SURVIVING DEATH VALLEY IN A VOLKSWAGEN ATLAS CROSS SPORT PROTOTYPE

"Water with ice, or whiskey. I don't recommend beer."

Thomas Drees, senior vice president of engineering for Volkswagen's North American Region, is explaining his field-expedient method for testing temperature sensors. Prototypes like the 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport parked outside can have more than 400 of them attached, and even one reading wrong can ruin a test. Ice water is 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

Out there where the prototypes are parked, it's 103 and rising. After all, it's only 8 a.m. in California's Death Valley, and it's July. It'll be 118 this afternoon. Automakers from around the world come here around this time to perform hot weather testing. Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, and Genesis prototypes were all seen in the vicinity.

It's not just the consistent heat but also the topography. Death Valley is the lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level in Badwater Basin, but it's straddled by a pair of mountain ranges with 4,000-foot passes. The roads up them gain more than 300 feet in altitude every twisting mile. Temperatures vary 20 degrees between the passes and the valley floor. If you want to torture a vehicle with heat, there are few better places to do it.

This time, Drees' engineers are flogging the upcoming Atlas Cross Sport, the two-row version of Volkswagen's popular three-row Atlas large crossover. In what's described as the fastest development VW's North American arm has ever done, they've lopped 5.7 inches off the rear end and hammered the roof down a few inches at the back for a sportier profile. Otherwise, the Atlas Cross Sport is mechanically identical to the Atlas, though it will offer all-wheel drive on four-cylinder models, something the larger, heavier Atlas won't do.

We aren't sampling those. Instead, we're directed to a pair of idling V-6 all-wheel-drive models, their air conditioning preset to the opposite of Death Valley in July. Their bodies are covered in black-and-white tape with patterns that resemble broken glass. Most of the windows are covered with see-through versions of the same. Inside, a black tarp covers most of the dashboard. We peek under. It looks like the Atlas' dashboard. The digital instrument cluster suggests it's the highest trim level, but there's no badging on the outside to confirm.

Each is hooked to a single-axle Airstream trailer with an overkill weight distribution hitch, considering the trailers weigh just 3,500 pounds, or 70 percent of the Atlas Cross Sport's 5,000-pound towing limit. Add three adult men, that heavy hitch, and enough bottled water to keep us alive at least a few hours in the desert if things go wrong, and the prototype is being asked to drag about 4,000 pounds around. We set off for Daylight Pass.

Pulling onto the Death Valley Scenic Byway, the 276-hp V-6 puts its 266 lb-ft of torque to good use and gets things moving fairly easily down around sea level. Over the undulating 18 miles along the valley floor on the way to Daylight Pass Road, the eight-speed automatic transmission frequently hunted between gears but was quick enough and smooth enough a typical owner with the radio on won't likely notice. It's mostly an artifact of California's 55-mph speed limit for vehicles with trailers, which falls right between two gears in the engine's powerband. Thankfully, the transmission isn't shy about downshifting for power, so we never felt like we were left wanting and waiting.

The behavior continued as we climbed the pass. Flat, or at least less steep, areas saw a quick upshift, quickly followed by a quick downshift as soon as the road began to climb more intensely. The Atlas Cross Sport didn't feel quick under these conditions, but it maintained its speed no matter how steep the road and had a little left in reserve to speed up even while climbing.

Coming back down, the transmission was less active. It downshifted from eighth to sixth on its own to provide engine braking, but no more. As there's no trailer-specific driving mode, it's on the driver to manually select a lower gear or ride the brakes, which stood up strong to the weight and the heat.

Despite the weight on the tail, the Atlas Cross Sport rode quite nicely. Towing or not, it ironed out the slightly uneven pavement in a way our pickup truck hadn't on the way in. Despite the plushness, the body remained fairly flat for such a large vehicle, giving it a confident presence.

Less confidence-inspiring is the steering. It's very sharp when you first begin to turn it then seems to dull a bit as you continue turning the wheel, only to sharpen up again if you keep turning the wheel further. The aggressive initial reaction tends to make the vehicle turn too quickly at first, requiring correction and tossing passengers around. All of it results in the driver making a lot of midcorner corrections to the steering angle. It's all the more noticeable without the trailer putting a drag on everything.

Unshackled from the Airstream, we turned off onto 20 Mule Team Canyon Road, a lovingly maintained gravel road that provides access to hills used to film the landscape around Jabba's palace in Return of the Jedi. Only 2.5 miles long, it feels longer as you saw the wheel back and forth around the endless twists and turns. It took concerted effort on our part to get the Atlas Cross Sport into any kind of slide, with understeer more easily achieved as expected. When we did get it a bit sideways, the stability control straightened things out quickly and quietly, far more so than the street-biased Goodyear Assurance tires would suggest was possible. If you're planning on driving one down to the lake or out to the deer stand, you can be confident a dirt road won't faze it

With that, our interruption of the test schedule was over. The temperature gauge remained parked just below the midway point, just as it had idling in the parking lot and dragging the Airstream about. The vents still blew cold air.

We poked around the cabin a bit more as the men came for the keys. The rear seat, as it is in the Atlas, is enormous. Getting in the back is slightly occluded by the sloping roof, but only tall folks will notice the difference. The cargo space is deep and wide, which mostly makes up for the downward sloping roof and inward-sloping rear window. Neither of those affected rearward visibility much from the driver's seat.

The 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport will be officially revealed at the plant that will build it in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in September and go on sale in the first quarter of 2020. The production model will retain the silly name, which VW personnel assure me did well in market research.

With that, our interruption of the test schedule was over. The temperature gauge remained parked just below the midway point, just as it had idling in the parking lot and dragging the Airstream about. The vents still blew cold air.

We poked around the cabin a bit more as the men came for the keys. The rear seat, as it is in the Atlas, is enormous. Getting in the back is slightly occluded by the sloping roof, but only tall folks will notice the difference. The cargo space is deep and wide, which mostly makes up for the downward sloping roof and inward-sloping rear window. Neither of those affected rearward visibility much from the driver's seat.

The 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport will be officially revealed at the plant that will build it in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in September and go on sale in the first quarter of 2020. The production model will retain the silly name, which VW personnel assure me did well in market research.