“Approach the Arteon as a car that will drive as aggressively as it looks and you’ll be disappointed.” Words uttered by, err, us when we drove VW’s swoopily styled saloon last year.

But that was a turbodiesel version, and the Arteon you see here is a freshly revealed petrol with almost 270bhp and a 0-100kph time that trumps the Golf GTI’s.

We suspect it’s not going to suddenly handle like a cut-price E63 AMG, but VW’s sentiment is still very much welcome. The Arteon 2.0 TSI possesses 268bhp and 350Nm, yielding its 5.6sec 0-100kph time and a limited 250kph top speed. A proper autobahn express, then.

Four-wheel drive and an automatic gearbox are standard, and you’ve an option of two trims, the cheaper Elegance that majors on poshness, and the slightly more expensive R-Line that majors on bone-jarringly large alloy wheels. Looks good though, huh?

Both dip under the £40,000 (RM212,000) mark, crucially helping cut their tax bill. The R-Line just scrapes through at £39,850 (RM211,700). Which is still probably rather a lot for a VW, but at least it’s one with some decent performance now. This or a Kia Stinger GT S? Or would you rather just play it safe with a BMW 3 Series?