Oh, hey, I didn’t see you there! Please, come on in, have a seat on one of these luxuriant and oddly damp bearskin rugs and get comfortable. I’m here in America’s warm hat, Canada, on Volkswagen’s dime because they’d like me to drive their new Atlas Cross Sport and, I bet, say nice things about it. We’ll see about that, VW, but I figured I should see if there’s anything in particular you’d like to know about the Atlas’ slightly smaller and more vain brother.
The Atlas Cross Sport is a member of a relatively new automotive category of SUVs with more steeply raked, fastback-like rears, sacrificing a bit of practicality on the altar of looking slightly sportier. It seems to be mostly the same as the three-row Atlas to the C-pillar (well, the front end styling is a bit different), and makes do with two rows only.
It’s going to be a bit cheaper than the Atlas, and have the same selection of engines—a 2-liter four and a 3.6-liter V6. I’m not too sure of what else is different about it yet, but that’s why I’m here, right?
It’s worth thinking about the name a bit, too. It’s called “Cross Sport” not because, as I originally assumed, because it’s just so very cross at you and the foolish nonsense you do, but because VW has a sort of history with appending “cross” to car names for different versions.
Usually, though, it’s been for ruggedized versions of other cars with AWD of some sort. Actually VW has a shocking number of “Cross” versions of cars includuing the CrossFox, Cross Golf, the T-Cross, a freaking Cross Caddy, and even a Cross Up!.
Like any teenage hardcore Catholic or dedicated Goth, VW is really, really into crosses.
In this case, though, the Cross formula seems to be a bit reversed—instead of a chunkier, more rugged version of a given car, the Atlas Cross Sport seems to be a sleeker, leaner, and sportier (at least looking) version of the baseline car.
I’ll ask and see if anyone at VW thinks of it as the Type III Fastback to the Atlas’ Type III Squareback. I bet they’ll appreciate that.
So, want to know anything in particular? Can the glove box fit a whole, well-folded party sub? Do the floor mats have a pleasing aroma? How’s it feel to bite the steering wheel? Will it do a handbrake turn? How’s the resonance of the turn indicator click?
Everything is valid! Ask away, and I’ll see what I can find out! Unless I forget to look at this!
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