Advice on Buying a 2021 Volkswagen Atlas – The Volkswagen Atlas has been a favorite all people given that its intro for 2018, when we provided it our top honor of the design year. Also in 2020, the Atlas continues to obtain accolades by taking home Cars.com’s Family Car of the Year award. There are more than a few Atlases shuttling around children in my circle of loved ones since it’s my go-to referral thanks to its roominess and also features for the cash. So when it came time to buy family truckster, I took my own suggestions as well as acquired a 2021 Volkswagen Atlas.
Buying 2021 Volkswagen Atlas During the Pandemic
I’ve been part of the team that assists purchase the Cars.com Editorial department’s lasting test fleet for nearly eight years running. I can with confidence say this was the most convenient purchasing experience of all my acquisitions– Cars.com or individual– because of exactly how automobile purchasing has actually transformed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Simply put, I never ever tipped foot in a dealer to get this car, though I did need to go to one. Additionally intriguing (specifically to me) is that deep price cuts and also an upgraded 2021 Atlas guided me to acquire a new SUV versus the used ones I was initially buying.
Immediately, the 2021 Atlas SEL 2.0 T with four-wheel drive I got was provided on Cars.com for $38,701, or 12.5% less than its market price of $44,325, consisting of location fee and also options (HomeLink rearview mirror, extended-range remote beginning and all-weather floormats). The cash money on the hood was connected in the listing to “dealership discount rates,” and it’s a rate that stayed with the end. Back in 2017, Cars.com got a 2018 VW Atlas SEL at an 8.8% discount. Given, those were newly introduced SUVs at the time and not a light refresh like the 2021 Atlas … as well as additionally not amidst a pandemic that’s seen automobile inventory and also sales shaken up, turned upside down as well as dropped on its head.
Buying 2021 Volkswagen Atlas During the Pandemic
I had tracked made use of Atlases for months, as well as the roughly $38,000 to $39,000 retail price on a discounted new 2021 SEL 2.0 T with AWD was the going price in my area (within 150 miles) for a tiny choice of concerning 10 model-year 2019 Atlas SEL instances with 15,000 to 20,000 miles. The even more budget-friendly 2.0 T had not been used on the 2019 Atlas SEL, which also helped the 2021 model have much more parity with utilized 2019 model-year costs. In its entirety, utilized retail prices are high, as well as there are less used automobiles offered compared to pre-COVID 2020 as well as in the past, according to Black Book.
Those made use of Atlases did have extra guarantee left than new ones, nonetheless, because VW downsized its generous warranty from 6 years and also 72,000 miles to 4 years and also 50,000 miles beginning with 2020 designs (though it added two years’ complimentary maintenance in the process). I chose the VW’s prolonged service warranty since the short conventional service warranty does not obtain you much, and also the Atlas’ not-so-great integrity records combine with our very own annoyances on the lasting 2018 design. While I certainly invested greater than I would certainly if I ‘d acquired a made use of Atlas, there were other factors that attracted me to acquire brand-new versus made use of.
Likewise pressing the decision toward the 2021 Atlas was that the turbocharged 2.0-liter engine is newly readily available with AWD, which VW calls 4Motion. The 2018-20 Atlas combined the four-cylinder exclusively with front-wheel drive. The 2.0 T (235 horse power, 258 pounds-feet of torque) markets its power and also torque up front without feeling any pokier around town than Volkswagen’s optional 3.6-liter V-6 (276 hp, 266 pounds-feet of torque). I’m honestly simply a follower of any kind of version of this turbo 2.0-liter in contemporary VWs thanks to its polished power delivery and also mid-range punchiness– though in a 4,400-pound Atlas, it can be a little pokey in anything yet the driver-selectable Sport setting.
Buying 2021 Volkswagen Atlas During the Pandemic
The 2.0 T’s reduced expenditure and extra gas efficiency was extra-appealing since Cars.com’s 2018 Atlas SEL 3.6-liter wolfed gas like a truck-based SUV with its 19-mpg mixed EPA score (currently 18 mpg for 2021). The 2021 Atlas 2.0 T with AWD is rated at 22 mpg integrated as well as is much easier in my experience to coax MPG from. Nevertheless, like Volkswagen’s Jetta GLI and also Arteon, where a variation of the turbo 2.0-liter engine likewise shows up, the Atlas 2.0 T just makes its optimal power scores on premium gas despite the proprietor’s hands-on suggesting– and also running securely on– the regular octane gas noted on the gas door.
Buying 2021 Volkswagen Atlas During the Pandemic
But what truly drove me to the 2021 Atlas (rather, I should state, my family) was the new-for-2021 metallic Racing Green paint that my partner stressed over. The new Competing Eco-friendly is a refined shade that has a lively environment-friendly metallic glimmer under straight sunlight and also looks black under less perfect lights. At the time of purchasing, Cars.com’s national supply just had 215 Atlas examples with Racing Environment-friendly repaint out of 4,000-plus 2021 versions in dealer supply. That tightened me to simply nine environment-friendly SEL 2.0 Ts with AWD, and also only three with the bench seat we desired for its middle Latch system as well as seven-seat capability (versus 6 with the Atlas’ optional second-row captain’s chairs). Two such listings got on the other side of the country, and the third was the one I got 160 miles away in another state.
Was it rational to drive 320 miles round-trip to get the exact color we wanted? Most likely not, yet as long as I try to follow a pragmatic approach to vehicle shopping, there’s an unmeasurable “got ta have it” aspect that sucked us right into a day trip to obtain the green one. I intend I might rationalize the journey due to the fact that it was the least pricey eco-friendly SEL within a couple of hundred miles.
Buying 2021 Volkswagen Atlas During the Pandemic
We didn’t test-drive our automobile ahead of buying it due to the fact that I have actually been lucky sufficient to spend countless miles in numerous Atlases for many years, and my better half has driven one and also ridden with me on many of those miles. With it being brand-new, we weren’t concerned concerning the problem or prompt mechanical attention that a made use of auto might have needed. Instead of the examination drive, I requested high-resolution pictures to try to find blemishes in advance, yet virtual excursions were offered, as was residence delivery, to even more regional buyers.
While I associate part of the smooth experience to conditions influenced by the pandemic, the various other component was an alert, receptive sales team. It’s been routine for many years to strike an arrangement on automobile rate entirely by phone or e-mail, going back and forth with numbers till we deem it adequate to visit the car dealership and also sign papers. The sales professional sent me out-the-door prices by means of e-mail today, as well as we bargained specifically over email, also getting a listing of normal sales attachments to pick from– including exterior care as well as maintenance bundles, which are generally something I have not been used outside of the car dealership’s money and insurance policy space.
One of the most one-of-a-kind part of this experience was that we really did not invest two hours in a waiting area preparing for the finance manager to call us in. Even getting Cars.com’s Palisade in December 2019, I spent a long period of time before a Mr. Coffee device as well as “Judge Judy” reruns. For the Atlas, I reached my scheduled time slot welcomed by a stack of papers marked “sign below.” It took 20 mins in the auto to sign the finance, tax and legal documentation prior to we prepared to hit the road. That was truthfully it. VW has an electronic alternative to authorize funding paperwork with its economic services arm, but we selected a third-party bank, so we weren’t able to benefit from the service.
Buying 2021 Volkswagen Atlas During the Pandemic
When we arrived, the automobile was decontaminated as well as had a clear plastic cover on the steering wheel. We likewise asked for the car dealership park it outside with the windows open ahead of our arrival. Our sales expert and finance manager put on masks, had sterilized pens waiting and also recognized our demands general to make the experience as contactless as possible. We were from outside the state, as well as the brand-new automobile even had our home-state plates set up, in addition to new plate enrollment stickers, when we got here.
Add all of it up, and consider my mind blown. I’ve been spoiled, as well as right here’s hoping there’s no going back to the Mr. Coffee device and “Court Judy” reruns beyond of this pandemic.