Has the Volkswagen Group resulted to cannibalism in the wake of adversity? Is it so desperate to redeem its namesake brand that it would risk undermining its more premium colleague, the Audi?
To be fair, the difference between Volkswagens and Audis has never been that great. For the same price, a Volkswagen Golf will come with better kit and similar interior quality as an Audi A3, and it's only when you go crazy on the options list of the latter that the gap becomes obvious.
However, there have always been those tiny little things that made Audis feel more special, more premium, not the least being the badge on their radiator grille. Owning a Volkswagen will never cast the same aura on its driver as an Audi will, and that was the main differentiator between the two.
But look at the 2018 VW Arteon. It is the successor to the Passat CC four-door coupe, but this second generation more than deserves its own name. Well, at least as far as the exterior is concerned because the cabin is pretty much the same as in a regular Passat.
Which isn't entirely a bad thing since that means you get tons of space under that beautifully-shaped body, something most four-door coupes can't brag about. It also comes with a liftback, meaning you can actually take advantage of all that space and load bulky objects with ease.
The Audi A5 Sportback is best described as a mix between a regular two-door A5 coupe and the A4 sedan. It keeps the sloping roofline of the former and the number of doors from the latter for a package that I've always believed to be the best choice out of the three. It really does combine the best out of the two worlds of the A4 and A5.
Put it next to the VW Arteon, however, and it starts to lose some of its visual panache - helped by the bland redesign this latest generation of the model. It's also sensibly more crammed inside, and it demands more money for the same equipment you get standard in the Arteon.
So, what does it have going for it? In one word, refinement. It drives slightly better and easily has the better soundproofing. Unless the microphones were tweaked, you can even sense it in the background noise in the video. There's a heavy throbbing in the Arteon that's just not present in the Audi.
In the end, choosing between the two is no easy task and it might come down to whether you're willing to sacrifice a bit of practicality and exterior design sexiness for the sake of the badge. Mat from Carwow appears to be convinced, but would you be as well?
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
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