Video: Would We Buy the 2018 Volkswagen Atlas Again?

We own it for a whole year, and we sell it at the end of that year, documenting our experience in between those two markers. This year, like most others, that's what's happening to our 2018 Volkswagen Atlas, an SUV that's served us well. And we bought this Atlas SEL 4Motion in December 2017. One year and nearly 12,000 miles later, maintenance and repairs have amounted to one regularly scheduled service appointment, including an oil change, some extra fluids because they were low, a tire repair because well, it's Chicago, a handful of recalls and a sunshade repair for the panoramic moon roof. Now that sunshade repair might be the only thing you'd consider out of the ordinary, but it was covered under warranty. So after all that, will be by the Atlas again? We posed the question to editors who had substantially driven the car, and most of them said, "yes". Editors proclaimed that season after season, the Atlas continues to deliver on its initial promise of cargo and seating space, even all the way back in the third row with a comfortable ride and nimble road manners to boot, even as newer competitors, like the Subaru Ascent hit the scene, the Atlas still puts Volkswagen on the map as the three row crossover SUV to beat. Now, not everything came up roses in the Atlas. We weren't big fans of the stereo's touch sensitive buttons, but the biggest thing we weren't feeling so great about was gas. Over the course of 11,668 miles, we averaged 18.6 miles per gallon. Now that's in line with our particular Atlas's combined EPA rating, but still fairly low for the class. According to our log book, fill-ups from close to empty averaged just 281 miles per tank and 15.1 gallons of gasoline added. That's well short of the 353 miles and 18.6 gallons that a full tank in the Atlas and EPA combined mileage is supposed to get us, but that fuel needle just really races to empty getting like an alarm clock. You set at 5:00 AM. The fuel light just comes on way too soon, but hey, gym membership ain't gonna use itself, right? Still that didn't dampen our overall enthusiasm for the Atlas, which editors overwhelmingly said they would purchase again. Now what's going to replace it. Well, you'll have to wait to find out when cars.com crowns it's Best of 2019 Car, just around the corner. Stay tuned.