Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake 2021 Review

Ever since the Volkswagen Passat Comfort Coupe, or CC, was launched in 2008, the sleek-roofed sedan has tried to diversify itself further upmarket from its somewhat dowdy genetic source material.

First of all, the original model dropped the ‘Passat’ bit of its name when it was facelifted in 2011. Then it adopted a new moniker altogether in 2017, when the Artist Formerly Known as CC became the Arteon.

Here in Australia, we’ve been without the fastback version of Volkswagen’s flagship four-door for a while now, due to supply issues over in its homeland, but now it’s making a comeback.

Volkswagen Australia has confirmed that while the high-performance 235kW R derivatives won’t be sold here, both the facelifted Arteon and this stylish new Shooting Brake wagon will arrive Down Under in the third quarter of this year.

Both Arteon will be available here only in top-spec R-Line form powered exclusively by a new 200kW or carryover 206kW 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine matched to a 4Motion all-wheel drive and a seven-speed DSG automatic transmission as standard.

In Europe, apart from the top-shelf R version, the Volkswagen Arteon will be available with a 180kW petrol-electric 1.4 TSI plug-in hybrid powertrain, joining 110kW and 150kW 2.0 TDI turbo-diesels and the 140kW 2.0 TSI petrol model tested here.

There’s no doubting which is the better-looking car out of the 2021 Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake and the Passat Estate. It’s the Arteon, hands down.

In fact, there are few wagons from any manufacturer that look as good as the Volkswagen – except perhaps for the far more expensive Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo or the dearly departed Mercedes-Benz CLS Shooting Brake, a model that the German company decided to kill off because of slow sales in an era dominated by SUVs.

Perhaps Volkswagen’s top brass didn’t get the memo the day the CLS SB was canned.

Anyway, whatever the rights and wrongs of VW’s timing in releasing the Arteon Shooting Brake, we’re not going to be criticising the final efforts of the design team.

With its steeply raked rear screen, muscled haunches and tapering glasshouse lines, this is one seriously eye-catching big estate.

Even better, despite the fact it is 4866mm long and 1871mm across the beam, the Arteon Shooting Brake is relatively light – this model only weighs in at 1617kg.

About our only bugbear is that the ‘chrome effect twin trapezoid exhaust tailpipe surrounds, left and right’ do absolutely nothing of the sort. They’re completely fake ‘blanks’, which is about the only aesthetic sin the Arteon SB commits.

Beyond the exquisite bodywork, what you’re paying extra for with the 2021 Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake – and, without Australian prices, we’re making an assumption here on the basis the Arteon is more expensive than a Passat in the first place and the Shooting Brake is likely to cost more than its fastback equivalent – is additional interior space.

In this regard, it’s both good and bad news for the Arteon wagon.

In terms of passenger accommodation, the VW is magnificent. In an R-Line model like our tester, the front seats are deeply sculpted buckets finished in plush leather, which hold you well in place and give good support on long journeys.

There’s even a massage function available as an option for the driver’s chair, which is a classy touch from the manufacturer.

It’s in the back, though, where the real benefits can be felt. Rear-seat occupants can luxuriate in fully a metre-plus of legroom (1016mm), while headroom is increased by 48mm due to the Shooting Brake’s longer roofline (even people in the front row gain an additional 11mm of space for hats and hairdos).

Aside from a sizeable transmission tunnel chopping foot space away for anyone unfortunate enough to sit in the centre-rear position, every other person travelling onboard an Arteon Shooting Brake will enjoy immense comfort and space.

Shame the same can’t be said about the boot. At 565 litres (measured to the window line), the wagon’s cargo capacity is just two litres more than the liftback sedan’s (563L), and well down on the Passat Estate’s 650 litres or the Skoda Superb wagon’s cavernous 660 litres.

Fold the 60:40-split/folding backbench down and the Shooting Brake’s cargo bay rises to 1632 litres – only about five per cent more than the Arteon sedan, which also offers a load length of nearly 2.1m, but also less than the 1780 or the Superb’s vast 1950 litres.

So the cabin isn’t as big as the Passat’s, but the interior is beautifully put together and designed in a conservative, attractive fashion.

In generous R-Line spec, technology includes a 10.25-inch Digital Cockpit Pro TFT instrument cluster, 8.0-inch infotainment touch-screen (with the option of 9.2-inch), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), three-zone climate control and 30-colour ambient lighting, so it feels suitably grand to sit within the Arteon’s cabin.

While the 2021 Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake won’t come to Australia with this 140 TSI engine, which has the second-lowest output of any Arteon model seen so far, because the car isn’t heavy and the 2.0-litre petrol engine offers 320Nm of torque – almost as much torque as the old 206kW unit – even the front-drive Arteon 140 TSI feels fleet of foot.

There’s a minor annoyance in that the DSG will always shift up for you, even if you’re in manual mode for the transmission and have the car in its Sport setting, so you won’t get near the indicated 6500rpm redline as the car makes the change at 6000rpm.

But this is a very willing performer otherwise. It’s smooth when revving, sounds hard-edged and vocal as it spools through the midrange and it has enough gumption about it to be able to pull heartily in-gear if you’re on the highway and you want to increase your speed by a significant degree.

It also proves to be fairly light on fuel, this front-drive version managing a best average of 5.9L/100km on a long, steady journey at 110km/h on the ACC. An overall return of 7.0L/100km across almost 1200km of testing also speaks volumes about what a frugal petrol engine this is.

That’s especially so considering the Arteon Shooting Brake’s quoted 7.8sec 0-100km/h time doesn’t feel in the least bit exaggerated.

If anything, the Volkswagen convinces you it’s even quicker than that; so the circa-200kW 206 TSI derivative could be all the fast estate you would ever need.

The 2021 Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake 140 TSI R-Line we drove was fitted with optional Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) adjustable dampers, for which at some point in the last 18 months or so VW decided needs fully 15 different stages of damper response.

So, you get the standard Comfort (4/15), Normal (8/15) and Sport (12/15) factory settings, but if you delve into the set-up menu on the touch-screen you can dial the ride comfort or body control up or down from these three basic jump-off points. This can then be saved as part of the configurable Individual set-up in the drive modes.

Truth be told, we think the Arteon probably needs DCC to be at its best. Even with it fitted, the Shooting Brake occasionally lacks for low-speed ride composure, its 19-inch wheels thumping into urban potholes in a manner that jars the occupants of the car.

The suspension is also frequently noisy in operation, while another refinement grumble is elevated tyre noise when travelling at speed on particularly poor road surfaces. That may be down to some amplification going on in that shapely boot out at the back, but it’s noticeable, nonetheless.

However, these incidences are the exception rather than the rule to the Arteon Shooting Brake, which really comes into its own once speeds rise on out-of-town routes.

There’s a lovely, languid way the body moves on the DCC suspension in Comfort, while it soaks up ripples and bumps in the asphalt far better above 50km/h than it does below this point.

Add in the effortless and graceful way that sleek body cuts through the air, meaning wind noise ruffling about the passenger compartment is basically non-existent, and this is one epic long-distance cruiser. Precisely what it has been set up for, presumably.

The pay-off is that the Arteon Shooting Brake is a buttoned-down and secure machine in the corners. It’s good: the steering is light but positive and accurate, with no real slop in its responses, while front-end grip and chassis balance are both impressive.

Yet it’s never exciting. Throw the VW into the corners and it’ll keep an even keel while tracking a faithful line, but it won’t play much from that point onwards. It’s grippy and neutral but it’s not particularly invigorating.

Maybe the R, with fancy R-Performance Torque Vectoring AWD and another 95kW to play with, will remedy this strait-laced aspect of the racy-looking Arteon Shooting Brake.

Oh, and don’t turn the DCC up to 15/15, because the car becomes a right firm-riding so-and-so in that setting; almost to the point of being unbearable.

There’s plenty of substance to go with the undoubted masses of style that the 2021 Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake brings to the party.

It’s one of the best-looking estate cars we can think of and there are definite benefits to the amount of room on offer for passengers if you opt for this particular model.

It’s also an impeccable long-haul distance-muncher, with a parsimonious yet smooth petrol engine/FWD/DSG combination and exemplary high-speed ride manners. The problem is that this feels like it is about four years too late to the party.

SUVs are killing off wagons like this left, right and centre these days, and the fact that Volkswagen alone already has one estate – the Passat – in this market segement already, not to mention the Skoda and Audi alternatives it provides elsewhere in its wide-ranging group of manufacturers, makes the glorious-to-behold Arteon Shooting Brake look surplus to requirements from the off.

Put it this way: we love the way the car looks and no doubt there are plenty of car enthusiasts out there who love the idea of a quick and curvaceous executive estate like the Australian-spec circa-200kW all-wheel drive Arteon Shooting Brake R-Line.

But will they buy it? Especially when pricing is likely to well above the $50K that Volkswagen previously charged for the Arteon 206 TSI AWD sedan, and more than even the $63,790 it now charges for the Passat 206 TSI R-Line wagon?

As sexy and sensible as it is, can the Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake truly tempt people out of their SUVs of similar size and/or price? Only time will tell.

How much does the 2021 Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake cost?
Price: $65,000-plus (estimated)
Available: Third quarter, 2021
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 140kW/320Nm (140TSI tested here)
Transmission: Seven-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 7.9L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 179g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2017)

Related: Volkswagen Arteon 2018 Review
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