The 316bhp VW Arteon R Is Here And You Can Have It As A 'Shooting Brake' Wagon

The Arteon's mid-life refresh has heralded the arrival of 'Shooting Brake' and R derivatives
The 316bhp VW Arteon R Is Here And You Can Have It As A 'Shooting Brake' Wagon

The Arteon always seemed ripe for R treatment, and to coincide with the car’s mid-life facelift, VW has finally pulled the trigger. Not only that, but the company has also made a pair of performance models. Huzzah!

The new Arteon R is available both in standard ‘Fastback’ form and in the new ‘Shooting Brake’ style. Yes, it’s really just an estate rather than a true shooting brake, but when it looks this good, who gives a damn about the terminology used?

The 316bhp VW Arteon R Is Here And You Can Have It As A 'Shooting Brake' Wagon

Whichever you go for, what’s under the bonnet remains the same. It’s an ‘EA888’ inline-four 2.0-litre turbo engine, good for 316bhp and 310lb ft of torque. This doesn’t give the R the biggest gap between itself and the 276bhp 2.0-litre Arteon, but the performance variant does have an extra trick up its sleeve.

An ‘R Performance Torque Vectoring’ system is able to chuck anything up to 100 per cent of torque to one wheel, thanks to clutches that control the drive split between the axles and the left/right wheels. So, it might just be able to pull off a cheeky drift.

The 316bhp VW Arteon R Is Here And You Can Have It As A 'Shooting Brake' Wagon

R models also get restyled front and rear ends (we’re digging the partly blacked-out grille), quad trapezoidal tailpipes, and 20-inch wheels with suitably beefy 18-inch brakes underneath. With blue-painted callipers, of course.

Standard models receive tweaked front bumpers, and on the R and R Line models, grille-mounted light bars. The Shooting Brake deviates from the Fastback from the B-pillars backwards, with a gently sloping roofline leading to a chunky boot spoiler and widened rear arches. With a 565 litre boot, its load capacity is only a couple of litres bigger than the Fastback’s, but drop the rear seats, and that increases to 1632 litres.

The 316bhp VW Arteon R Is Here And You Can Have It As A 'Shooting Brake' Wagon

Inside, the centre console retains the same shape, but the infotainment screen and climate controls are new. The steering wheel is a fresh design too, and behind it, you can see a redesigned 10.25-inch ‘Digital Cockpit Pro’ instrument cluster. The upper part of the dash has lost the analogue clock of the old model and no longer has that design feature which joined the two right-hand air vents.

Not keen on the R? Along with the 276bhp 2.0-litre petrol mentioned earlier on, you can also have the same engine in a more modest 187bhp tune and with a six-speed manual gearbox. There’s a 215 plug-in hybrid version, and a 2.0-litre turbodiesel available with either 148bhp or 197bhp.

The 316bhp VW Arteon R Is Here And You Can Have It As A 'Shooting Brake' Wagon

The hybrid and the base 2.0-litre are front-wheel drive only, while the 276bhp Arteon is four-wheel drive only. All other non-R models have a choice of drive layouts. In terms of gearboxes, the base 2.0-litre is the only one to get the manual option, and the hybrid is the sole six-speed dual-clutch Arteon - the rest are all fitted with seven-speed DSG gearboxes.

Which will it be for you?

Comments

Olivier (CT's grammar commie)

It does look absolutely fantastic, but I doubt the wagon is going to come to North America considering the Arteon’s poor sales

That said, I’m a bit disappointed of the lack of power for an R model: I know you could get a bit more power with a remap, but I’d have expected the car to come stock with at least 350 hp.

06/23/2020 - 22:37 |
6 | 0

Especially as the the same engine in the upcoming Mk8 Golf R’s application will make 328bhp - 12bhp more than in the Arteon R.

06/24/2020 - 07:20 |
0 | 0
CannedRex24

My god this is mind numbingly pretty.

Also I don’t mind the 4 cyl instead of a VR6, cause let’s be honest, who’s going to care that much

06/23/2020 - 23:35 |
8 | 2
Dante Verna

Regardless of the cylinder count, this is one of the prettiest things Volkswagen has made in a long time.

06/24/2020 - 00:03 |
4 | 0
Anonymous

Why is the upcoming Mk8 Golf R’s 2.0-litre engine detuned for use in the Arteon R, making 316 bhp instead of the Golf R’s 328 bhp?

06/24/2020 - 07:24 |
0 | 0
Ben Anderson 1

I’m just going to say it: I don’t like the rear of the Estate. That kick up in the window line especially annoys me for some reason.

06/24/2020 - 07:54 |
0 | 0
Twopoint0

Can’t wait to curse at it while servicing this thing

06/24/2020 - 08:51 |
6 | 0
luke c

Glad that sports wagons aren’t fully dead yet

06/24/2020 - 19:46 |
2 | 0

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