Back in June 2022 I considered purchasing Superb mk3 280, Arteon R or Kia Stinger. As the Stinger was only RWD, I focused on Arteon and Superb. After some time, I have decided to go with Superb because was about £7k cheaper and most imporatntly everything could be controlled with buttons, no stupid touch bars, to change temperature, etc. Long story short, I collected my Superb L&K 280 in March 2023. I have put 1200 miles so far, and believe it or not, I am very disapointed with this car. DSG is probably the biggest disaster as it is lazy, laggy, slow and stupid. If driving in Normal mode, getting to the roundabout/junction, unless I completly stop the car and give it 2-3 seconds, the car will set of with 2nd gear engaged, no need to tell you how much strain you put on clutches. Second annoyance is how quickly the gears are shifted to 5/6. If you are going around a big roundabout and you get to 25-30mph you will see 5th if not 6th gear engaged. Why is it annoying - imagine driving on a road with speed limit of 70mph. And here is the roundabout, so you slow down, go around and you want to accelerate to 70mph but your car is already in 6th gear at ~35mph, and if you push the accelerator down, nothing happenes, so you press it even further, and nothing happenes, and you press harder and all of the sudden car goes like crazy... The only solution to this is to drive it always in Sport mode. I won't mention stupid Start/Stop because I always switch it off. And when it comes to predictive ACC, I simply switched it off because the car will read ANY sign in its sight, and if you are on a motorway doing 70mph but on the slip road there is 20mph speed limit, the car will hang you in your seatbelts and another driver will make a garage of your back. I would imagine that Octavia mk4 is no less annoying.
Back in 2012 I purchased brand new Superb mk2, and was very happy with it. As a result I got another Superb but I start to hating it. I do not wan to put any boxes, or devices that are suppose to "improve" ride quality for number of reasons. Sadly this experience aligns with what I read on forums. The only thing that is not as bad as I read on forums is DCC, which for the time being is OK.
And thus the question about you hating Arteon as after owing the Superb I cannot explain how happy I am that I saved £7k and did not go with Arteon. And still I am extremly upset that Stinger was not available with 4x4 but if someone does not mind 370hp on rear wheels only, I'd stay clear from VAGs and got this Kia.