CROSS OVER

Okay. Let’s deal with the 4,288 pound Titan in the room before we get rolling with this feature. Yes, sport utility vehicles are (depending on your market) quickly taking over the world’s prevalent form of transportation. Yes, SUVs make manufacturers boatloads of money. And yes, they’re trying to carve out whatever little niche they can in order to syphon more cash from consumers’ pockets (we’re staring straight at the blue and white propeller people). However, because of Americans’ insatiable desire to pilot these purse pinchers, it would be a fool’s errand to ignore the trend. That said, with the 2018 MY introduction of its homegrown 3-row SUV, the Atlas, VW successfully took a sizeable chunk of sales from their competition.

Let’s not kid ourselves - driving an SUV, even one from our favourite manufacturer, doesn’t hit you with the same feels as it does rowing through the gears of a 16V GTI. Larger vehicles are mostly aimed more as a necessity for growing families to avoid parking a minivan on their drives Remember the Routan? No? What a surprise. Your esteemed and cultured author’s better half drives an Atlas and it’s the perfect, overgrown size for his family of four, even if the third row has yet to rise from the cargo floor. Is it as exciting as say, a MK7 Golf R? Not a chance. But it’s quiet, comfortable, and certainly serves a purpose. Millions of SUV drivers across the US would agree.

The followers of Volkswagen, especially those who grew up with those 16V GTIs, are reaching a point in their lives when the need for a family vehicle outweighs (quite literally) one of leisure. Many manufacturers have recognised this and are trying to make their offerings more desirable to these shoppers. These lifestyle vehicles sacrifice some function for form with sloping, sporting shapes,