Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake 1.4 TSI eHybrid R Line DSG 5d Owner Review

It's an achingly beautiful car, which on a dry, warm day on the motorway soaks up mile with ease, but that's where it ends.

Having had to choose a company car and test drive just as the COVID lockdowns of 2021 ended, I was only able to test drive a 2L petrol...lesson learnt; always test drive the car you are actually ordering, as the eHybrid is a very different animal, in all the wrong ways...

It's on old car in a posh frock; the 1.4 hybrid powertrain and 6 speed gearbox feels dated and under-powered, and poorly suited for an executive car weighing not far shy of two tons.

In my opinion, VW haven't taken into account the extra weight of the hybrid battery and motor, with the car feeling overweight and not inspiring any confidence on wet roads; not long after getting the car, the lease company fitted all-weather tyres as it would lose traction easily in the wet and I complained that it felt unsafe...it still loses grip in the wet, so I've had to adjust my driving style accordingly to compensate.

The brakes are wooden and under-powered, other people who have driven it have asked what's wrong with them...

The touch sensitive controls on the steering wheel are dangerous; you have to look down from the road to figure out what buttons you're pressing to, set the cruise control, adjust climate control settings, and randomly switch on the steering wheel heating.

This was especially bad before a recent OTA software update, which cured the problem of cruise control automatically changing speed whilst driving based on what it thought the speed limit was. It still randomly slams the brakes on whilst driving as it thinks I'm on a roundabout or a sharp bend when I'm driving past a motorway or A-road exit, but I've learnt to react quickly and mutter "This f*cking car!" when it happens.

The assist systems didn't work properly for almost 6 months, 2 years into owing it, with one dealer having 3-4 attempts to fix it, before telling me that they were working fine and to contact VW UK if I wasn't happy...The lease company instructed me to try another dealer who fixed the problems first time by removing the bumpers to clean two years' worth of grime from the radars and performing yet another software update.

Infotainment system is buggy, takes an age to boot up and the DAB radio hasn't worked properly from day one (it's currently in for another software update in a bid to fix it).

There are squeaks and rattles from the interior, and the garage are hopefully getting the lease company to authorise two new front door cards; the passenger side door has been taken apart three times since new because of a rattle/buzz and now the grab handle's broken and is loose, and the driver's door grab handle plastic is breaking up and falling apart!

It feels like the car was quickly chucked together with bits from VW's parts bin, and with a design team who wanted to make the interior feel modern by removing all the buttons and replacing with cool looking touch sensitive buttons, which are just dangerous to use when driving.

Can't wait for the 5-year lease to end and get shot of this poorly thought out piece of junk - and would never buy a VAG group car again, I'm just thoroughly disappointed with it.