Volkswagen Arteon R Shooting Brake 2021 UK first drive

If not from the blue paint then by the rakish looks you will be able to tell that this is a fast Volkswagen. An Volkswagen Arteon estate, or Shooting Brake, as they prefer to call it, which is a big wagony thing that steals all the thunder of the Volkswagen Passat and, in its standard form, is a car I have a rather lot of time for.

And in this colour, and with this stance, and on the 20in alloys pictured (19s are standard in the UK), this is the Arteon R. If you had to guess what this meant, because it’s a fast big VW you might take a punt on it having a tuned 2.0 EA888 engine like the one in the Golf R, mated to a dual clutch gearbox and driving all four wheels.

And you’d be right. It’s basically the same drivetrain, with 316bhp and a seven speed ‘box and, although no more than 50% of the torque ever goes to the rear, up to 100% of that rearward torque can be diverted to an individual rear wheel, to tighten the car’s line particularly on the way out of a corner, to make it turn better and be more dynamically engaging. To an extent, anyway, but we’ll come to that.

Inside, the Arteon R gets a few highlights to suggest that it’s sporty, such as mock carbon inserts, blue stitching, grippy seat trim and, on the overburdened infotainment, if you personalise your own drive mode you can pick from 15 different states for your dampers. Yes, that is too many.

It remains, though, an extremely practical car. The driving position is brilliantly true and widely adjustable, and the ergonomics while good, not as bad as a Volkswagen Golf 8, are not quite as brill as a VW should be.

And it’s large. There’s 565 litres of boot space with the that rises to 1600 litres with the rear seats folded, which is less than a Passat (650-1780), but that doesn’t look like this.

On the road the Arteon R is agreeably habitable, although I suspect it would be more so again on the 18alloys that are standard overseas, but we like big alloys here despite our terrible roads. But if you had to spend all day at the wheel, and I pretty much did, the odd thunk aside it’s quiet, comfortable and easy, with moderately weighted and responsive controls.

That chilled demeanour extends to the handling. Volkswagens, even fast ones, tend to have a safe, approachable, friendly dynamics that sets them apart from the sportiest Fords or Renaults, which tuck-in on the way into a corner and feel extremely mobile.