 So if you guys will come back to another one. If you are new to the channel, I'm Gullpony. I do new car track SUV reviews on YouTube. And today, we are in the brand new 2023 Volkswagen Atlas courtesy of Faulkner Volkswagen in Mechanicsburg PA for more information on the inventory. Please feel free to check out the link in the description box below. And so we are in this one today because this is a three row SUV with a ton of space. I can tell you guys right off the bat, it is more space than the Telluride, than the Palisade, than the Pilot, than the Highlander. It is a freaking large SUV. So if you got kids and you need space, this is definitely one to consider. Two years or 20,000 miles of complimentary maintenance as well. So that's going to save you some money there. And you get a four year, 50,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty, which certainly beats the traditional through your 36,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty. So ultimately in this video, we will be testing out and going over everything about this one from acceleration, a braking, steering, from ride quality, sound system, exhaust clip, all that fun stuff. So having said all that, what do you guys say? Let's just go ahead and jump right into it. And as always, let's start with pricing. And so as you can imagine, there are several different trim levels for the 2023 Volkswagen Atlas. First one being the SE starting at $34,600. SE with technology, which actually is the one we have today starting at $38,770. SEL for $44,390. SEL R-Line Black for $48,090. And then the SEL Premium R-Line for $51,790. Now those last three trim levels come standard with all-wheel drive, but you can add all-wheel drive to this first two because they come standard with front wheel. If you wanted to do that, simply add $1,900 to either of those prices. So you can imagine with all of those trim levels, there are actually two different power plants available for the Atlas. First one being a two-liter turbocharged inline four cylinder, putting out 235 horsepower at 5,400 RPM, 258 pound-feet of torque coming in at 1,600 RPM. Power sent to front wheels or all wheels through an eight-speed automatic zero to 60. Time for that one, 7.2 seconds with MPG numbers coming in at 20 in the city, 24 in the highway. But then there is that other engine configuration being a 3.6-liter naturally aspirated V6. 276 horsepower at 6,200 RPM, 266 pound-feet of torque coming in at 3,600 RPM. Power sent to all four wheels, all-wheel drive only there, through an eight-speed automatic zero to 60 times 7.5 seconds. So a little bit slower actually with that one. MPG numbers for that one, 18 in the city, 23 in the highway taking regular unleaded fuel. Nonetheless, before we do any kind of fun acceleration test here in the Atlas, I wanted to mention to you guys the drive modes. There's a circular dial located directly behind the shifter. If you play around with that, you got comfort, sport, economy, snow, and off-road, adjusting things like the shift points, the throttle response, the steering sensitivity, the all-wheel drive system engagement, and the traction and stability control systems as well. And so having now gotten all of that out of the way, what do you guys say? Let's go ahead and find a straightaway. Let's put the acceleration here to the test and let's see how quickly we can get our new 2023 Volkswagen Atlas here up to speed. All right, so why am I adjusting the drive modes here, you guys? It is a little bit different. So there's two types of drive modes. There's the off-road and the on-road drive modes. To adjust the on-road drive modes, being the comfort, the sport, the eco, press in on that mode button, but to adjust the off-road driving modes, you're simply gonna turn this knob to the left or to the right. So I wanted to emphasize that because it does work a little bit differently than most other manufacturers out there. So having said that, I just put it in sport driving mode. I found her straightaway. Let me get set up here in three, two, one. Let's go. A little bit of turbo lag. Yeah, once it gets going though, it's plenty fine. You're definitely not gonna have any issues. Okay, now it's really going. You're not gonna have any issues emerging onto the highway, but having said that from the get-go there, there was a slight bit of turbo lag as you often will find with turbocharged four-cylinder engine. So I will say that, but again, not gonna have any issues emerging onto the highway, but anyways, to go along with that acceleration as always, braking is equally important. And so upfront, you will find 13.2 inch ventilated front disc. In the back, 12.2 inch ventilated rear disc. As far as the six easier stopping distance goes, it's going to come in at 139 feet. Let's just hit the brakes. Hey, it's actually not as bad as I remember it. I remember before when I tested this thing out, the braking feel was insanely soft, but it's actually not that bad now. I actually didn't mind that. I feel like they've gotten better with the braking feel with the Volkswagen Atlas. And again, this is a larger SUV, so I don't expect it to stop like a sports car, but still, back in the day, it was extremely soft when they first came out, but they have made it better. I feel like they've firmed up that braking feel ever so slightly. So honestly, I don't mind the braking in this thing. Now it's not something that would deter me from getting the Atlas. Then touching on suspension and handling. Up front, you're gonna get a McPherson straight front suspension. In the back, independent multi-link rear suspension. Front and rear stabilizer bars. As far as ride quality goes, this has been 100% perfectly fine. It actually rides really nice. I feel like a lot of larger SUVs, I do find that, and that is definitely no exception with the Atlas. The thing rides extremely smooth as we were cruising over some very smooth KX for growth, but yeah, it's definitely no issues of ride quality. As far as steering feel goes, and actually let me put it back in sport mode for a sec. There is a noticeable difference depending upon which drive mode that you put it in, and relative to the steering feel, so I'm gonna take it back out of sport mode here. And you can customize it. There is a custom driving mode as well. So if you wanted a heavier steering feel, but not necessarily that instant acceleration all the time, that is what that custom driving mode is for, and that's personally what I do on my own personal vehicle. So if you like the heavier steering feel like I do, because it is a heavier steering feel in that sport driving mode, that's one way to go ahead and get the best of both worlds there. I'll just put it that way. As far as cabin noise goes, we were going 35 miles per hour. That is 100% on point. Certainly almost no exterior road noise or even wind noise coming into the cabin. So Volkswagen quite honestly did a brilliant job with the cabin noise in this thing. That's what you got visibility. I can see pretty darn good out the back for as large as this SUV is. The rear visibility is actually pretty darn good. Not only that, for forward visibility, you get rain sensing windshield wipers that come standard on every single trim level of the Atlas as well. So that's a big win there too. But anyways, that pretty much rounds out the performance segment of this review, guys. Let's go ahead and take a look at the exterior of our brand new 2023 Volkswagen Atlas. Here she is, you guys, the new 2023 Volkswagen Atlas finished in deep black pearl. In case you were curious of our exterior color name that we have on this one here today. Let's go ahead and start up front. Of course, you're going to find a tri-bar front grill finished in chrome in typical Volkswagen Atlas fashion, least in recent years. LED headlights do come standard at every single trim level across the board for added illumination at night. Of course, they will come with LED daytime running lights as well, along with the automatic feature, meaning when it starts to get dark in the night, those headlights will turn on automatically for you there. SEL trim level end up is going to give you automatic high beams, meaning when you have your high beams on at night and it senses a vehicle coming in the opposite direction is going to automatically dim them back to low beams. Then when the vehicle is gone, it's going to automatically bump it back up to high beams. Then front air curtains to the sides, helping direct air around the wheel and tire combination. And you're actually going to get an R-line specific front fascia if you were to go with the R-line trim levels or the R-line trim, I should say. But anyways, also some silver accenting towards the bottom portion of that front fascia, but that pretty much rounds out the front end of this one. Let's go ahead and make our way to the side of the Atlas. All right, so, but now since we are around to the side of this one, black roof rails do come standard, or I should say roof rails in general, come standard for all trim levels across the board. They will vary in color though. Like I said, we have the black roof rails for the SE, but if you were to go with the SEL trim levels, you're actually going to get silver roof rails, for example. Roo privacy glass, of course, does come standard across the board. Chrome belt line molding coming standard as well. You guys could probably see that there. Take a look at the side mirrors. They are body colored power adjustable side mirrors. They will be heated for all trim levels with LED integrated turd signals then as well. Take a look at the side skirts. They are matte black, which actually really doesn't look all that bad with our pearl black exterior that we have here today. But I will say, if you go with one of the R-line trim levels, those actually turn into body colored side skirts as well as fenders surround. So little more high end look, a little better look in my personal opinion. But like I said, the matte black doesn't look bad with the black exterior that we have today though. Let's take a look at the wheel configurations. They will differ with every single trim level surprisingly. So if you ever wander on to a lot, that's definitely a sure fire way to distinguish what trim level you're looking at or it's also on the tailgate as well. But nonetheless, 18 inch machine finished alloys for the SE, 20 inch alloys for the SE with technology. We actually do have an added option to turn them into gloss black wheels, which look dang good with our exterior. Of course, 20 inch machine finished alloys for the SEL, 20 inch black alloys for the SEL R-line black and then 20 inch machine finished alloys for the SEL premium R-line. So again, differing amongst the trim levels, but it looks pretty darn good from the side profile here. So I'll go ahead and make our way to the back. All right, so now since we are around to the back, body colored Sharkman antenna all the way to the top, just below that rear spoiler with an integrated brake light, just below that rear window wiper. LED tail lights actually do come standard for every single trim level across the board. And like I just mentioned, we'll find trim level badging on the back as well. If you were curious what trim level you were looking at, that four motion badging, that just means that this one is coming standard with all wheel drive. That is what Volkswagen calls their all wheel drive system. As every manufacturer has a different name for it, of course, you do have that chrome bar kind of tied together to tail lights. And in the middle of it all, you have Atlas spelled out horizontally. Of course, towards the very bottom, you're gonna find kind of a fake exhaust look with the chrome tips there, but it's actually not exhaust system as Volkswagen and Audi typically does. It's actually hidden just below. So having said that, I do believe you guys know what we have to do next. This always here is that exhaust clip. All right, and so now since we are around to the back of the Atlas, when it comes to opening that rear tailgate, I will say it is a power tailgate for every single trim level across the board. Gotta love that. And if you were to go with the SE with technology that we have today, it's actually also a hands-free power tailgate. So if your hands are full, you're covered. That's pretty cool. So once it's opened up, cargo capacity comes in at 20.6 cubic feet behind that third row, which is actually pretty darn impressive, behind the second row, 55.5 cubic feet and with all rows folded, 96.8 cubic feet. That's insanely impressive. So for comparison's sake, I know the Hyundai Palisade comes in at 87. something cubic feet. Kia Telluride, 88 cubic feet. Honda Pilot, 84 cubic feet or 83.8 to be exact. Toyota Highlander comes in at right around 86. something cubic feet. I don't know how I remember all these numbers, but still my point is, there is a substantial bit more space in the Atlas, comparatively speaking to the other three row SUVs kind of in its class. So that's pretty darn impressive. But you can also find grocery bag hooks in the back, cargo tie-down anchors. There's a cargo cover, there's cargo lighting, of course. If you were to lift up underneath of that cargo floor there's actually decent amount of in-floor storage, which is always important in case you want to put like an entire inflator kit back there or an ice scraper or something like that. So definitely pretty much everything you could possibly want in the cargo area, but then making our way to the third row legroom, the impressiveness continues. That third row legroom actually gives you 33.7 inches. So with a lot of the other three row SUVs you get right around 30 or 31 inches. So again, 33.7, that's pretty decent. So for reference, I mean even six feet tall, this is how much space I have back there. Of course the second row can't push forward and backwards if you wanted to accommodate a third row passenger that's there for you as well. Rear cup holders and there's several of them back there and actually a decent amount of storage for those third row passengers as well. And there's actually a little hook to put those third row seat belts. If they were not used, you can fold the third row down for added cargo space and you got the hook for the seat belts so they're out of the way. That's pretty well thought out as well. And of course you do have rear ventilation for the third row passengers as well. But so then making our way to the second row legroom that comes in at 37.6 inches. Again, for reference, I mean even six feet tall, this is how much space I have back there. And actually for the second row, you have your option between bench seating and captain's chairs. We do have the bench seating, obviously captain's chairs is the two seats with the center walk-through way. Heated second row seats though, coming with the SEL Premium. There is a 115 volt power outlet for that second row. You usually don't find that in three row SUVs. So that was pretty cool. Two USB charging ports for the second row passengers, but my very favorite rear window sunshades coming on this one. That is pretty darn cool. The alternative is you just buy the cheap ones from Walmart and they never really work good or your kids rip them off the window. One or the other happens, I like that they come standard and they're pretty nice on this one. And actually tri-zone climate control is going to come with the SE with technology that we have today and up. So therefore rear passengers have the ability to set their own temperature back there as well. So that is pretty darn good. Definitely very well thought out. And also with the bench seating, I must forget to mention center armrest with cup holders. So very well thought out second row here in the Atlas. They make our way to the front seats, eight-way power driver seat with four-way power lumbar coming standard, leatherette surfaces coming standard, heated front seats coming standard, memory settings for the SEL trim level and up, power adjustable passenger seat for the R-Line black trim level and up, ventilated front seats for the SEL premium. You get leather then for the premium R-Line as well. And overall when it comes to seat comfort, it is power adjustable. So honestly, it was plenty comfortable. The lumbar adjustment was very adjustable. I'll just say that. Typically you don't get this kind of adjustments when it comes to the power lumbar. So extremely adjustable for the power lumbar. I was very impressed there. So then taking a look at the steering wheel. It is tilt and telescoping. It is leatherette wrapped. That does come standard on this one. It is tilt and telescoping, of course, and it is heated if you were to go with the SEL trim level and up. And overall, I like the new emblem in the middle. I'm still getting used to the new emblem. I know it was just kind of recent, but very nice steering wheels, kind of a flap on them as well. The maker awaits at the startup. Let me start by showing you guys the key here. You got your Volkswagen logo surrounded by chrome on the one side. When you flip it over, lock, unlock, and that button to pop the rear hatch. And the times two button is gonna be your remote start that comes standard, by the way, on every single trim level across the board. Gotta love that. And there is a keyless entry with a push button start for all trims as well. So all I'm going to do here is simply put my foot on the brake and press that silver engine start button located just to the left of the shifter there. And so once started up, there's gonna be two different configurations here. There is an eight inch digital gauge cluster, which comes standard on the SE trim level. However, newly standard for the SE with technology trim level that we have today, you now get the 10 and a quarter inch digital gauge cluster. Whereas if you got this trim and passed, it would have been the eight inch. So that's really, I would say the big change for 2023 if there was one. So that is pretty darn good. That's what you're looking at right now. And there is this little view button on the steering wheel that completely changes the look. You can make it, how many miles you'll have left until you hit empty. There's kind of this information section if you want. There of course is your standard speedometer and tachometer up there. So so much customization to the digital gauges. Volkswagen and Audi both do this incredibly well. Some of my favorite gauges out there. So well done Volkswagen. The gauges look amazing. They make our way to overall interior quality. Panoramic sunroof is going to come on the SEL trim level and up. So we don't have it today unfortunately. Overhead sunglass holder coming standard though. Gotta love that. Trizone climate control like I was mentioning with the SE with technology trim level and up. LED interior lighting for every single trim level across the board. You usually do not find that on the competition. I wanna emphasize that. Ambient interior lighting for the SEL trim level and up. Wireless phone charger is going to come standard. Gotta love that. That's just in front of the shifter by the way. So that is pretty cool. You usually don't find that standard either. There is a little bit of rubberized storage just above the infotainment screen. I don't wanna forget to mention that. There's kind of this plastic cool looking fake wood trim on the doors as well. It's just above the passenger side glove box just in front of the shifter. Like I was mentioning, you got the wireless phone charger but also we 12 volt power outlet, a couple of phone charging ports. To the right of the shifter you have dual cup holders. There's an electromechanical parking brake and within the center arm rest a decent amount of storage there as well. And I do like the contrast stitching on the doors in white that looks pretty darn good. So overall, yeah, this interior is definitely working for me. I got no complaints personally. But now let's go ahead and make our way to the infotainment screen. You're gonna get a 6.5 inch color touch screen display for the SEL trim level. But if you were to go with the SEWIFT technology that we have today, that's gonna bump up to an eight inch color touchscreen display. Either way though, you get Bluetooth and audio streaming, you still get Android Auto, Apple CarPlay. Factory navigation system is coming on the SEL trim level it up. You can adjust your climate control settings up there as well. And of course your radio information itself. When it comes to the sound systems, there's a couple of them. You got six speakers for all trim levels but the premium because that premium is gonna give you a fender premium sound system with a subwoofer. So that of course is not the one we have today. We got the six speakers. So what do you guys say? Let's go ahead and turn on the radio see what we got playing today. And let's test out the clarity of this one. All right, I gotta be honest for six speakers that's better than just about all the six speakers sound systems that I've tested. It's definitely plenty of loudness. I can see why that would be perfectly fine even for three rows. Plenty of clarity. And actually the bass was kind of impressive too. So for that not being the upgraded fender sound system that was pretty darn good. Well done, Volkswagen. But anyways, last thing I wanted to mention to you guys on the infotainment screen is when you do put this thing in reverse you will find a rear view camera letting you know who or what is behind you coming standard across the board, of course. Any surround view monitor coming with a premium trim level then as well which is always is going to lead us into safety. And so to start front side, side-care narrow bags do come standard. In the back you're gonna have latch AKA lower anchors to others or children for the rear car seats, rear child door locks, temperature monitoring system, but also coming standard adaptive cruise control blind spot monitoring system with rear cross traffic alert, forward collision warning with autonomous emergency braking and actually front and rear parking sensors as well. That's another one that doesn't come standard typically on other three year old SUVs. So rear parking sensors, yes, but not the front ones as well. That's pretty cool. SEL trim level and up then is also going to add road sign assist. So overall, when it comes to my final thoughts here of the Atlas, incredible amount of space, especially when you compare it to a lot of other three year old SUVs out there in the same price range. So that's wonderful. Digital gauges are great. I absolutely love them on the Volkswagen. Audi and Volkswagen, like I said, do a wonderful job there. And as far as room for improvement because I can really only think of one if you look up the IE Chess Top Safety Pick rating, this isn't one for whatever reason. So I don't know what the details are there. Maybe it's not been tested. I don't know, but it doesn't show that it's an IE Chess Top Safety Pick. But other than that, this thing's pretty darn nice. So let me know what you guys think of the Atlas in the comments section below. That is about it for this one. You guys, thank you so much for watching. 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