VW Atlas/Cross Sport

[silverstrom]

Off topic for a bit, if you don't mind.

Anyone here own a VW Atlas or Atlas Cross Sport? I'm thinking very seriously of buying one now and would like to hear from owners regarding their ownership experience before I lay down $55k Cdn. Any problems or concerns? Happy with the vehicle?

Many thanks

[lost1750GTV]

No experience with them but as you must be one who enjoys driving, I'd suggest taking an alfa stelvio for a test drive. More of an enthusiasts vehicle by design.

[silverstrom]

The closest Alfa dealer is 3 hours away. It would take an entire day just to get an oil change. Not interested in traveling long distances to service a daily driver. On top of that it only has a 3000 Lb towing capacity, which make it useless for me.

[Speed Freak]

Alfa = nice cars but it's Italian. They have a lot of issues, electrics and engine.
We warned a friend but he bought one.
He sold it 2 years later with a big loss because the problems never ended - including a new cylinder head.

I don't know the VW in detail as it's not available in Europe but what I have found on the internet it uses the VR6 or the 2l TSI engine.
The VR6 is a bit special, interesting engine design but the camchain needs service if it starts to get loud.

The 2l... don't know which model year?
VW gasoline engines do have some issues.
Camchain and oil consumption.
I think the new engine generations went back to a belt drive.
But there is a reason why we drive Diesel here - except some years between 2000 and 2010 where this VW engines are good (as long as it has no twin turbo)

[lost1750GTV]

Both valid points for you. silverstrom. My bikes are comfortably under 3000 lbs, so my alfa is fine.
Having owned them alfas for about 40 of the last 45 years, I'd have to disagree with speedfreak 's anecdotal summary - and there is no shortage of people with issues with an example of anything made.
Honda has 3 big recalls this week

[silverstrom]

I don't know the VW in detail as it's not available in Europe but what I have found on the internet it uses the VR6 or the 2l TSI engine.

I've seen them for sale in Europe, new and used Michael.

https://www.ooyyo.com/germany/used-volk ... 677103EF4/

When I lived in Germany I had possession of a new Alfa Spider in 1991 for a short period. I drove it all over northern Europe. Great fun, but driving fast with top down meant parts were falling off and lost forever. Terrific little car, but questionable build quality. No manufacturer is exempt from build quality issues. The past 10 years have been a nightmare for Korean 4 cylinder engine owners. VW's diesel fiasco, and on and on. It it has wheels, you're going to have problems with it.

[lost1750GTV]

In all my years with alfas, going back to 76, an alfetta coupe, sedan, spider and gtv, and now a stelvio quadrifoglio, I've never had anything fall off. That includes a rental 4 cyl version of the 164 driven through Italy, and a brea in the uk.
The 164 was missing a hubcap, so maybe it had previously fallen off.
A 1995 bmw 325 was the most unreliable car I've ever had, designed in radiator issues. Other than that a nice car, but I would have bought a 164 instead if they weren't fwd, which I detest. OK for the rentals, but a year with a Saab 99 turbo kinda convinced me it was just plain wrong.

[silverstrom]

I'm just lucky I guess. I lost 'A' pillar trim, parts of the tonneau cover, and other bits. Maybe you're not supposed to drive fast with the top down?

[Speed Freak]

Yes, you can get everything in Germany. There are enough dealers which are specialized to import cars from the US.
But it's not officially sold here.

The VR6 engine is quite old, I think the biggest issues should be sorted out.

What I don't like is that VW is using a lot of "innovative" new technology.
Means a lot of expensive components which can't be repaired, you need to replace whole assemblies which are expensive instead of cleaning or replacing small cheap parts.

And they have technical issues... Some diesel engines need new cylinder heads at around 150000km before they switched to common rail technology.
Gasoline engines somewhere between 2005 and 2015 need a new camchain all 60-70000km otherwise it jumps over...

That's the reason why I decided not to buy a VW as family car replacing our VW Lupo.

Now we have a 2014 Hyundai i30 - by the way a 4-cylinder diesel - which doesn't have any issues since 3 years and 40000km.

Most important rule when buying cars: NEVER buy one from the first production year of a model.
Always take one of the last before they switch to a new model.

My cars:
VW T4, built from 1990 to 2003, mine is 2003
The 2,5l 5 cylinder diesel had massive issues in the beginning (production started 1996). Up to 1999 a lot of them died because of damaged water pump bearings which lead to damaged cam belts.
Issue was sorted out and now this engines are reliable (500000km+)

Hyundai I30 GD 2012-2014, mine is 2014
In the beginning there were some quality issues, rust in places where you don't expect thar a car can have rust.
I have checked some used 2012 and 2013 models all with the same issues.
On the 2014 they solved the main issues, only minor things are still there.

[lost1750GTV]

Interesting, they are made in the U.S. and China, and sold pretty much worldwide - except Europe. Wiki.
Perhaps EU tariffs make it more pricey than a big audi?
The identical alfa loses half its tow rating when crossing the ocean, probably more U.S. warranty policies than nhtsa testing vs European tow standards.
You would think the European preference for clean diesel would be over now that we know they never were, and it had more to do with governments wanting to import cheaper fuel.
The "most important rule" has some validity, who wants 1st year rz when they know it had to be changed? Of course it wasn't long before last year anyway haha
Well tested but obsolete model vs fresh design killed the brit bike industry ....

[MK]

The Atlas isn't sold here officially because of the EU average fuel consumption regulations and massive fines if you don't meet that requirement.
Just to give you an idea: being 5g above the CO2 target would cost VW about a billion Euros.

People surly would rather spend 20k less on an Atlas instead of buying the Tuareg and give a shit on the higher fuel consumption. Unfortunately from the manufacturers sight you'd rather sell the expensive model that doesn't add that negative to your average...


Actually the new VW EA288 Evo 4 cylinder Diesel is as clean as the advertising promised.
Several magazines tested for example particle emissions. They were usually less than the air in the environment which means the engine filters the air.
The NOx emissions are far below current legal limits and German authorities (KBA) found absolutly no illegal defeat devices and believe me - they now use very big magnifying glasses.

You say that's unbelievable? That what I thought when I saw the first presentation for that engine, just the other way round like "nobody will believe that".
But tell me how they should have cheated to the US Monitor Larry D. Thompson who worked for 3 years in the headquarters and turned EVERY pebble upside down?

The trick is VW did it technically right this time by carrying a whole chemical laboratory under your car (3 catalysts, high exhaust gas return rates plus a working SCR injection.
The downside to being clean is that the price has gone up around 1500 Eur and reliability of the system is questionable. OBD will enforce a workshop or engine won't start if any emission issue occurs.

Just another piece of our lives where the Greens took out all the fun.

[lost1750GTV]

Greens take the fun and $.
Tesla profit is due to selling credits for their all "zero" emissions to companies like FCA.
Subsidized at every level, everyone else pays for it.