{"id":800719,"date":"2019-10-25T13:15:16","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T19:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=373514"},"modified":"2019-10-25T13:15:16","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T19:15:16","slug":"mountain-wheels-volkswagens-distinctive-arteon-sedan-offers-striking-looks-and-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/mountain-wheels-volkswagens-distinctive-arteon-sedan-offers-striking-looks-and-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Mountain Wheels: Volkswagen\u2019s distinctive Arteon sedan offers striking looks and style"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
The Volkswagen Arteon provides an upscale option in the Volkswagen family with a long, graceful cabin and extra boost from a 268-horsepower engine. <\/strong>
Courtesy photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Since the mysterious days of the brief American appearance
\nof the Volkswagen Phaeton, a very expensive and very upscale VW, folks who
\nstill equate the brand with Herbie the Love Bug (or do not remember the early,
\n$80,000 diesel Touareg SUV) have often been bewildered by the sheer notion of
\nreally costly Volkswagens.<\/p>\n

And since the phase-out of the midmarket CC sedan, those who
\nlike the idea of a family-sized Volkswagen sedan but still fail to be thrilled
\nby the Passat were left with a bit of a gap.<\/p>\n

Enter the Arteon, a fanciful, striking and nicely
\naccomplished larger sedan, which offers a more premium experience at a still
\nreasonable price \u2014 albeit nearly double the cost of a Jetta SEL Premium I also
\ndrove in back-to-back tests.<\/p>\n

Arteon starts at $35,845, but the top-of-the-line SEL
\nPremium model in its family, also equipped with Colorado-compatible 4Motion
\nall-wheel drive, brought the price to $46,175. Jetta, in the meantime, did its
\nfull act for $28,590.<\/p>\n

What do you get for what is indeed a kind of costly
\nVolkswagen, exactly? You get a vehicle that seems to be trying very hard to
\nmake a statement, from its striking visual cues, its intricate use of chrome
\nand even funny little details like side mirrors, which electronically rotate
\nupward like supercar scissor doors when you lock the vehicle. There\u2019s also an
\ninteresting, initially somewhat offsetting lantern effect from a coach-styled
\nlight feature above the rear-view mirror, adding a different ambience at night.<\/p>\n

Arteon shares the same adaptable platform as everything from
\nthe full-sized Atlas to the smaller Golf, so proportions are not unexpectedly
\ndifferent \u2014 though the car definitely feels wider and longer than other members
\nof the family.<\/p>\n

In reality, it\u2019s 191.4 inches overall, with a 111.7-inch
\nwheelbase (versus Passat\u2019s, uh, 110.4-inch wheelbase and 191.9-inch length),
\nsuggesting that looks and finish can really change one\u2019s impressions of a
\nvehicle, without much change at all.<\/p>\n

It also offers more SUV-styled power, with a turbocharged,
\ndirect fuel injection 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine producing 268 horsepower \u2014
\na big improvement over Passat\u2019s 174 horsepower variant.<\/p>\n

Arteon\u2019s turbo, par for the course, sounds equally coarse at
\nstart-up but will truly fling the vehicle along in high style, returning the
\npromised 27 highway mpg with no problems. My only truly exciting galavanting
\nduring my mostly commute-heavy drive was a circular on-ramp onto Interstate 25,
\nand I was able to do so with a confidence and lateral grip that I found quite impressive.<\/p>\n

Standard driving was smooth and solid, with comfortable
\nsteering, indicating that the car will be a happy summertime cruiser.<\/p>\n

The design does indeed give it a whole lot more presence,
\nand even in a Urano Gray paint scheme, Arteon looks pretty chic. Up front, the
\ncar\u2019s face is made up of rows and rows of chromed fencing, a detail also
\nrepeated on the air vents in the cabin, plus extremely low-profile headlamps,
\nand a low, broad and very flat hood.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s chrome everywhere \u2014 window frames and expressive pseudo
\nvents on the side panels \u2014 plus a deeply tapered crease above the rocker panels
\nthat adds visual strength.<\/p>\n

Arteon is set up in sportback style, and the effect is an
\nabsolutely gigantic, nearly SUV-sized cargo area in the rear, as much as 55
\ncubic feet with the rear seats folded.<\/p>\n

Mine did come loaded to the gills with the full range of
\nVolkswagen\u2019s fancier bits, including aluminum pedals and sill plates, a
\n700-watt, 12-speaker Dynaudio stereo system, plus the full extent of VW\u2019s most
\ncurrent navigation system.<\/p>\n

Leatherized doors, sumptuous and sporty seats and a
\nflat-bottomed, race-style wheel also class up the whole experience. But it\u2019s
\nthe back that benefits the most from an almost limousine-level of refinement,
\nwith substantial and spacious leg room, tall benchlike-seating with deep
\nbottoms and full climate controls, including seat heaters. Larger, longer
\nsquared-off doors also make rear-seat access more pleasant.<\/p>\n

If Arteon seems a little upmarket for your tastes, consider
\nthat the Jetta SEL is still pretty impressive, with more than enough real-world
\npower and comfort in its standard 1.4-liter turbo engine setup. That
\n147-horsepower output is definitely a different experience than Arteon or even
\nthe Jetta GLI, but you can use it wisely and efficiently to make the Jetta a
\nfun experience, with impressive confidence on corners.<\/p>\n

SEL brings a nicer set of wheels and some additional trim to
\nadd to the package, plus the Beats Audio system; the relentlessly monochrome
\ninterior is perhaps the height of VW\u2019s black-on-black color scheme.  <\/p>\n

Andy Stonehouse\u2019s column \u201cMountain Wheels\u201d publishes Saturdays in the Summit Daily News. Stonehouse has worked as an editor and writer in Colorado since 1998, focusing on automotive coverage since 2004. He lives in Greeley. Contact him at rossandrewstonehouse@gmail.com<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Volkswagen Arteon provides an upscale option in the Volkswagen family with a long, graceful cabin and extra boost from a 268-horsepower engine. Courtesy photo Since the mysterious days of the brief American appearance of the Volkswagen Phaeton, a very expensive and very upscale VW, folks who still equate the brand with Herbie the Love […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-800719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 14:25:23","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800719\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}