With the third row stowed, the Kia holds 46 cubic feet of gear. With all three rows in place, the Telluride can hold up to 21 cubic feet of cargo-although that space is mostly vertical. The second row can be a bench or captain’s chairs, depending on the configuration. The first two rows are spacious and comfortable for long legs, with more than 40 inches of leg room available in the second row The third row in the Telluride is good for small children who don’t require car seats, although only two will realistically fit back there, even if there are three seatbelts. The Atlas rides on a wheelbase that’s about three inches longer than the Telluride, but both SUVs span about 198 inches from bumper to bumper.īetween the two, the Telluride uses its available interior room better. The Atlas and Telluride trade on available space for seven or eight passengers, respectively, with room for cargo. The EPA says the Atlas returns combined mileage in the high teens and the Telluride in the low 20s, which may speak to VW's relatively older engine design more than anything else. The Telluride’s all-wheel drive system features a center locking differential that can lock the power split 50:50, which is a neat trick and one the Atlas, along with the rest of the competition, simply can’t touch. Both steer confidently but lean into corners, and the Atlas and Telluride both keep pace with traffic but won’t win any drag races. It’s a coinflip for what’s better behind the wheel. The Telluride can be had with a rear air suspension to level things out and it might fare slightly better than the Atlas in this situation. It did what was asked of it, but the smell of burning brakes was everpresent and passing power was non-existent. It was basically 5,000 pounds worth of boat, trailer, fuel, and fishing gear. The Telluride looks tougher, more angular, with more masculine lines and a hint of last-generation GMC Yukon in the front end with those upright headlights.īoth are rated to tow up to 5,000 pounds, when properly equipped, and we’ve only hooked a trailer up to the Atlas Cross Sport. The Telluride is related to the Hyundai Palisade but the two look very different.
So much so that Kia couldn’t build the big three-row people mover fast enough. In contrast, the Kia Telluride looks nothing like the rest of the Kia lineup. The clean lines and simple curves of the Atlas are classic VW-and not many of their designs have aged poorly, though they might put you to sleep faster than revisiting the quadratic formula. VW needed to adapt its shape to various body sizes, which is not an easy task with wild curves. The Atlas started VW down the path for its current crop of crossovers that includes the Tiguan, the Atlas Cross Sport (which is related to the Atlas), and the new Taos. 2021 Volkswagen Atlas with Basecamp packageĪmong three-row crossover SUVs, the VW Atlas looks less exciting than math homework-it’s by design.