Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake Review & Prices

The Arteon is Volkswagen’s large family car with premium aspirations. It’s a more expensive but better looking alternative to the Passat that’s available in both saloon and estate forms.

But because ‘Arteon Estate’ sounds like a housing development near a bypass, VW has chosen the term ‘Shooting Brake’ for its booted Arteon. It’s a bit posher, similar to when Audi calls its estates ‘Avants’ and BMW uses the ‘Touring’ name. And that matters for a model focused on style – a bit like calling your small handbag a minaudière.

The Shooting Braker gets a longer, flatter roof than the regular Arteon hatch. And the kink in the rear window means it doesn’t just look like a dolled-up Passat Estate from the side, either.

All this means it looks lower and longer than the regular Arteon. But it’s actually exactly the same length as the regular car. And it’s 19mm taller.

The whole point of an estate car is to be more practical than a hatchback or a saloon, right? So, how much bigger is the Arteon Shooting Brake’s boot than the regular Arteon’s? Just two litres bigger. That’s all. Makes you wonder why they bothered really… Well, apart from the fact it looks cool and passengers get a bit more headroom in the back.

That said, it’ll still carry 565 litres of luggage. Which is more than you can fit in an Audi A5 Sportback. Although, you can fit more in a VW Passat Estate, so that’s still the car to go for if you fancy doing a bit of antiquing in your VW.

There are changes to the Volkswagen Arteon’s interior as part of a model update. The old car’s analogue clock has gone. And the physical heating controls have also disappeared. Now, you get a row of touch-sensitive keys under the infotainment system (just like in the new VW Golf), which isn’t so easy to use while you are driving.

VW has resisted the temptation to give the new Arteon the Golf’s tiny gear selector. But it has changed the layout of the dashboard and air vents, so it doesn’t just look like a copy and pasted Passat cabin anymore…

You can also get the Arteon with some fancier interior trims. So you can choose to pay for carbon-fibre or Eucalyptus inserts for a more natural feel. There’s 30-colour mood lighting and six different styles of seat trim.

Then there’s a bunch of petrol and diesel engines to choose from, with either two- or four-wheel drive. If you prefer petrol, the 1.5-litre 150hp is the pick of the bunch. If you do a lot of miles then there are a couple of 2.0-litre diesels with either 150 or 200hp. The latter is available with four-wheel drive as an option. Go for the high-performance R with its 320hp 2.0-litre petrol engine, and four-wheel drive is standard.

There is also a Volkswagen Arteon plug-in hybrid in the range. This uses a 1.4-litre petrol engine and an electric motor to produce 218hp. Fully charge its battery (which takes around five hours using a conventional three-pin plug, or much less with a home wallbox) and you can drive for up to 39 miles in electric-only mode. This also means you won’t have to pay the London congestion charge.

The hybrid’s petrol engine and its electrical bits are shared with the VW Passat GTE. So, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the Arteon hybrid is a decent performer, managing 0-60mph in around 7.8 seconds and an official 256.8mpg – so long as you plug it in regularly.

So, if you are happy to forgo some practicality in the name of style, then this makes for a very solid choice. Check out our Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake deals page for the very best price, or get a great deal on a used Arteon Shooting Brake. You can also have a look at our latest used Volkswagens, and when it's time to sell your current car, Carwow can help with that, too.

The Arteon Shooting Brake is quite a bit more money than the equivalent Passat Estate, so you are paying a premium for the Arteon’s good looks.

On the other hand, there are plenty of more expensive posh estates, like the Mercedes-Benz C-Class Estate and the Volvo V60. So you could easily spend several thousand more if a posher badge is appealing.

You can keep the price of the Arteon Shooting Brake more affordable by choosing Elegance specification. It comes with a decent list of toys included in the price, but it costs less than the sporty R-Line.

If you’re not so worried about how much you spend, the rapid R model is by far the most expensive Arteon Shooting Brake to buy – it will be pricier to run too.

Quick and comfortable, but not as much fun as a BMW 3 Series

In town

The Arteon Shooting Brake is an easy car to drive. Go for a manual and the clutch pedal is light and smooth, while the DSG auto changes gear smoothly and is happy to creep through traffic. Even the entry-level petrol and diesel engines have more than enough poke for town driving, and the turning circle is reasonable for a car of this size.

If you want to minimise the environmental impact of your urban driving, take a close look at the plug-in hybrid model. As we’ve already mentioned, it will travel up to 39 miles on electricity alone, so most town journeys can be completed without using a drop of petrol so long as you can recharge regularly. It’s a quiet and relaxing way to get around.

The small rear window and chunky rear pillars are a bit of pain, though. You can’t see as much while reversing as you would in a Passat Estate. Front and rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera are standard, so it’s not as inconvenient as it otherwise would be.

On the motorway

Volkswagen’s engineers have done a really impressive job with the Arteon’s suspension. It’s just right for motorway driving, forgiving enough to be comfortable but firm enough to feel controlled and stable.

Wind, road and engine noise all stay in the background, and the Shooting Brake’s seats are very comfy on a long drive. That goes double if you upgrade to the fully electric ergoComfort seats.

All the engines have enough performance for motorway driving, although it’s the diesels that are most at home. Both the 150hp and 200hp diesel engines get back up to speed quickly if you are caught behind slower traffic, and they’re more fuel efficient on a long drive than the petrols.

On a twisty road

If B-road fun is one of your priorities when choosing a practical car, then the BMW 3 Series Touring is hard to beat. But the VW Arteon Shooting Brake is one of the best of the rest.

Just as on the motorway, it’s uncanny how well the Arteon combines comfort and control. You can really enjoy yourself without making your passengers feel car sick. Go for the optional adaptive dampers and you can tweak how the suspension responds depending on whether you’re feeling sporty or relaxed. The system works really well, but when the standard set-up is so well judged, you don’t need to spend the extra.

The ultimate Arteon is the R. With 320hp and four-wheel drive, this is an all-weather performance car, disguised as an executive estate. It’s a hoot to drive.

Roomier than you’d expect from the stylish looks, but you can buy more practical estate cars

Sit behind the wheel, and you’ll find electronic adjustment for the seat, even on the more affordable Elegance model. There’s a combination of electrical and manual adjustment, including four-way electric adjustment for the lumbar support. There’s a good range of movement for the wheel, both up and down and in and out, so most folk should find a sound driving position.

The front-seat passenger hasn’t been forgotten, with manual height and lumbar adjustment.

R-Line cars get different seats, designed to stop you sliding around if you corner hard on a favourite back road.

In both these models you can opt for a fully electric adjustment, and cushions that massage you as you drive. These upgraded front seats are standard on the range-topping R.

Space in the back seats

Look at the slope of the roofline and you’d swear that space is going to be tight in the back. Appearances are deceiving, as there’s loads of room in the back seats of the Arteon Shooting Brake.

Even in cars with a panoramic sunroof headroom only gets tight if you are sat in the middle seat, and there’s plenty of legroom for six-foot adults to sit behind someone just as tall in the front.

If you’re travelling with kids rather than grown-ups, the ISOFIX mounting point covers simply push out of the way so fitting a child seat is easy.

The hump in the floor hinders if you are travelling with three passengers in the back, but otherwise there’s not much to complain about.

Boot space

If you want style and practicality, something has to give. Compared with the mechanically similar Volkswagen Passat Estate, boot space drops from 650 litres to 565 litres in the Arteon Shooting Brake. On the other hand, that’s still enough room for no fewer than nine carry-on luggage cases, so you don’t exactly need to travel light. It's also 85 litres more than an Audi A5 Sportback gets.

There are a few things that make the Arteon’s boot less practical than it could be, however. You need to lift bags over a small load lip, which puts more strain on your back than simply sliding them in. With the back seats folded there’s a bit of a ridge in the floor, making it harder to shove luggage to the front of the boot.

Understated and stylish, but some controls are fiddly

The outside of the Arteon Shooting Brake is truly eye catching – you wouldn’t guess this is a Passat in a smarter set of clothes. While the interior doesn’t quite show the same flair, it’s not simply a clone of the Passat’s cabin and there’s an understated sense of style throughout.

Volkswagen wants would-be Mercedes and Volvo buyers to fall in love with the Arteon, so everything you see or touch has a premium feel. There’s plenty of soft-touch plastic and a sense of solidity that’s a cut above most mainstream cars – Passat included.

Every Arteon comes with digital instruments. It’s a great feature and means the driver can tweak the look of the display and the information on show. You can even switch to full-screen sat nav if you want to, which is handy if you are following complex directions but don’t want to take your eyes far from the road.

What’s not so good is the way you change the display. Instead of proper buttons on the steering wheel, Volkwagen has gone with touch-sensitive pads. They’re really fiddly.

You have the same annoying touch-sensitive controls for the air conditioning, which are hard to use while you are driving without being distracted.

At least you don’t have to use the infotainment system to make changes to the temperature and fan settings. Every Arteon Shooting Brake comes with an 8.0-inch colour touchscreen (you can upgrade to a 9.2-inch screen at extra cost). The graphics are sharp, and the system is quick to respond, while shortcut buttons around the outside help with navigation.

Sat nav is included, although Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard if you’d prefer to navigate through your phone. CarPlay connects wirelessly, although you’ll need a USB cable to link up an Android phone.

The car comes with a USB-C connector with a choice of Apple or Android compatibility.

All the engines are clean and efficient considering their power and performance, although running costs do take a bit of a leap in the wrong direction if you choose the high-performance Arteon R.

With its 320hp engine and four-wheel drive, this model returns up to an official 30.7mpg and emits 211g/km of carbon dioxide (CO2).

If you want the cleanest and most efficient Arteon Shooting Brake, take a good look at the plug-in hybrid. The 1.4 TSI eHybrid returns 201.8-256.8mpg in official tests, emitting just 26-33g/km of CO2. You’ll need to recharge regularly to match those numbers in real-world driving, though.

Are you a company car driver? Then the plug-in hybrid is definitely the way to go, thanks to very low benefit-in-kind tax bills. It has its place for private buyers too, so long as you can keep the battery topped up.

But don’t rule out one of the diesels, especially if you cover a lot of miles. The 150hp 2.0-litre TDI can return about 55.4mpg, though the 50.4mpg of the 200hp diesel is still respectable. Go for four-wheel drive and this dips further to 46.3mpg.

The petrol models return worse economy in official tests, with the 150hp version getting 42.2mpg and the 190hp version getting 39.2mpg, but if you do most of your miles in town these will likely be the better option than the diesels, which are typically better-suited to long-distance drives.

Some Arteons cost less than £40,000, some cost more. That becomes important after a year on the road, as the next five car tax bills will be higher if the car costs more than £40,000. The hybrid has the lowest first-year tax rate, while the less powerful version of each fuel type is much cheaper on tax than its more powerful alternative.

The regular Arteon scored five stars out of five when tested by the safety experts at Euro NCAP in 2017, and the Shooting Brake model should be equally safe.

Standard safety equipment includes Front Assist, which is Volkswagen’s name for its autonomous emergency braking system. This will hit the brakes if a collision is about to happen and the driver is not paying attention.

There’s also an Active Bonnet, which lifts in a crash with a pedestrian to keep them away from the engine.

You get enough airbags to raise a sunken ship, with driver, driver’s knee, passenger, side, and curtain ’bags.

Security equipment includes an electronic immobiliser and keyless entry.

Volkswagen doesn’t lead the way in most reliability and customer satisfaction surveys. What’s more, as a niche model the Arteon doesn’t always feature in the results tables. But the current-generation Passat has a pretty solid reputation for reliability, so we wouldn’t expect too many problems with the Arteon Shooting Brake.

Like other Volkswagens, the Arteon comes with a three-year warranty. Mileage is unlimited for the first two years, but restricted to 60,000 miles in year three.