I hope this post is not just a rant against VW. I hope it may actually help someone else in our situation, or maybe even prevent someone from making a mistake.
We purchased a 2019 Atlas SEL 4-Motion at the end of January, 2020. It immediately exhibited two problems/issues: 1) a grinding noise at low gears, especially when coming to a rolling stop and then accelerating (and up steep hills), and 2) a very jumpy, hesitating shifting pattern in the lower 5 gears. Both issues seemed to be getting slightly worse each month. We contacted VW Customer Care within the first 3 weeks of purchase, and after numerous trips to the dealer, we were told "there is nothing wrong with the vehicle". 30 days later, I established a second Case Number with VW Customer Care, and went through the same process with the same result. VW Customer Care was very responsive and pleasant, but they could not do much for us since there was "nothing technically wrong". They offered a small voucher towards the purchase of another VW, but at this point, my wife and I did not want another VW. We had only owned the car for 5 months and only put 5100 miles on it, but we decided – enough was enough. We did our research, and purchased a wonderful 2020 Hyundai Palisade! We took a hit on the trade-in, but not an awful hit. It was worth it! I won't go into all of the details of out new vehicle, but suffice it to say – it drives like a dream (with more power and way-better mpg's!!). My message to would-be Atlas owners is – pay attention during the test drive. Drive it for 50-100 miles (dealers should let you do this), and make sure you follow your intuition if the car doesn't feel right. I've owned many Volkswagon's, but they haven't produced a top-notch product with the Atlas. The South Korean car companies are doing something (actually A LOT of things) right.
We purchased a 2019 Atlas SEL 4-Motion at the end of January, 2020. It immediately exhibited two problems/issues: 1) a grinding noise at low gears, especially when coming to a rolling stop and then accelerating (and up steep hills), and 2) a very jumpy, hesitating shifting pattern in the lower 5 gears. Both issues seemed to be getting slightly worse each month. We contacted VW Customer Care within the first 3 weeks of purchase, and after numerous trips to the dealer, we were told "there is nothing wrong with the vehicle". 30 days later, I established a second Case Number with VW Customer Care, and went through the same process with the same result. VW Customer Care was very responsive and pleasant, but they could not do much for us since there was "nothing technically wrong". They offered a small voucher towards the purchase of another VW, but at this point, my wife and I did not want another VW. We had only owned the car for 5 months and only put 5100 miles on it, but we decided – enough was enough. We did our research, and purchased a wonderful 2020 Hyundai Palisade! We took a hit on the trade-in, but not an awful hit. It was worth it! I won't go into all of the details of out new vehicle, but suffice it to say – it drives like a dream (with more power and way-better mpg's!!). My message to would-be Atlas owners is – pay attention during the test drive. Drive it for 50-100 miles (dealers should let you do this), and make sure you follow your intuition if the car doesn't feel right. I've owned many Volkswagon's, but they haven't produced a top-notch product with the Atlas. The South Korean car companies are doing something (actually A LOT of things) right.
