Road Trip to Kuala Lumpur: Finding the Arteon's Heart

Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. This route is close to our hearts, linking the capitals of the two nations that once were together and naturally belong as one. Like the iconic routes of the world, like London to Paris or Los Angeles to Las Vegas, this is our version in Southeast Asia.

Alas, politics ensured both countries tread very different paths, and will continue to do so. But let’s count our blessings that we are still able to cross the border relatively easily by car, and it has gotten easier over the years, sans the unpredictable checkpoint traffic. I recall needing to fill up immigration forms when I drove in with my parents as a kid. Now, we just need our passports and various toll cards.

I would be doing this popular ‘grand tour’ route in Volkswagen’s Arteon, which I only had the opportunity to road test in urbanised Singapore thus far. As VW’s proclaimed gran turismo, it would be the perfect opportunity to find the Arteon’s heart. Coincidentally, it would be the press car’s first trip outside of Singapore.

An added dimension is that I made a trip up to Malacca in the Arteon’s close relation, the Passat Variant 2.0 TSI, some six years ago. It would make for a good comparison as both cars are based on the same underpinnings, and the Arteon would eventually replace the Passat range, which would be phased out.

A fully-packed car
I was mildly worried that the Arteon might struggle a little with our party of 4 adults and 1 child, given its four door coupe shape. But the saving grace is its hatch boot, which gives an incredible 563 litres of space. Loading up on the night of the departure is easy, and there was plenty more leftover space for shopping.

How I circumvented the space issue was to place the child seat in the middle of the back row. This relieved the need for a full-sized adult to sit in the middle seat, which really helped make everyone feel more comfortable. Shoulder space remained a premium though, but it was commendable for the Arteon’s size. However, its low roofline posed a bit of an issue for ingress and egress for the older folks, so if you ferry elderly often, this is something important to consider.

With all of us ready, we crossed over via the Tuas Checkpoint, which had virtually zero traffic at 10:30pm. The journey door-to-door from home to our hotel in Puteri Harbour took all of 40 minutes. And we eventually found out why - it was the final match of the World Cup between France and Argentina that night…

A mostly slow crawl to KL
With a departure after breakfast, we aimed to reach Bei Zhan at Malacca for a late lunch, but it was not to be. Traffic on the North-South Highway (NSH) was far worse than expected, and we only reached Yong Peng at lunch time. A combination of heavy holiday traffic, accidents and road works made progress slow, but the Arteon made the trundling as painless as possible. I especially like the massage seats, but the cycle was quite short so I found myself restarting it multiple times! A quick Google search brought us to an interesting Lor Mee restaurant called ATAP-OD at Yong Peng and it was where we took a break.

After lunch, Waze was clever enough to direct me out of the NSH at some stretches where it was near standstill traffic and to drive through kampungs on B-roads. By doing this, I was able to rejoin the NSH after the accident spots with virtually no traffic for some kilometres. It was then that I could test the high speed abilities of the Arteon for the first time.

Needless to say, the car was effortless in getting up to speed and was rock-solid stable, but beyond a certain unprintable speed it did feel like the older engine in the Passat I drove had more to give. Noise levels in the Arteon also seemed higher, perhaps due to the frameless windows. However, the Arteon had the more superior ride and breadth of comfort options thanks to Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC), which allows near infinite adjustments to the car’s suspension. It made a low-slung, sporty car like the Arteon ride like a pampering luxury cruiser.

After what felt like an eternity, I reached Malacca just in time for Bei Zhan’s opening for dinner at around 5pm. After a much needed recharge, we then departed for KL - traffic was mercifully moderate for the most part and we reached our hotel, Sunway Putra, around 8:30 pm. It was a disappointing stay (don't believe the high Google review ratings) - and so we decided to move to Majestic KL for the next night (highly recommended).

A rest day in KL for driver and car
With Grab and Gojek being fairly affordable in KL, we decided to leave the car parked for most of the next day as we headed across various spots to have local fare. Some standouts include Village Park Nasi Lemak, Indiagate at Bangsar and Damansara Uptown Hokkien Mee. I also had a chance to use some of my credit at Blastacars, an awesome chance to vicariously live the life of Chris Harris for just a short moment.

A blast through the night after Pavilion
On the third day, we spent a couple of hours traversing through the sprawling KL highway network that was impressive but at the same time making me wonder if it’s sustainable. More roads were built simply to handle more traffic, so on a whole there was less gridlock than I had imagined. But what if traffic volume continues to increase and there is no more space left to build more roads?

Until that time comes though, KL had plenty of soaring on ramps and sweeping multi-lane highways to drive, which flattered the Arteon’s handling. I was genuinely impressed with the car’s ability to carve corners, it was certainly a step up from the Passat. It was a combination of a lower centre of gravity as well as DCC that kept the car tied down nicely. I’m now really looking forward to how the Arteon R could feel like.

As evening approached, we spent it exploring Pavilion KL to follow the same drill that helped me dodge most of the traffic the last time - leave KL around 9-10pm, and to arrive at the border around 12-1am.

At this point, I have not even topped up any fuel in the Arteon since I left Singapore. Everyone was pleasantly surprised at the cruising range of the car and this truly reflects the cross-continent abilities of this GT. My trip average was approximately 11 km/l. After filling up, I bid farewell to KL and made my way back to the NSH.

It was on this high speed night drive that made me realise how intimidating the Arteon’s front light signature looks to other drivers. Although Malaysian drivers are generally much more polite and aware than Singaporean drivers, they seemed to give way double quick time after seeing the Arteon approaching from the rear-view mirror. It certainly helped us to make quick progress without being held up too much by any traffic.

Before long, we were already at the border at Tuas at around 1am, me still fresh and able to drive further, while some of my passengers were either asleep or surprised we were already at the footsteps of Singapore.

So have I found the Arteon’s heart on this drive? I certainly discovered its superior handling capabilities as well as its ability to cover long distances with not just pace and grace, but also lots of range and boot space. I continue to pine for a more soulful engine rather than just an efficient one that happens to be powerful, but otherwise, an undeniably passionate heart still beats within the Arteon.

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