2021 Volkswagen Arteon

[MUSIC PLAYING] WILL KAUFMAN: Volkswagen is launching an all new flagship sedan, the 2019 Volkswagen Arteon. This is a bit of a niche car, especially with the growing popularity of SUVs. Most people with this kind of budget are going to be buying Atlases from Volkswagen and not Arteons. But this is a statement car. It's reaffirming a commitment to that kind of European, athletic, near luxury car that Volkswagen diehards and enthusiasts really love. In some ways the Arteon is a successor to the CC, the car that brought the coupe Sudan to the mainstream more than a decade ago. But it's bigger, more powerful. And I think it's better looking. It's also got more direct competition with cars like the Buick Regal GS and Edmunds editorial staff favorite, the Kia Stinger on the market. So today we're going to take a look at why you might want to spend premium dollars on a VW sedan. But we're also going to ask the big questions, like who is meaning? Where is life? And what does the Areton-- a statement car, a halo for VW-- say about today's Volkswagen brand? But before we get started, make sure to subscribe right here for more fantastic videos. And head to Edmunds.com for answers to your big car shopping questions. The first thing you'll notice about the Arteon is obviously the styling. It has this sleek fastback profile and these long, sharp creases in the bodywork that really accentuate its wide stance. It reminds me of the Audi A7 or A5 Sportback. But what sets it apart from the Audi is really the front end. The standard LED headlights surround flows into the chrome grille in a way that's really sophisticated. And makes this car look broad and athletic up front. Compared to the old CC the new Arteon on has migrated to Volkswagen's MQB platform that underlies most of what they make. It's only grown two inches an overall length. But the wheel base has grown by five inches. That makes it ride much more like a big luxury car and has opened up a lot of back seat space. The other thing that's changed is the trunk. The Arteon has a much larger trunk than the old CC. This hatchback opening gives you a ton of space to get items in and out of the trunk. And there's just a lot of room back here. So the 2019 already on definitely looks the part of a halo car. But does it drive the part? Let's find out. [MUSIC PLAYING] Overseas Volkswagen offers the Arteon on with a number of different power trains. But in the US, you can pretty much just get one. This car comes standard with a 268 horsepower, turbo charged, two liter, four cylinder engine. That's paired with an eight speed automatic transmission. And you get a front wheel drive standard. All wheel drive is an option and standard on the highest trim level. Also standard is adaptive suspension that can switch between sport and comfort mode. So that it can firm up the handling or provide a more comfortable ride on the freeway. Now Volkswagen calls the Arteon on a GT car, as opposed to a sports car. It handles a lot like an Audi to my mind. It feels really planted and firm as you go through corners. Something like Kia A Stinger. Sort of feels lively and playful. This is really competent and the grip is fantastic. But it doesn't have quite as sporty a feel. You can definitely feel that GT mission coming through. The same goes for power delivery. The engine is strong and it's pretty torquey. But it's not as snappy as the V6 in the Kia Stinger GT. Overall the driving experience feels really premium. The Arteon is a very capable handler. It accelerates well. A lot of that's down to the transmission and tuning. The gears are tall, so you spend a lot of time building through the rev range. Shifting manually helps. But in normal driving this setup makes the car feel less responsive than the numbers suggest. The interior here fits with that grand touring mission as well. The materials sort of fall between what you expect from a Volkswagen and what you get in an Audi. There's more soft touch plastics in here than in something like a Jetta. But overall the materials aren't quite up to Audi standards. The interior really doesn't present as well as it should for the price. Visually, the textures are the same as in cheaper VWs. But while there are still hard plastics, around once you start touching things you realize how many surfaces are padded. Interior storage is a little lacking. This is a pretty small console box. That's a pretty small little cubby. The door pockets are big enough for a water bottle to fit in. And they are lined, so you won't hear stuff rattling around in there so much. But otherwise there's not a ton of space to keep your stuff in here. Visibility is excellent. Forward visibility overall is very good. These pillars are set up in a way they sort of stick out into the cabin a little bit. But they're arranged so that you're looking at the thinnest part of them. They don't really block your view out of the car when you're going around corners or approaching an intersection. Rear visibility is also very good for a coupe-like sedan. My only real complaint about visibility is the very small side mirrors. Luckily, blind spot monitoring is standard on the Arteon. So that's not as big a deal as it could be. And of course on higher trims you get all sorts of surround view cameras and extra gear like that that makes maneuvering the car in tight spaces much easier. Volkswagen's thrown all of their technology features at this. And one or two things that you can't get in any other VWs. Of course you get there pretty sharp touchscreen infotainment system that comes standard with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. While Volkswagen's infotainment looks nice, it's a bit behind competitors. A system like what you get in the current Accord offers more functionality and just feels more up to date. On the higher trim levels, you also get their digital gauge cluster. It's good looking and pretty adjustable. Really Audi and Volkswagen are probably the next best digital gauge clusters on the market. On higher trims, you also get more luxury features. You get ventilated front seats as well as heated front seats. Of course you get leather all over the place. In the highest trim, you also get a massaging front seat. Which is something you can't get in any other Volkswagen right now. You can really see where the extra five inches of wheelbase comes in back here. Look at all this leg room I have. I'm sitting behind my own seating position as a six footer. And I got plenty of room for my knees, lots of room for my toes. I also appreciate the open glass along here. There's not a big pillar that starts right behind my shoulder. Makes it feel a little less claustrophobic. You get standard three zone climate control. And on higher trim levels you get heated back seats as well. The only thing that taller passengers are going to want for is headroom. That sleek, coupe like roof does mean that the headroom is a little limited back here. It's not that bad. I'm six feet tall and my head is sort of just touching. Average sized passengers will have plenty of space. The ride in this car also really fits with that grand touring mission. In comfort mode it's really compliant. Heading down the freeway you don't really feel any of the bumps or imperfections. It really irons out the road. The downside to that softness is that when you hit a large bump the impact comes through into the cabin. So the premium feel sort of falls apart if you live somewhere with a lot of big potholes. You can put it in sport and it will firm up noticeably. Not to the point of harshness. I would actually say that it doesn't really feel like a sporty ride. That said, it does really tame body roll which is noticeable in comfort. But in sport the Arteon corners much more flatly. I mean, I don't always love adaptive or adjustable suspensions because they tend to feel like you're choosing between really floppy and bouncy or way too firm and jittery. But the Arteon strikes a nice balance on both ends. At the start I said the Arteon was a niche car and that's down to the price. For a lot of shoppers the Arteon won't make sense. The 2019 Arteon starts in the mid-30s. For that money you get front wheel drive and actually a good amount of standard equipment with the car. It starts around the same price you'd pay for a fully loaded Accord which is stylish in its own right and has a powertrain that's more economical and feels more responsive when left to its own devices. But you don't get the style. And you can't get all wheel drive. The top of the line fully-loaded Arteon is going to run you in the mid-40s. For the same money as a top tier Arteon you can get a true luxury sedan like a Mercedes or, yes, an Audi. But it'll be much smaller. And you'll have to spend into the 50s if you want all the bells and whistles. The only extra option for the Arteon is the R-line package. And it'll add either 19 or 20 inch wheels, a sportier, more aggressive appearance package, a sport plus mode that sharpens the car up even more, and paddle shifters for a more engaging experience during sporty driving. In order to buy the Arteon for what VW's asking you have to really want what it has to offer. The style, the space, the character. It's definitely not for everyone. But VW didn't build the Arteon for everyone. I am always happy to see another sedan on the market, especially one that offers the level of sophistication that the Arteon does. So as long as I've got the keys, I'm going to head back out on the road. Remember, make sure to subscribe here for more videos. And check out Edmunds.com for the full story on the 2019 Volkswagen Arteon and help with all of your car shopping needs.