New to VW...
I bought my first VW on Thursday, a 2025 Atlas SEL Premium R Line with 4800 miles on the clock from a local dealer here in town. It was one of their service loaner vehicles, so it lived a relatively easy life for the past year, and I was able to get a very good deal on it. I came from a 2008 Honda Pilot EX-L that I had owned since 2011, and had out over 190,000 miles on, and had to replace the water pump three times, radiator once, and then last summer I replaced the entire suspension on, but in the last few weeks I discovered that I needed a new power steering pump, new power steering rack, new bank 1 catalytic converter, as well as several other items that were starting to rear their ugly heads, such as a valve cover gasket leak on both cylinder banks and so forth. all said, I was looking at anywhere from $4000 to 8000 to make all the repairs on a 18.5 year old car that was only worth less than $1000.
I had started to look for comparable sized SUVs, and I wanted something that could tow right off the lot, and I am not a Ford guy (my father raised me right! I know, I know, nothing against Ford, I have just never found their SUVs appealing, I like their trucks, though!), and Toyota and Hyundai have both pissed me off to the point that I will never buy either of their products again. So I concentrated on the Atlas and the Chevy Traverse/GMC Acadia. I was striking up dead ends on Traverse's in my area that met my requirements and budget, and the Acadias were all out of my budget or had too many miles, and then I found a few Atlas to look at, and the one I bought was the top of my list, as it was the lowest mileage used Atlas in the region.
I stopped in and looked at it after work on Wednesday, and after negotiating on a price, called back Thursday morning saying I would take the car. I left the VW dealers lot that evening with the newest and lowest mileage car I have ever owned in my 42 years. I'm loving having more room inside, and my 8yo daughter is really enjoying it!