VW News: Arteon On Its Way to U.S.... Finally.

[Drew Dowdell]

The delayed launch of the Volkswagen Arteon may be nearing its end. MotorTrend is reporting that the Chairman of Volkswagen has said that the Arteon will hit U.S. shores this year. 

The original cause of the delay was a backlog of certifying vehicles under the World Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP).  The Arteon in the U.S. will use a 268 hp 2.0 liter Turbo from Audi that had yet to be certified.  VW sells the Arteon in Europe using a different engine.

The Arteon debuted at the 2018 Chicago Auto Show and is priced above the Passat in the Volkswagen lineup. 

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[G. David Felt]

Cool that there will be a decent size 4 door car coming as an option for those that are not into the CUV/SUV thing.

[ccap41]

That's one good looking car. 

[Paolino]

I love it!  Not a fan of the color, but I love the style.

[Frisky Dingo]

On the one hand, I'm glad to see a truly new sedan hitting the market. Especially one as great looking as this. And I think it will offer a pretty strong value quotient, as well.

On the other hand, I feel compelled to point out that this should have been on sale a year ago. Especially considering VW's habit of completely botching the roll out of new models to dealers. With the inevitable low build numbers, port issues, transportation hang ups, and mismanagement of allocations that are the VW norm, it will be the end of summer before there is any inventory and people can drive them and reasonably get cars spec'd to their liking. By that point, the novelty will have worn off. Couple that to the fact that VW will be stingy on incentives and it will lease like crap, and it is not a recipe for sales success.

Also, I've driven it, and people wanting a though and through sport sedan aren't going to be captivated by it. Not trying to be cynical, but I foresee this car suffering the same fate as the CC. It will be fresh for a short while- which VW will squander- then the enthusiasm will fade and along with it, the interest and sales. I hope they prove me wrong, but my guess is this car is going to be DOA.

Edited March 5, 2019 by Frisky Dingo

[regfootball]

will be cool to see how the engine performs.

[Paolino]

If priced right, I'd actually consider something like this.

[Drew Dowdell]

1 hour ago, Paolino said:

If priced right, I'd actually consider something like this.

I think you'd miss the power you currently have, or would have in a LaX. 

[smk4565]

It has some style to it but aren’t these like $40k?  I feel like they will over price themselves like Kia did with the Stinger.

[riviera74]

1 hour ago, smk4565 said:

It has some style to it but aren’t these like $40k?  I feel like they will over price themselves like Kia did with the Stinger.

Sad part is that you can rarely get a RWD sports sedan (from anyone, even KIA) for less than $40K these days brand new.  As for the Arteon, it should have come to our shores TWO years ago.

[Potluck]

It looks pretty good, but it needs more engine than that. 

[Drew Dowdell]

2 hours ago, Potluck said:

It looks pretty good, but it needs more engine than that. 

This. Needs a V6.

[Paolino]

15 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I think you'd miss the power you currently have, or would have in a LaX. 

It's funny, I don't use the power I have or had in a LaCrosse, but I definitely appreciate the smoothness and refined nature of a V6.  I just don't like 4-cylinders honestly.

[smk4565]

It is front drive 4-cylinder car, it doesn’t need a V6 or rear drive it needs a lower price. People aren’t paying big money for a VW as proven by Phaeton and the CC had low sales too.

Also the 2020 Sonata looks like a better version of this, in tax the Sonata puts the Arteon to shame, VW better have discounts ready to roll when the Sonata goes on sale.

[Drew Dowdell]

4 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

It is front drive 4-cylinder car, it doesn’t need a V6 or rear drive it needs a lower price. People aren’t paying big money for a VW as proven by Phaeton and the CC had low sales too.

Also the 2020 Sonata looks like a better version of this, in tax the Sonata puts the Arteon to shame, VW better have discounts ready to roll when the Sonata goes on sale.

I would expect the Arteon to have much better NVH. Non-Genesis Hyundais tend to have some refinement issues from their engines, but without the information on the Sonata being released, we'll just have to wait and see what they did with the powertrain. 

[riviera74]

2 hours ago, smk4565 said:

It is front drive 4-cylinder car, it doesn’t need a V6 or rear drive it needs a lower price. People aren’t paying big money for a VW as proven by Phaeton and the CC had low sales too.

Phaeton especially.  Since when can VW price a common car at Audi pricing?!  I have never understood why the Phaeton was priced to be a bargain-basement Audi A8.  The CC on the other hand needed a $5K price cut for those to sell.

[Robert Hall]

31 minutes ago, riviera74 said:

 Since when can VW price a common car at Audi pricing?!  I have never understood why the Phaeton was priced to be a bargain-basement Audi A8. 

Nothing different than GM's tactics with Chevy and Cadillac pricing....i.e. Blazer and XT4/5, Tahoe/Suburban and Escalade..

[oldshurst442]

The difference though with the VW Phaeton was that the Phaeton was truly a top tier luxury car. 

It was engineered like one.  

The price was less expensive than the equivalent Audi A8 or Bentley GT (all 3 shared the same platform) was

1. VW was the "cheaper" brand. The people's car brand...(which marketing wise, the Phaeton failed not because it was a bad car...au contraire, it was a FANTASTIC car, but it was an oxymoron to sell a people's car  to the 1%ers, even though the price tag was less expensive than the 1%er  equivalent competition...but Pieche had visions of grandeur that just because VW had success with the Passat being on the Audi A4 platform and having success making VW enter a higher priced niche than ever before, he thought that a Phaeton priced less than a comparable Audi, Bimmer and Mercedes, VW could enter that realm...he did have the car, the Phaeton WAS the real deal, VW was and to this day is STILL not ready to sell 1%er vehicles...) ) 

2.  The VW had steel body shell construction while the Audi and Bentley had  aluminium body shell construction. 

[smk4565]

4 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I would expect the Arteon to have much better NVH. Non-Genesis Hyundais tend to have some refinement issues from their engines, but without the information on the Sonata being released, we'll just have to wait and see what they did with the powertrain. 

A V6 should be making in the 350 hp range now, that would be a lot for this car and push the price even higher.  VW's V6 makes 276  hp,  8 more than the 4-cylinder.  Since their V6 sucks, I think that is why the 4-cylinder is here.  Plus I imagine VW wants to steer people wanting V6 power into an Audi to make more profit.  

Estimated base price of those car is $35-40,000, VW is insane.

1 hour ago, oldshurst442 said:

The difference though with the VW Phaeton was that the Phaeton was truly a top tier luxury car. 

It was engineered like one.  

The price was less expensive than the equivalent Audi A8 or Bentley GT (all 3 shared the same platform) was

1. VW was the "cheaper" brand. The people's car brand...(which marketing wise, the Phaeton failed not because it was a bad car...au contraire, it was a FANTASTIC car, but it was an oxymoron to sell a people's car  to the 1%ers, even though the price tag was less expensive than the 1%er  equivalent competition...but Pieche had visions of grandeur that just because VW had success with the Passat being on the Audi A4 platform and having success making VW enter a higher priced niche than ever before, he thought that a Phaeton priced less than a comparable Audi, Bimmer and Mercedes, VW could enter that realm...he did have the car, the Phaeton WAS the real deal, VW was and to this day is STILL not ready to sell 1%er vehicles...) ) 

2.  The VW had steel body shell construction while the Audi and Bentley had  aluminium body shell construction. 

Correct, the Phaeton was a very well engineered car, but so was an A8, S-class, 7-series, Lexus LS, etc.  They are all top end cars and only one of them said Volkswagen on it.

Likewise with the Toureg, those sold really low because it cost as much as or more than a BMW X5 or Mercedes ML at the time they brought it out.  

[Drew Dowdell]

A 275hp V6 is always better than a 275hp 4 cylinder... 

[regfootball]

8 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

This. Needs a V6.

with the specs it says, it should be a 6 second car.  I'm not sure it needs a v6.  Look to the Passat 3.6 to see the times on that, unless we mean turbo v6.

28 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

A 275hp V6 is always better than a 275hp 4 cylinder... 

Regal 4 is a better car than the v6 AWD GS.  GS is marginally faster, but the four cylinder is better in that car.  It depends if the v6 is any good or not.  GM's 3.6 is sort of not mind blowing.

[Drew Dowdell]

V6 engines are smoother and have better power delivery characteristics, no lag waiting for turbos to spool.  In GM's case, the v6 can also run in 4 cylinder mode at highway speeds.

[regfootball]

jUST SAYIN

vw

 

BUICK

 

 

 

this WILL SELL THESE THINGS

 

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/vw-arteon-trunk-is-big-enough-for-a-ukrainian-brunette-to-rest-in-121846.html

 

 

 

Edited March 8, 2019 by regfootball

[Frisky Dingo]

On 3/6/2019 at 4:55 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

A 275hp V6 is always better than a 275hp 4 cylinder... 

Definitely NOT always, no. The 2.0T was the right move. The VR6 had it's time, it needs to be phased out now. And it is, in fact. VW needs a 3.0 Turbo VR6 in the worst way. Rumor has it they are working on one.

[regfootball]

nope they're working on EV's hahahahah

[Frisky Dingo]

4 minutes ago, regfootball said:

nope they're working on EV's hahahahah

They still had and have gas engines in the works.

[regfootball]

FWD only?

[Drew Dowdell]

22 hours ago, Frisky Dingo said:

Definitely NOT always, no. The 2.0T was the right move. The VR6 had it's time, it needs to be phased out now. And it is, in fact. VW needs a 3.0 Turbo VR6 in the worst way. Rumor has it they are working on one.

I'm not saying not to put a 2.0T in vehicles, but I prefer a V6 for the smoothness and better power delivery. 

[ykX]

On 3/9/2019 at 10:08 AM, Drew Dowdell said:

I'm not saying not to put a 2.0T in vehicles, but I prefer a V6 for the smoothness and better power delivery. 

Absolutely agree.  My wife and I recently drive tested few crossovers for her and there is a huge difference in feel between turbo fours and V6s.

[Potluck]

VW's V6 isn't that great anymore, but a new V6 for this would be a good upgrade. 

[Drew Dowdell]

20 hours ago, Potluck said:

VW's V6 isn't that great anymore, but a new V6 for this would be a good upgrade. 

They don't even offer the VR6 in the Passat anymore, but when it left it was good for 280 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque... not bad at all.