SHOOTING FOR THE STARS (some text hidden) SECTIONED_new_volkswagenarteonshootingbrake_2021

By Jonathan Crouch

Introductionword count: 61

Sold between 2020 and 2024, Volkswagen's sleek Arteon Shooting Brake offers a sleek, yet still very practical alternative to style-conscious compact executive segment models from this era like Audi's A5 Sportback and BMW's 4 Series Gran Coupe. It's a high class stylised estate that doesn't need a ridiculously expensive boot lid badge to stand out. And a very desirable one indeed.

Modelsword count: 10

5dr Estate (1.5 TSI, 1.4 PHEV, 2.0 TSI, 2.0 TDI)

Historyword count: 191

The Shooting Brake. It's the kind of upper class, stylised sports estate coupe first popularised by three-door models in the '70s like the Volvo P1800ES and the Jaguar XJS-based Lynx Eventer. A concept then resurrected in 2015 by a Mercedes with the CLS Shooting Brake and subsequent CLA Shooting Brake models. In 2020, we got this car, the Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake, like its predecessors, setting out to combine the visual elegance of a coupe with the practicality of an estate. If you happen to be familiar with the Volkswagen Arteon at all, it'll be as a Fastback, a five-door Gran Turismo-like body style that at this Shooting Brake model's launch continued to be sold alongside it. The Shooting Brake model aimed to broaden the Arteon's appeal, which back in 2020 needed doing because by then, four years on from original launch, it hadn't sold in very large numbers. The Shooting Brake joined the range as the line-up was facelifted in mid-2020 and, as with its Fastback stablemate, could be had in conventional guise, as a PHEV eHybrid plug-in or as a sporting Arteon R model. It was discontinued in 2024.

What You Getword count: 516

The idea here, said Marco Pavone, Head of Volkswagen Exterior Design back in 2020, was for this functional five-door design to create the impression of a sportscar. So the stylists significantly pulled in the roof section and with it, the side glass panels towards the rear. While at the same time, widening the wheel housings to give this Shooting Brake design a more powerful shoulder section. In terms of pavement presence, it's all quite effective. And in profile? Well in Shooting Brake form, this Arteon body style is completely unique from the B-pillars backwards, though the width and length dimensions remain the same as the those of the Fastback hatch. The roof height's a little different though, this estate version sitting 19mm taller with a flatter, longer roofline that creates this variant's unique rear end with its tapering glasshouse and prominent D-pillars. At the back, you get an angled tailgate with a neat, subtle roof spoiler and a GPS antennae just beyond. At the wheel, you'll find premium build quality that's easily the equal of anything you'd get in a rival Audi or a BMW. But if you're used to those brands, you might not especially like the way that the superbly supportive 'ergoComfort' seats position you a little higher in front of the three-spoke leather-stitched wheel. Still that's useful for maximising rear three-quarter vision, which is better than it usually is on 'Gran Turismo'-style models of this type, despite the narrow rear window and the thick, steeply-angled rear pillars. It certainly all feels much classier than the kind of sportily-trimmed Passat Estate model that many customers for this model might previously have been considering. And here, you get as standard Volkswagen's customisable 'Active Info Display', a 12.3-inch TFT screen with an almost infinitely customisable layout of crystal clear virtual graphics. Anything the instrument binnacle can't tell you will almost certainly be covered on - or duplicated by - the 8.0-inch centre-dash 'Discover' infotainment monitor. A 'Discover Pro' 9.2-inch screen size upgrade was available from new as an option, as was a Head-up display. In the rear, there's 48mm more headroom than you get in the Fastback five-door hatch version of this model. Plus on plusher variants, you get a much larger panoramic glass roof too. There's 1,016mm of legroom. And the detail stuff's well taken care of. Out back, you only get a powered tailgate if you avoid entry-level trim and once it's risen, you're faced with a large 565-litre space in this Shooting Brake model, which (a touch disappointingly) is a scant 2-litres more than is offered by the trunk of the five-door Fastback hatch. Blame that swept-back roof line. Still, apparently up to eight carry-on suitcases will still fit in just fine - though not if you've chosen the e-Hybrid version, in which carriage capacity falls by 110-litres due to the battery pack beneath the floor. If that's not enough, then if you fold the rear seats in the conventionally engined models, you'll free up as much as 1632-litres of space - which is 75-litres more than you'd get in the Fastback hatch.

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