Midsize SUV Comparison: two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Atlas
Volkswagen goes big
Above Average: Unprecedented interior space and a monstrous 6-year/72,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty.
Below Average: More power to stir the animal is at the top of our wish list.
Consensus: Priced responsibly, smartly tooled, and roomier than you can imagine, the all-new Atlas makes a strong case for you and the family to revisit the brand.
Built alongside the Passat at Volkswagen’s factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the two thousand eighteen VW Atlas is the thickest passenger vehicle that Volkswagen sells in the U.S. The company has been hurting for a 3-row SUV for around forever, and now the birth bells are ringing. This fresh Atlas is a big boy. It’s exterior fits well within the norms of a midsize SUV and its competition, but once inwards or once you commence packing it with your cargo, you’ll find an interior that feels and acts like it could fit the entire of the Montana sky and still have enough room left over for a racquetball court. Just sayin’. To budge the mass, the Atlas starts out with a 276-horsepower Three.6-liter V6, to be followed later this year by a 235-horsepower turbocharged 4-cylinder. Both engines will come with 8-speed automatic transmissions.
Pricewise, VW’s fresh SUV sits right on top of its peers, beginning a little over $31,000 and reaching into the thinner air just below the $50,000-foot level for the best-of-everything model. In conjunction with the birth of the 3-row Atlas, however, Volkswagen has another fresh product that’s worth passing out cigars about: a 6-year/72,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty. That’s right, the fresh Atlas is covered with the fresh gold standard of stem-to-stern protection for an SUV.
2018 Volkswagen Atlas
The fresh Atlas has a fairly quiet behavior on the open road, and a long wheelbase that makes the rail very easy-going no matter what form that road is in. Convenient and sustained at high speeds, we noticed that the Atlas was no lightweight in the class, however it was by no means the heftiest player either. Nevertheless, when we dreamed to make a truly good, quick displaying on a freeway onramp or if we needed to get around some lollygagger on the highway, we had to work pretty hard to get the Volkswagen SUV on total steam. On paper, the VW’s 276-horsepower V6 looks good, with two hundred sixty six lb-ft of torque powering up at a low Two,750 rpm and an 8-speed automatic transmission calling the shifts. The reality, however, was truly OK acceleration and 2nd effort, but nothing more.
Midsize SUVs tend not to develop well into race cars, but by the same token, the Germans won’t let a car out of their seize without providing it some sporting character. That’s so true with the VW Atlas. On mountain roads, the Atlas was all game, moving in and out of hard corners and sweepers without scare. As mentioned earlier, our all-wheel-drive Atlas came with a bonus: a “Drive Mode Selection” (DMS) knob on the center console that permitted us to choose varied driving characters for the vehicle. Beyond the DMS’s “Snow,” “Offroad” and “Custom-built Offroad” settings, the default “Onroad” setting gives you four mode choices: Normal, Sport, Eco and Individual. Essentially, each of these modes remaps the engine, transmission and steering to whichever personality you’ve chosen. We loved Sport mode most, even for everyday driving, and we like that the mode you set stays chosen — meaning you don’t have to reset “Sport” (or “Eco,” if that’s your style) every time you restart the car.
In spite of its size, the VW Atlas behaved itself well in the big city. With the Drive Mode Selection’s Sport mode setting engaged, red-light/green-light became a joy game again. The Atlas is big, yes, but it slips cleanly into (and out of) normal-sized parking catches sight of without a lot of back-and-forth fine tuning. If you’re jumpy or wealthy, however, the upper reaches of the Atlas model line — especially the all-wheel-drive SEL Premium version — offers the ultimate assistances like a 360-degree Area View camera, Park Assist (the SUV automatically steers you into a parallel parking space), and Light Assist (your brights will never blind anyone ever again).
A good steering wheel and a comfy, supportive seat are all that a real person needs to be blessed. The fresh Atlas takes care of that, along with universe-class roominess in all three rows. And while the interior styling didn’t suck anybody’s doors off with either innovation or showboating, some very practical, thoughtful benefits emerge even at the base trim level. For example, separate climate controls for the very first and 2nd row are a stand-out. You can spend your way up to all kinds of trim-level-specific lovelies like a 12-speaker Fender audio system, leather, extra rows of USB ports, heated rear seats, and adaptive cruise control, but before you do, take a long look at some of the less-expensive models — you may well find the value model that gives you everything you need to be glad.
The very first truth: The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Atlas infotainment system is a pretty menu-heavy system, but you’ll get used to it. The 2nd, and much more significant truth: Every Atlas is ready for your smartphone. Standard across the line, VW’s MIB II and Car-Net App-Connect welcomes Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (and MirrorLink, if that’s who you are) to give your Atlas instantaneous smartphone interaction (including navigation) and capability. In the base model only, the standard infotainment touch screen is a 6.5-incher. Every stir up from there blesses you with an 8.0-inch, glass-covered screen that produces some of the sharpest pic and color reproduction we’ve seen.
Overall roominess is where the Atlas feels like it’s in a class all by itself. Our 6-foot, 5-inch absurdity-testing editor lounged in the 2nd row’s generous legroom and headroom, and then bounded — bad knee and all — into the third row where he was simply incapable to make himself awkward. Getting in and out of the 2nd row bench seat was velvet slick and effortless for our tall tester. Better than that, however, was that the 2nd row seat folded and slipped dramatically forward to permit our on-staff giant unfettered access to the third row.
The fresh Atlas uses its big-midsize-SUV dimensions to an utterly useful advantage. Even with all three rows of seating in place, it still provides 20.6 cubic feet of cargo capacity behind that third row — that’s more than Chevy’s massive Impala can fit into its trunk. True, loading things in and out of the Atlas is a little tougher than in the lower-liftover Toyota Highlander, but the VW’s seatbacks fold pool-table vapid, and when they’re all down, you can stuff 96.8 cubic feet of stuff into the back — that’s more than a full-size GMC Yukon or Nissan Armada can accommodate. The rear liftback opens broad, too.
The little rain that must fall into the Volkswagen Atlas’ life came down when we checked fuel economy for our comparison test. The combination of weight, all-wheel drive and a short-of-breath V6 engine sent the Atlas to the back of the class for fuel economy. VW’s fresh SUV didn’t fall too hard by comparison, but with an overall excursion fuel-consumption of just a hair over twenty mpg, it’s clear that the Atlas won’t be witnessing the “Best Gasoline Saver” podium any time soon.
Historically, resale values for Volkswagen SUVs have been nothing to crow about. Keep in mind, however, that Volkswagen SUVs have, historically, been a pretty unfocused lot. The fresh Atlas, on the other arm, is very clear about what it is, what its mission is, and where it belongs in the marketplace. While it’s too early to predict resale values for such a fresh vehicle, two things are certain to help the Atlas hold its value. The very first is that some of its greatest hits — roominess, 3-row utility, standard Apple CarPlay compatibility — don’t wear out. The other big plus is the 6-year/72,000-mile warranty — it’s fully transferable, which means that the peace of mind of warranty coverage stays with the car. That’s not the case with some other super-warranties.