There could be so many nice word games on the subject. "I'll be back", "Number 6 is alive", "The dead say live longer" and what do I know. Sponge over it, because it seems, they all fit: The VR6 engine - a legend in the VAG network - seems to be back despite all the prophecies of doom. Some loved him, some hated him, attributed to him Sauf attributes, but the urge of foolishness triumphed: In the Volkswagn Arteon R, the faded VR6 engine is to become a turbocharged muscle man. Would be too bad about the dynamic shape, if the Wolfsburg flagship would not get an adequate drive.
The legendary VR6 for the top model
The colleagues from the British "Drive Tribe"Want it from their gas-sick friends of"Car Throttle"Know: the Volkswagen Arteon should come as R and carry a supercharged VR6 engine under its profiled hood. All we know: Hey's called ... um, no, that was something other.
As confirmed by the VW Arteon product manager Martin Hood, the power of the sedan coupe in the R variant come from a six-cylinder engine in VR arrangement. The extra small angle of the V6 makes it almost a series engine and is responsible for the inimitable sound. The fanbase knows what is meant.
The Audi A7 of the little man?
First, after the VR6 was banned from the Golf R and other models, it was believed that the near-end of the historic drive was over. To be dominant were (and are) the electrification wave and the downsizing with turbo and compressor doping, as one could have kept a potashy Hubraum giant in the portfolio. 3,6 liters of displacement in the last expansion stage and a power output of around 300 PS, which developed linearly, were simply no longer in vogue enough. Currently, the last free-breathing counterpart is still in the VW Atlas which is intended for the Chinese market.
Fortunately - for all PS lovers - Volkswagen remembered: The VR6 is apparently transplanted into the engine compartment of the Volkswagen Arteon R, but not without being given a few decisive modifications. As Car Throttle wants to know, the unit should not be a pure vacuum, but thanks to turbocharging to 400+ HP. The power transmission is to get a DSG gearbox and send the power to all fours. This means that propulsion is guaranteed in almost every situation.
Whether the Arteon but actually to Audi RS7 of the little man is questionable. After all, the current top model, the Volkswagen Arteon 2.0 TSI 4Motion, already not cheap and costs more than 50.000 Euro. Can the sound and turbo boost of the new Volkswagen Arteon R make you forget that? Or are we witnessing the last rise of a relic from the "good old days"?
Source: Drive Tribe
Photos: Jens Stratmann