Used 2020 Volkswagen Arteon for sale near Sunderland

Excellent car value for money and the looks of car is a real head turner

I have been considering an Arteon, and prior to that a CC, ever since they were introduced. I love the look of the Arteon, and the professional reviews generally agree they are good cars, but priced too high. I cannot quite work out VWs strategy here. They are clearly trying to compete with the smaller engine offerings from BMW, Mercedes and Audi, but have produced a car which retails for virtually the same price, but in most cases does not offer as much. They need to follow Skodas lead, who produce the Superb which in the higher specs actually offers more for considerably less money. Skoda have to work harder to overcome badge snobbery, but VW are just far too complacent with the Arteon. (disclaimer, I have owned two Skoda Superbs, and rate them very highly). What has the Arteon got going for it? 1)It looks fantastic, on the inside as well as the outside. 2) it is a bit different 3) It is very practical, with a decent size boot and ample room for rear passengers. Having read/watched lots of reviews, what was the first thing I noticed? The reviews were all very positive about the features included in their test cars, and (probably because they did not know any different), they imply most of the features are standard. The problem is they are not. The basic ride on the Arteon is not that great, but there is a feature called dynamic chassis control which addresses this, but the use of active dampers. In addition to the standard more, there is a comfort mode which is where I would leave it most of the time, and a sports mode which lowers the suspension for when you are going along winding roads. Trouble is this is not standard, other than on 4-wheel drive models. Is is available as an option extra, but is not cheap so few people opt for it. Another things the reviews praise is the adaptive cruise control, which adjusts your speed to match the other vehicles on the road. To be honest, as cruise control without this feature is simply not worth having. Again, this is not standard on all models, so you either need to buy a higher spec or pay for it as an option extra. There are no 6 or 8 cylinder engines available, but there are several petrol and diesel. Having test driven a few, I can say absolutely do not go for the lower powered engines unless you never plan to overtake anything ever again. There is also a plug-in hybrid, but the electric only range is so small I cannot imagine many people would consider this a a serious option. The more powerful petrol and diesel engines are pretty good IMHO. Gearbox. I have not tried the manuals, but the automatic seems pretty smooth. Some of the reviews point out that it tends to change gear too often at low speeds, but I did not notice this on the relatively short test drives I have done. Electrics. OK these things are finishing touches, and possibly should not be deal-breakers. However, executive car drivers usually expect these touches, and if VW wants to Arteon to compete with BMW, Mercedes, Audi and the Skoda Superb, they really need to up their game here. The Arteon comes with electric windows as standard, and front and rear parking sensors. But that is about it. Electrically adjustable seats, blind spot detection, electric tailgate, heated windscreen, heated seats, all-round parking sensors, front/rear cameras are all optional extras or only available on the more expensive models. Also the infotainment system is pretty basic, and not as good as that found in a Skoda Superb. Finally we will come to the price. The key thing you need to consider is whether the price new exceeds £40k. If it does, then your annual road tax will go from £155 to £510 for the first five years. Although some of the base levels come out under this, once you go for the bigger engines, higher trim levels and optional extras, the price soon exceed the threshold. So that is the equivalent of adding an extra £1675 to the price. So the bottom line is I still have not bought one, and I probably will not unless VW drop their prices or start including their optional extras as standard. Thats what Skoda have done with the Superb.