I was most surprised by what was under the hood. Now I can say that Volkswagen has fixed that with the 2024 model.
The only part that I felt was not really there was the interior, which had inconsistent use of materials ranging from harsh plastic to nice leather. It had tech that I could only dream of my Touareg having, it held the road well, and it accelerated to 60 mph nearly as fast as my V10, but without the maintenance nightmares of keeping a V10 diesel alive. To my surprise, the Atlas Cross Sport was an incredibly competent crossover. The Atlas replaced the Touareg in America, so part of my drive with the Cross Sport involved evaluating if the Atlas felt like a Touareg with the off-road capability removed. As many of you know, I own two first-generation Volkswagen Touaregs, one with a 3.2-liter VR6 and the other with Volkswagen’s mighty 5.0-liter V10 TDI.
