2027 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport First Look: Big Two-Row Energy

• What's new: VW is bringing back the swoopy Cross Sport version of the Atlas for the car's second generation. 
• Why it matters: The Cross Sport represents a significant portion of VW's Atlas sales, and it's a unique offering among large SUVs, which typically only offer three rows. 
• Edmunds says: If large SUVs with huge cargo holds and just five seats are your thing, the new Cross Sport will hit dealers at the start of next year.

The most obvious difference, however, will be inside. Gone is the third row, which means your massive SUV will seat just five at a maximum. Volkswagen says that buyers for the Cross Sport skew older, which means they've done the family grind and maybe have grandkids now, but they aren't willing to give up the easy in-and-out access of a tall SUV and want a little extra room for the occasional road trip. 

VW's interiors are (slowly) getting usability improvements

The rest of the interior feels pretty much identical to the regular Atlas, except the shorter greenhouse means your head will be a touch closer to the roof in all seats. That said, after having sat in the Cross Sport, I wasn't wanting for forward visibility, so the rakish windshield and lower roof don't cut into usability. 

Volkswagen's reps made a point of sharing just how important practicality is in a car like this, and a lot of the improvements are pretty obvious. There is now a large bin inside the center console because VW moved the gear-selector stalk to the steering column area, and the door pockets are definitely large enough to accommodate a big reusable bottle. Plus, you can have two wireless changing pads (with MagSafe connectors to give better phone adhesion and help prevent overheating), there are five USB-C ports in total, and the rear outboard seats can be heated or cooled, a rare feature for cars of this type. 

Perhaps the most important part of that practicality is the fact that physical controls have made their way back to the Atlas — in some places, at least. The previous car's touch-sensitive steering wheel controls have been reverted to now exist exclusively in the physical domain (thank goodness). There is a huge volume knob, which also controls the car's drive mode and ambient lighting, in the center console; the headlight switch is a physical button; and unlike in the ID.4, VW has given us a switch for each window on the driver's side (not just a button that says "rear"). 

All the backlash about VW's move to touch-sensitive everything has borne real fruit, but they're not done yet. The climate control array still makes use of the 12.9-inch or upgrade 15-inch center touchscreen (with some backlit sliders for the temperature controls, too). I asked VW about when their "learnings" regarding physical controls will make their way to the climate functions, and while I wasn't given a timeline, I was told Volkswagen is working on it. Expect this car's refresh in a few years to feature a vastly different interior control scheme, much like the one VW showed in its ID.3 Neo (pictured below).

(More) power to the people 

All Atlases (Atli?) are powered by the same 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder as before. For 2027, the Cross Sport gets an extra 13 horsepower for a total of 282 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque. VW says that, despite the bump in power, it also expects this Cross Sport to return better fuel economy. An eight-speed automatic transmission is standard, and power is sent to the front wheels as standard but all-wheel drive is available across the range. 

Pricing hasn't been made official yet, but we expect the Cross Sport to start at a tick over $40,000 and go up to $55,000 for the top-spec models. The Atlas Cross Sport will hit VW dealers near the start of 2027, so stay tuned for what it's like to drive and what it's like when we put it under our testing microscope.