-alterations are yet brief and clean when they do at last come about. Deciding upon Sport manner sharpens the throttle, transmission and steering calibration, and you will find a Custom made location in which you can established a whole bunch of driving parameters to your liking. Me? I choose to just depart it in Normal or even head about to Consolation. The quiet, refined mother nature of the Arteon is ideal skilled in these options, with nicely tuned steering, clean lower-finish torque, great cornering attributes and a compliant experience many thanks to the adaptive dampers — even on the SEL Premium’s 20-inch wheels.

A whole-width LED light strip is built-in into the grille bars on loaded SEL High quality types.


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Smaller reward: The 2021 Arteon is somewhat far more gas-productive than its predecessor, at the very least on the highway cycle. Comparing 2020 and 2021 model year Arteons, front-drive versions are both EPA-approximated to return 22 mpg city, but whilst the old vehicle was rated at 29 mpg highway, the new model gets 32 mpg. Stepping up to all-wheel drive cuts down people figures somewhat, to 20 city and 31 highway. Even so, soon after a week of blended driving, I’m viewing an ordinary properly over the EPA’s 24-mpg merged score.

The foundation Arteon comes outfitted with ahead-collision guide, blind-spot checking, rear cross-visitors inform, rain-sensing wipers and a handful of other niceties, but if you want issues like whole-velocity adaptive cruise manage or LED headlights, you have to pony up for the SEL. The only bits of driver-support tech the SEL High quality adds are front and rear park distance manage, as properly as computerized parking guide.

Pricing for the 2021 Arteon commences at $38,one hundred ninety including $one,195 for place, and you won’t be able to get into an all-wheel-drive model for much less than $44,590. Go for the gold and you’re seeking at $48,one hundred ninety out the doorway for an SEL High quality R-Line.

This shapely sedan also has a hatchback for additional versatility.


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The Arteon is type of a weird tweener in the sedan place Volkswagen states it targets the Acura TLX and Nissan Maxima as rivals, as properly as entry-stage luxury sedans. The most apparent rival is the great Kia Stinger, which costs much less on the foundation finish and can be experienced with a 365-hp twin-turbo V6 on better trims. In point, the Stinger is presently outselling the Arteon far more than three to a single so significantly in 2020. And, properly, great as the Arteon is, the Stinger GT is far more entertaining to drive and is every bit as purposeful, so it can be probably the way I would go. On the other hand, if it can be convenience and tech you’re soon after, the Arteon possible tends to make far more feeling. But at that issue, so do a great deal of entry-stage luxury sedans, not to mention a whole bunch of compact crossovers.

It truly is a bizarre challenge to have: Remaining so likable and purposeful, nevertheless becoming pigeonholed into area of interest status due to the fact you’re fighting with so several car or truck segments all at after. The Arteon is far more eye-catching and far more refined than just before, and it can be a vehicle I would be brief to recommend. But till Volkswagen throws some far more marketing pounds its way — or till consumers’ preferences commence to shift — I’m scared this a single will constantly be a lower-volume player, even if it justifies a whole great deal far more notice.