2025 Volkswagen Atlas Review

For living large and in charge, consider a 2025 VW Atlas.

Christian Wardlaw | 

Jul 25, 2025 | 8 min read

Christian Wardlaw

The best reason to buy a 2025 Volkswagen Atlas is arguably its size. This family-friendly SUV is huge inside, ready to carry up to seven adults in comfort. Cargo space is nearly class-leading, too. Otherwise, the 2025 Atlas is an unremarkable offering in the midsize three-row SUV segment.

Last year, Volkswagen updated the Atlas, which hasn't received a complete redesign since it debuted for the 2018 model year. The 2024 Atlas got a new engine, upgraded interior, and fresh technology. A Peak Edition trim level joined the lineup, adding an Atlas that looks more rugged and ready for off-roading. With the 2025 Atlas, Volkswagen made minor changes to the standard equipment and paint-color chart.

While the VW Atlas is better than ever, it remains a frustrating juxtaposition of merit and mediocrity. Given the engineering talent toiling within the greater Volkswagen Group and the off-the-shelf availability of user-friendly infotainment technology from Google, there is no good reason the 2025 Atlas isn't stronger, safer, more efficient, and easier to live with.

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About the 2025 VW Atlas Review Vehicle

The 2025 Volkswagen Atlas is available in SE, SE with Technology, Peak Edition, SEL, and SEL Premium R-Line trim levels. The base prices range from the high $30,000s to the mid-$50,000s, including the destination charge to ship the SUV to a dealership from the Chattanooga, Tennessee, assembly plant.

For this Atlas review, I test-drove the SEL Premium R-Line in Southern California. The test vehicle had no options, so the manufacturer's suggested retail price was $54,630, including the $1,425 destination charge. Volkswagen provided the vehicle for this Atlas review.

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The 2025 VW Atlas Has an Appealing Design and Plenty of Room

Last year's design refresh improved the Atlas' appearance, and the SUV looks particularly attractive with the SEL Premium R-Line's sportier styling and 21-inch wheels. That appeal carries through to the cabin, where diamond-stitched leather, simulated wood, piano-black trim, metallic accents, and ambient lighting create an upscale environment. Colorful digital driver and infotainment displays add a modern touch, and the interior materials convey a sense of quality.

Sanity prevails regarding the steering wheel controls. Instead of using gloss-black touch sensors like Volkswagen has in some models, the Atlas boasts real buttons finished in matte black with white markings. Unfortunately, the stereo controls have a metallic finish, making them harder to discern and use. And use them you will, because the infotainment system lacks traditional knobs for volume and radio tuning. There is a touch-sensing volume slider under the screen, but it struggles to accommodate fine adjustments.

To adjust the cabin temperature, you'll tap the controls to either side of the volume slider. Alternatively, you can locate the climate-system menu shortcut between the center air vents, and the controls will then appear on the 12.0-inch infotainment touchscreen. Volkswagen also places the hazard flasher button within the shortcuts. Use it without precision, and you'll wonder why the center screen is showing new information that you didn't request.

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If the Atlas' control layout and functionality are hit or miss, passenger room and comfort are a home run. The interior looks and feels like what you'd find in a full-size SUV, and adults can comfortably enter, exit, and ride for hours in the third-row seat. Additionally, every seating location provides excellent outward visibility, and the test vehicle's panoramic sunroof opened wide to let the outside in.

Volkswagen provides touch-sensing sliders to operate the sunroof and its shade. That approach works because each action requires a single swipe of the overhead control to achieve the desired effect. There is no need to fine-tune your inputs, as with the volume control. Therefore, it is a perfect application of this type of technology. Stereo volume, not so much.

Storage space impresses, and nearly all locations have a liner to reduce noise and vibration related to items placed there. The lower door panel bins effortlessly hold a 32-ounce Hydro Flask. Cargo space is generous, too. You'll find 20.6 cubic-feet behind the third row, 55.5 cu-ft behind the second row, and 96.6 cubes behind the front row. Underfloor storage is stingy, though.

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Aggravating Infotainment but Excellent Driver-Assist Tech

For the 2024 model year, the Atlas received a 12.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with embedded climate controls and touch-sensing temperature and volume adjusters. That design replaced a smaller touchscreen flanked by a volume knob, a radio-tuning knob, and clearly marked menu shortcut buttons. Separately, the climate controls also employed traditional switchgear.

If the infotainment system offered a consistently responsive and accurate conversational digital voice assistant, the lack of physical controls wouldn't be an issue. However, in response to numerous spoken commands and queries, the voice recognition system either couldn't respond due to a lack of internet connectivity or wouldn't respond and failed to provide a reason why. It was maddening.

Furthermore, it seemed as though the technology was trying to predict what I wanted to see and use rather than provide clear pathways to success. For example, when choosing the Navigation tile on the screen's main menu, the tech loaded a primarily black and blank page when I wanted a map. Selecting the radio icon launched a SiriusXM page showing categories instead of a station list. Unless you're new to satellite radio and you're trying to discover music genres and stations, that's unhelpful.

Unsurprisingly, I spent most of my time using the wireless smartphone-mirroring connectivity, bypassing all of VW's nonsense.

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On the flip side of that tech experience, I have nothing but great things to report about the Atlas' IQ.Drive collection of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). It includes the typical ADAS features you might expect.

My test vehicle also had front and rear parking sensors, a surround-view camera, a semi-autonomous parking-assist system, and more. Unfortunately, the SUV's crash-test ratings are nothing to brag about.

Ultimately, I never felt like I had to turn off the Atlas' ADAS to preserve my sanity, which is a favorable marker of accurate, refined, and trustworthy driving aids. Additionally, the standard Emergency Assist system is uncommon in the midsize SUV class. It can bring the Atlas to a safe stop in the event the driver becomes unresponsive.

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The 2025 VW Atlas Has Adequate Performance but a Sloppy Ride

A turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine powers the Atlas. It provides 269 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque, with peak power or torque available across most of the engine's rev range. An eight-speed automatic transmission is standard, and in most Atlases, it feeds that power to a 4Motion all-wheel-drive (AWD) system. The maximum towing capacity is 5,000 pounds.

The Atlas' engine is adequate for the task at hand, but barely. To its credit, VW's engine is smoother and more refined than the turbo fours in some rivals, but it disappoints regarding fuel economy. The official rating of 21 mpg in combined driving is unimpressive, and the observed gas mileage on my Southern California evaluation loop was in V6 territory at 19.2 mpg. Worse, the last Atlas V6 I tested on the same route (in 2023) returned 19.6 mpg.

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You can teach yourself how to surf the turbocharged 2.0-liter's torque, and using the Sport driving mode helps the SUV to feel and sound more lively. However, while the Atlas does need more power, an adaptive damping suspension is higher on my wish list because this SUV lacks impact isolation and simultaneously wallows about on its underpinnings.

My family and I picked up the Atlas after a flight home, and with four people and luggage aboard, the SUV bobbed and weaved up the 405 and 101 freeways to our Los Angeles suburb like it had spent the night in a bar. In urban environments at lower speeds, the suspension reacts sharply and firmly to bumps and cracks. If you travel over a pothole, a recessed maintenance hole cover, or a speed bump, the SUV's front suspension feels brittle and sounds like something is breaking.

Still, there are hints of traditional German driving dynamics. For example, on mountain roads, the Atlas offers predictable handling, responsive steering, and stout brakes, proving more rewarding to drive than some rivals. Still, an adaptive damping suspension would go a long way toward resolving the excessive ride motions and, potentially, the lack of impact isolation.

Christian Wardlaw

Is the 2025 Volkswagen Atlas a Good SUV?

For every appealing trait that should effortlessly sell this family-sized crossover SUV, an unappealing one threatens to cancel it out. The 2025 Volkswagen Atlas should be easier to like, but the compromises mean you should also consider its many rivals. My favorites that provide nearly as much comfort and cargo space include the Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride.

Christian Wardlaw

Chris says his first word was "car." For as long as he can remember, he's been obsessed with them. The design. The engineering. The performance. And the purpose. He is a car enthusiast who loves to drive, but is most passionate about the cars, trucks, and SUVs that people actually buy. He began his career as the editor-in-chief of Edmunds.com in the 1990s, and for more than 30 years has created automotive content for CarGurus, J.D. Power, Kelley Blue Book, the New York Daily News, and others. Chris owns Speedy Daddy Media, has been contributing to Capital One Auto Navigator since 2019, and lives in California with his wife, kids, dog, and 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata.