2018 Volkswagen Atlas MPG Check-in: 79 Days, 2,600 Miles
CARS.COM — Time flies. Nearly three months has passed since we bought our Best of 2018 car, a Volkswagen Atlas. But here we are, 79 days and more than 2,600 miles since we took delivery of an all-wheel-drive Atlas SEL. In that span, we’ve logged 10 fill-ups and road-tripped from Cars.com’s Chicago offices to southeast Michigan and central Missouri. Naturally, we’ve also lost dozens of hours to gridlock in America’s ninth-worst city for commuters. Our dreams are all brakelights these days.
The Atlas, it turns out, is one thirsty companion.
Related: 2018 Volkswagen Atlas 2.0T Quick Spin: Does It Really Need a V-6?
Granted, the Atlas earned our top accolade despite its gas mileage — one of the family SUV’s few weaknesses. Our all-wheel-drive Atlas SEL’s engine gets an EPA-estimated fuel economy rating of 19 mpg with its 3.6-L V6 engine specs, a figure many popular competitors beat. We trailed the EPA estimate further still, with fuel economy averaging just 18.3 mpg over 2,634 miles with the three-row SUV (excluding the odometer’s 73 miles when we drove off the lot).
Those miles in the Volkswagen came with numerous fill-ups. The Atlas’ tank holds a healthy 18.6 gallons, but the trip computer seems conservative on its warnings. On one fuel stop, the computer warned of just 20 miles’ range as we pulled up to the pump, but the Atlas took just 14.7 gallons of gas. That means the vehicle’s warning came with some 4 gallons left.
2018 Volkswagen Atlas SEL AWD
Long-Term Mileage
- EPA rating city/highway/combined: 17/23/19 mpg
- Recommended fuel: Regular
- Highest single-tank average: 22.0 mpg
- Lowest single-tank average: 13.6 mpg
- Average mileage: 18.3 mpg
- Current mileage: 2,707
- Total cost of fuel: $386.02
- Longest range observed: 302 miles
Conservative or not, that fuel gauge has turned us into gas-station regulars with the Volkswagen Atlas. Our longest distance on a single tank was just 302 miles. That’s well short of the 347-mile record we observed a year ago in the first few months with our long-term Chrysler Pacifica, a vehicle with only another 0.4 gallon in tank capacity. At one point we had to fill the VW after a paltry 205 miles. Talk about thirsty.
“I feel like I’m burning through gas in the Atlas,” Managing Editor Joe Bruzek said. “After just 50 miles, the needle blasted through the first quarter of the gauge.”
Assistant Managing Editor-News Matt Schmitz agreed. Schmitz logged hours aplenty on a road trip from Cars.com’s Chicago offices down to central Missouri. He praised the Atlas’ highway composure but noted that the fuel needle “seemed eager to find its way down to E” despite normal highway speeds.
Schmitz had two other quibbles. The Volkswagen Atlas’ multimedia system crowds volume and tuning knobs between touch-sensitive shortcut buttons — a frequent area for knuckles to inadvertently brush, diverting the display from radio stations. Elsewhere in the Volkswagen, the door pockets garnered annoyance.
“As a chronic stereo-control fiddler, I found it frustrating to have to navigate my way back to the radio display every time I changed the volume,” he said. “My wife, meanwhile, was annoyed at the Atlas’ door compartments, which were too narrow to stow bottles of water.”
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