The gorgeous 2019 VW Arteon is the cure for the common SUV: great looks, hartchback utility, good price. It’s only missing a high-horsepower sport version as found on other V-dubs.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\nLet\u2019s hear it for art.<\/p>\n
Some of the country\u2019s most recognizable art is in its downtowns:\u00a0The elegant “Spirit of Detroit” in Motown. Calder\u2019s \u201cFlamingo\u201d in Chicago. The sculpture that spells “Love”\u00a0in New York. They break up monotonous landscapes of right angles.<\/p>\n
The VW Arteon is like that in the boxy world of SUVs. This stunning sedan sculpture is the cure for the common five-door.<\/p>\n
From its finely drawn face to its meticulously stamped clamshell hood (go on, feel the surfacing with your fingers) to its coupe-like roof, the Arteon lives up to its name. It\u2019s one of the most beautiful pieces of art in automotive today.<\/p>\n
Even amidst the New York Auto Show\u2019s exotic supermodels, the Arteon and Mazda 3 hatchback stopped me in my tracks. Both cars make a statement in classes that have seen sales eroded by ute-mania. Both offer flowing, feline lines to counter the masculine SUV bulk. Both accomplish this while embracing the SUV’s most utilitarian feature \u2014 the hatchback.<\/p>\n
And both do not fully follow through on their dramatic aspirations. Where the Mazda 3 stops short of optioning a high-horsepower hot hatch, so does Arteon shy from offering a second, more-powerful engine to complement its athletic bod. No doubt\u00a0their low production volumes test the business case for a second engine.<\/p>\n
But as halo designs for the respective brands, they deserve halo performance.<\/p>\n
After I picked up my jaw from the ground upon seeing the Arteon again in Solvang, California (\u201cThe Danish Capital of the USA\u201d),\u00a0I slid inside. Defying its coupe-like roofline, its interior is palatial. Credit a wheelbase stretched five\u00a0inches over its predecessor, the attractive VW CC. That translates into leg room that is six\u00a0inches longer than a Nissan Maxima and four\u00a0inches more than a Kia Stinger and Buick Regal \u2014 all competitors in the sporty sedan segment.<\/p>\n
My 6-foot-5\u00a0frame easily sat behind myself in the rear seat. So pick up your friends for a day out \u2014 but be sure to\u00a0tell them to hang on.<\/p>\n
Because even though Arteon has the biggest back seat in the VW family (beating even the giant Atlas SUV), it has the personality of hot-hatch siblings Golf GTI and Golf R \u2014 my favorite compact toys. Credit a shared platform \u2014 VW\u2019s genius, scalable MQB architecture.<\/p>\n
Indeed, Arteon is a natural walk for V-dub fans looking to supersize their hatchback Golf into a hatchback sedan. It has the same driving controls, same infotainment system, same driving dynamics.<\/p>\n
If you haven\u2019t tested a sportback \u2014 the Arteon, Kia Stinger, Buick Regal and Audi A5 \u2014 do yourself a favor. Their versatility is the best-kept secret in autodom.<\/p>\n
Los Pedros National Forest in southern California is Hell, Michigan on steroids. Its writhing, rural roads stretch for miles. Sporting the same torque-vectoring all-wheel drive\u00a0system as the Golf R, the Arteon eagerly attacked Los Pedros. Dial the mode selector to Sport and the steering and sophisticated adaptive-damping suspension tighten.<\/p>\n
The big car\u2019s dimensions seemed to contract as it rotated effortlessly through corners. Hmmm, you might want to put barf bags in the rear seats for your passengers.<\/p>\n
Pushing the Arteon\u2019s limits, I pined for more from its 268-horse turbo-4. VW offers the 220-horsepower GLI over the standard Jetta. And the 228-horse GTI and 292-horse R as Golf upgrades. But halo Arteon gets …\u00a0nichts?<\/em><\/p>\nPity. After all, VW group has gems in its toolbox like the 394-horsepower turbo-5 holer (found in the Audi TT RS) or the 349-pony turbo-4 in the Audi S4. Heck, the Golf R\u2019s growly 288-horse turbo-4 would do.<\/p>\n
Perhaps Volkswagen corporate wants the Arteon to respect the family hierarchy. Give the gorgeous Arteon a sultry mill and I\u2019d never covet an Audi A7 again. At much less than a $70,000, 335-horse Audi A7, the Arteon would be irresistible<\/p>\n
Know your place, Arteon!<\/em><\/p>\nBut that place has already been taken by the aforementioned turbo-4 powered Kia Stinger hatchback, which goes head-to-head against the Arteon until $40,000 at which point it sprouts a 365-horse, twin-turbo V-6 and lays rubber up the road in pursuit of luxe Germans.<\/p>\n
Arteon? It is content to stay in its lane and trade blows with the Maxima, Buick Regal and Acura TLX. With their giant, elephant-packing hatchbacks, the Arteon and Regal are my picks here. The\u00a0Buick steals the value play by adding an all-wheel drive 310-horse V-6 for just $40,000 \u2014 less than the comparable all-wheel drive\u00a0Arteon SEL trim.<\/p>\n
The va-voom VW makes its pitch with upscale touches like athletic handling, panoramic sunroof, three-zone climate control\u00a0and Kurkuma Yellow Metallic paint (yum).<\/p>\n
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