When buying a new car, many people will try to get the lowest price possible and press for a good discount. This is only natural as they can then take a smaller loan and the instalments will be less each month.
But there are often other offers which carry a certain value or save money as well. For instance, free maintenance is a popular extra which is offered by most companies these days. This usually covers the labour and parts costs for scheduled maintenance over years. It is a cost which you will incur in coming years of ownership of the car, so if you do not have to pay it, then you will be saving money in the longer term.
Volkswagen Passenger Cars Malaysia (VPCM) has been offering free scheduled maintenance for its models for the first 3 years and now, it is adding on 2 more years for selected models. Those who buy the Arteon R-Line, Tiguan Allspace R-Line or Elegance will now save on maintenance costs for up to 5 years (or maximum of 75,000 kms) after they buy their car.
How do you judge a car in just three or four days?
There really isn’t much you can say about it other than the way it drives, how the interior feels, and the overall efficiency.
That is the issue with motoring journalism in Malaysia.
So the best way to properly understand a car is to look into a forum where other owners share their experience.
Or to drive a somewhat high mileage car that has been properly used and abused by other members of the Malaysian motoring fraternity.
Which is what I did when Volkswagen Malaysia handed me a car with a little over 10,000km on the odo.
There is no doubt that the Volkswagen Arteon is one the best looking car of its segment.
It created waves when it was first introduced to the world, and it still turns heads today.
At about RM220,000, it seems a better buy than the established competition; the BMW 3-Series, the Mercedes C-Class and the Audi A4.
It is a lot bigger than the competition and a lot more spacious.
And surprisingly offers more creature comforts, though it does not offer as much safety tech as the other Germans.
And that is what makes it fall short of being utterly perfect.
But then again, the Arteon also has held up surprisingly well after 10,000km in the hands of motoring journos.
Of course the cars are fully refurbished before being passed from one journo to another, but there are things that simply cannot be done so quickly.
Such as seat bolstering, faded plastics, buttons that become undone and surfaces that are easily scratched such as the door sills.
I found none of that in this Arteon.
What I did find though is that in the 5-6 days that I had the car, the entertainment system failed on me, once!
This was when I wanted to switch from the Apple CarPlay, to which I was connected to wirelessly, to a regular radio station.
I had Google Maps running (not a fan of Waze) and perhaps the onboard processor had too much.
The system then wouldn’t respond for a couple of minutes, and then it went blank for another couple of minutes.
Shortly after it restarted and was fine for the rest of my drive time.
Just tech being tech, I guess.
But other than that though, I have nothing but praises.
I loved the spaciousness of the Arteon.
For the first time ever, I did not need to move the front passenger seat forwards to accommodate my kid’s rear facing car seat.
The 563 litre booth accommodated everything you need to manage a child over a weekend, plus groceries, plus the wife’s bags, and then some.
Just for reference, the booth is slightly smaller than that of the Passat, but yet is bigger than the 4-Series and the Audi A5 Sportback.
The entertainment system, despite that one issue I experienced with it, was impressive with a 700W 12-speaker DynAudio sound system.
Metallica’s S&M album never sounded so good in a mid-segment passenger car.
The wireless Apple CarPlay connectivity is truly god sent, and something Mercedes-Benz and BMW should take a card from.
However, I do feel the engine does not do justice to the car’s good looks.
The 2.0-litre engine produces just 187hp and 320Nm of torque.
But for those with a need for speed, there is the Arteon R that produce over 300hp.
But it has never been officially offered in Malaysia save for that one time Volkswagen showcased a demo car to gauge public interest.
That didn’t go too well since it would have costed over RM300,000.
But the one great thing that the standard Arteon does incredibly well is fuel efficiency.
I did about 550km during my drive and still had about a quarter tank left when it came time to return the car.
Volkswagen also claims that the Arteon needs just 6.3 litres of fuel to travel 100km on the combined cycle.
And this technically means that in an ideal scenario, the Arteon can travel 1000km with its 66-litre tank. This does depend on how heavy your right foot is though.
Despite its frugal nature, the Arteon also offers the usual array of Drive Modes that make the car sharper or comfortable, all at the touch of a button.
This either stiffens or softens the suspension, adjusts the steering wheel and the accelerator according to the selected drive mode as well.
This did lead to a more interesting drive in Sport mode as the car generally felt more eager.
Even after 10,000km of being driven by people determined to bring out the worst in the car, yours truly included, the Arteon has been steadfast.
The interior is always the first place that wear and tear sets in, and is not easy nor cheap to restore, and despite that the interior of this Arteon has held well.
The powertrain too has proven to the naysayers that Volkswagen has left its old engine and gearbox issues firmly in the past.
And for if you regularly maintain it with care, then there shouldn’t be any issues.
If you do buy brand new, the entire ownership experience is made better with a five-year warranty and a three-year free maintenance program.
Also, it is also worth noting that the new 2021 Volkswagen Arteon is due to be launched in Malaysia real soon.
This means prices of the current Arteon will drop, making it an incredibly good buy in the used car market.
If you can look past the lack of power and appreciate the overall design and the efficiency of the car, then the Arteon would be well worth considering.
Especially when compared to the old guards from Germany.
The Volkswagen Arteon is priced at RM221,065.28 excluding insurance.
Volkswagen Passenger Cars Malaysia (VPCM) and Wei-Ling Gallery successfully raised RM133,200 from the charity auction of Arteon art cars recently, with the proceeds going to the Breast Cancer Welfare Association Malaysia (BCWA).
The auction marked the culmination of the collaboration between Volkswagen and the art gallery to celebrate the launch of the all-new Arteon R-Line. Featuring the talents of 13 Malaysian artists, the collaboration provided the unique opportunity to collectors and art enthusiasts alike to own diecast scale models of the Arteon that have been transformed by the artists into unique one-of-a-kind sculptures.
“It was truly heartening to see Art and Arteon come together at the auction, and to witness how much the bidders recognised the value of owning such collectible art pieces. What more, was that their enthusiasm stemmed from their desire to contribute to charity, in this case, breast cancer awareness and support,” said Erik Winter, the Managing Director of VPCM, who was delighted to see the enthusiasm displayed by bidders.
“The Arteon is more than just a car for Volkswagen. It also represented a way for the brand to engage with art fans around the world, as it has also been described many times as a true work of art. To have been able to work on this collaboration with Wei-Ling Gallery has been an honour for us, and we would like to express our sincerest appreciation to Wei-Ling Gallery and all 13 artists for this,” he said.
The Arteon project was an extension of the recent ‘18@8 Turning Points’ exhibition by Wei-Ling Gallery, curated with this idea in mind and explores the 13 artists’ pasts through different philosophical, technical and aesthetic approaches, in the form of thought-provoking art pieces that reflected on this ideology.
Those who want to view and experience the full-sized Arteon R-Line, priced from RM225,490 (RM220,043.28 with sales tax exemption until the 31st of December 2020), can contact any authorised Volkswagen dealership. To locate a dealership in Malaysia, visit www.volkswagen.com.my.
The Volkswagen Arteon, successor to the CC model, has received an extensive update for its new model year as well as gained a second bodystyle variant in the form of the Arteon Shooting Brake. For readers not familiar with a ‘shooting brake’, it’s actually an old term from the days of horse carriages which were used to carry equipment during hunting sessions. It evolved into the stationwagon but a ‘shooting brake’ is usually more sporty looking.
Volkswagen’s new entry in the shooting brake segment indicates that this segment still has potential in spite of the continued growth in demand for SUVs. There are people who want the extra load-carrying capability but not the tallness and bulkiness of a SUV (although many of today’s crossover SUVs are almost like cars anyway).
The Arteon is Volkswagen’s Gran Turismo — marrying the sleek design of a premium coupe to the space of a midsize sedan. With the Shooting Brake, the difference starts from the B-pillar rearwards. Instead of the coupe-shaped rear end, the roof and window lines are extended towards the rear on the Shooting Brake and end in the new roof spoiler.
At the top, the window line runs parallel to the roof. However, at the bottom, the lines move upwards towards the D-pillars, thus making the window area at the rear narrower and more striking. All elements together form the sporty rear profile typical for a Shooting Brake.
Sharper looks
The latest Arteon has a more a refined front end with sharpened design elements. The long, wide bonnet stretches across the entire front profile to the wheelarches to form the shoulder section. At the front, it reaches far down into the grille, emphasizing the ample width of the car with its crossbars. Aerodynamically, it’s pretty efficient with a Cd of 0.265.
The Arteon can also be configured with an illuminated grille, which was not available before. On certain versions, new LED daytime running lights (DRLs) connect to form a central light bar in the grille, surrounding the new Volkswagen logo and using light as the new chrome. Consequently, the Arteon has been given a new and unmistakable daytime and night-time lighting signature.
The lower section of the front profile, the front apron, has also been modified. Up to now, this area featured four chrome bars. These have now been transformed into three significantly more striking chrome bars.
There are some differences depending on the trim grade. For example, some versions may have two additional, separate air intake openings in front of the front wheels while the R-Line features one larger, continuous, bottom air intake above the front spoiler that is surrounded by a C-shaped section on the outside in front of the front wheels.
2-litre turbocharged TSI engine
Powertrain choices include hybrid
Depending on the market, the Arteon will have at least four powertrain choices – a powerful 2-litre turbocharged TSI petrol engine, 1.5-litre TSI petrol engine, 2-litre turbodiesel or a plug-in hybrid. 4Motion all-wheel drive is also available for some variants. The flagship Arteon has R-Performance Torque Vectoring which distributes torque variably both between the axles and also between the rear wheels depending on the driving situation.
Plug-in hybrid powertrain
Different interior functionality
The two variants differ in functionality inside, with the Shooting Brake having more versatility. With the unique design of its roof section, the Shooting Brake offers more headroom at both the front and rear. As standard, the rear seat backrest can be folded asymmetrically in both variants.
Behind the Shooting Brake’s rear seat bench is a luggage compartment capacity of up to 565 litres when loaded up to the backrest and luggage compartment cover. Loading the vehicle up to the front seat backrests increases the loading capacity to 1,632 litres (fastback: 1,557 litres). In both cases, the load space has a maximum length of 2.09 metres (up to the front seats).
Interior redesigned for refinement
The updated Arteon gets a redesigned cockpit with further refinement. At the topmost level of the dashboard, new leatherette surfaces stand out by having been refined are more pronounced with decorative seams to visually build a bridge to Volkswagen’s luxury SUV, the Touareg. On the second level, new aluminium decor is installed, with midrange versions having translucent aluminium decor and 30-colour ambient lighting. The air outlets, stretching up to the third dash panel level, are fully integrated here.
Like the new Golf, the Arteon has the Volkswagen Digital Cockpit. This allows the driver to configure the instrument display on the 10.25-inch display. The driver can quickly and easily switch between three basic layouts using a View button on the multifunction steering wheel.
Volkswagen is also offering a newly developed, high-end sound system made by audio specialists harman/kardon for the very first time. It has been specifically geared towards the Arteon product line. The system uses a 700W, 16-channel Ethernet amplifier to power a total of 12 high-performance loudspeakers.
The range of technical innovations involves powertrains as well as further IQ.DRIVE assist systems. The Travel Assist system, an option, enables partly automated driving within a speed range from 0 km/h to 210 km/h (within the system limits). An integral part of Travel Assist is the ACC with predictive speed control. The adaptive cruise control reacts to speed limits, towns, bends, roundabouts and junctions with corresponding speed adaptation.
In combination with the Travel Assist system, the steering wheel rim additionally features touch-sensitive surfaces which, once the system has been activated, detect whether the driver has at least one hand on the steering wheel for safety reasons.
Launch in Malaysia still pending
The Arteon was expected to be in Malaysian showrooms last year as bookings were being accepted in July. A unit was shown at various dealerships between July and October, with the price then quoted as RM290,000 upwards. However, it’s now been a year and we have yet to see the model.
