# 2021 Atlas Intake Options?



## Elitef (Sep 13, 2020)

Anyone know if there are any in the works for the 2021 V6 Atlas?
I see aFe has one for a 2020 Atlas and really wanting to purchsse, but not sure how different the two years are when it comes to design under the hood.

Please let me know


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## Laccos (Aug 10, 2019)

Out of curiosity why would you want one? The VW stock boxes are actually really good and considering you dont really need to worry about spool time just throwing in a K&N drop in filter would save you about $200 on something that will have a negligible impact on sound or performance. An intake isnt going to have any noticeable effect for the butt dyno on the Atlas. For instance, on my GLI I did go out and buy an open intake simply so I could hear if my turbo was failing. You can take the stock box on the GLI do a drop in filter add a silicon intake tube and have a better flowing intake than the APR cold air intake.


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## Elitef (Sep 13, 2020)

Mainly for sound honestly. I cam out of a 400hp suv and am now in a 2021 Atlas V6, so i miss the power feel and the sound.

So was thinking the afe intake and wookie pipe 

K&N filter would do what besides allow more airflow? Wouldnt change the sound, would it?


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## Laccos (Aug 10, 2019)

The drop in filter would increase filter surface area over the factory filter so it would allow it to breathe better. It would have no impact on the butt dyno though. The AFE intake also will have zero impact on sound. Its not an open intake which are also known as filter on a stick. Thats how you get insane sound from the engine bay on forced induction cars, which the VR6 Atlas is not.

If i wanted a lot more grunt from the car Id do a magnaflow muffler swap which I believe will be a quieter modification than doing a resonator swap. The VR6 is one of the best sounding engines there is once you free up the exhaust note. This is what the VR6 Atlas sounds like straight piped which is comical for a family hauler and a bit too much. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLqL4feBMDM


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## Chuck_IV (May 21, 2020)

Laccos said:


> The drop in filter would increase filter surface area over the factory filter so it would allow it to breathe better. It would have no impact on the butt dyno though. The AFE intake also will have zero impact on sound. Its not an open intake which are also known as filter on a stick. Thats how you get insane sound from the engine bay on forced induction cars, which the VR6 Atlas is not.
> 
> If i wanted a lot more grunt from the car Id do a magnaflow muffler swap which I believe will be a quieter modification than doing a resonator swap. The VR6 is one of the best sounding engines there is once you free up the exhaust note. This is what the VR6 Atlas sounds like straight piped which is comical for a family hauler and a bit too much. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLqL4feBMDM


Man that actually sounds great but yeah, it is a bit much for the family... I think. :sly:

I will say, having finally punched it fully a few times over the last couple weeks, I am reminded at how good it really does sound, even at stock. 

To the OP, I was considering dropping one of these in https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H1D7T4K/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_5?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 which is similar to K&N but a dry filter, not oiled. This would probably give you a little extra growl. However, I am just not sure if the added airflow is worth the extra risk of getting contaminants into the engine.


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## Elitef (Sep 13, 2020)

I love to hear the straight piped from the outside too. But yeah family car and all so dont want it too obnoxious. I had an S4 on which i had the magnaflow setup and ot was awesome


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## Laccos (Aug 10, 2019)

Elitef said:


> I love to hear the straight piped from the outside too. But yeah family car and all so dont want it too obnoxious. I had an S4 on which i had the magnaflow setup and ot was awesome


My GLI has a APR cast down pipe and 3 inch cat back. Ive got a vibrant res in the mid pipe and twin magnaflows on the back. Initially I was just running the magnaflows but it was a wee bit too loud with too much high freq at times. The cast down pipe really alters the sound of the exhaust to be much deeper than a stainless down pipe. Im sure that VR6 in the video is pretty damn loud from the outside. Mufflers should be a quieter mod than the resonator. The stock resonators ive seen on VW's are insane for noise reduction. It would probably let out too much noise if you swapped the resonator and certainly far too much noise if you replaced both the res and mufflers.

Ive had a custom exhaust on almost all of my cars and none of them have sounded as good with muffler deletes or straight pipes as they did with a proper muffler and resonator setup. Magnaflow mufflers are amazing at making cars growl, even little bitty 2.0t's.

I was just crawling around under my wifes Atlas and the wookie pipe is a mid pipe delete while maintaining the axle back suitcase muffler. looking at the setup, it would be simplest to pull out that giant "resonator" from the mid pipe and get something like an ultra quiet vibrant pass through resonator. You will get way too much high freq without a resonator and a lot of pops.


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## KarstGeo (Jan 19, 2018)

The 2021 will be 100% identical under the hood...they just don't update their websites w/r to fitment v. well. I just run a drop-in K&N in the stock box for a little more flow and noise.


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## Elitef (Sep 13, 2020)

Ive gone ahead and ordered the afe one and will see how it sound and if there will or wont be any difference. If not much diff, ill go ahead and get the k&n

With regards to exhaust, what mufflers would work well on the atlas?

When i had my s4 a few years back, i had magnaflow mufflers and xpipe and it sounds awesome, but then again, that was an s4 and there was droning still. I say that is a bit much for the atlas family car, so would like something a bit more subtle, so maybe just mufflers, but not sure which would work for the suitcase setup. Any ideas?


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## Laccos (Aug 10, 2019)

Keep the suitcase and replace the resonator in the mid pipe with something. Its incredibly expensive to get someone to build you an axle back as opposed to doing the mid pipe swap. Id try a vibrant ultra quiet res. I think the mid pipe is actually a 2.75 inch pipe for the Atlas. Make sure you get an ultra quiet res though, its not actually quiet but its a lot better than the bottle res (race res) at noise reduction. It shouldnt be too much considering that insane axle back muffler. Then post some videos  should sound awesome!


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## Elitef (Sep 13, 2020)

Elitef said:


> Ive gone ahead and ordered the afe one and will see how it sound and if there will or wont be any difference. If not much diff, ill go ahead and get the k&n
> 
> With regards to exhaust, what mufflers would work well on the atlas?
> 
> When i had my s4 a few years back, i had magnaflow mufflers and xpipe and it sounds awesome, but then again, that was an s4 and there was droning still. I say that is a bit much for the atlas family car, so would like something a bit more subtle, so maybe just mufflers, but not sure which would work for the suitcase setup. Any ideas?


Any particular recommendations?


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## spike_africa (Nov 9, 2015)

Forge motorsports has a bolt on wookie pipe that will make it a bit louder and drops some weight. Google it.


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## Laccos (Aug 10, 2019)

https://vibrantperformance.com/cata...=4551&osCsid=ca6d347815ec0a3c12422f04ea6f54a4 

Vibrant makes great resonators. Again, im not certain but im pretty confident that the mid piping is 2.75 inches. Should sound much more refined while being quieter, with none of the high frequency of straight pipes or resonator deletes "wookie pipes".


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## Chuck_IV (May 21, 2020)

Elitef said:


> Ive gone ahead and ordered the afe one and will see how it sound and if there will or wont be any difference. If not much diff, ill go ahead and get the k&n
> 
> With regards to exhaust, what mufflers would work well on the atlas?
> 
> When i had my s4 a few years back, i had magnaflow mufflers and xpipe and it sounds awesome, but then again, that was an s4 and there was droning still. I say that is a bit much for the atlas family car, so would like something a bit more subtle, so maybe just mufflers, but not sure which would work for the suitcase setup. Any ideas?


I finally did put the aFe in. I can tell a little bit of difference upon acceleration, harder the acceleration, the more I can hear the difference. Otherwise it’s nothing that significant. I kinda doubt the K&N would be much, if any, different from the aFe in sound

I know aFe also makes a cold air intake(Momentum) for the Atlas. Look at YouTube for a video of the sound. It sounds really good, but at $350, it seems overpriced for what you really get out of it. If it were around $200, I may have considered it.


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## Elitef (Sep 13, 2020)

I ordered the momentum
Havent gotten it yet, not a shipping for it despite ordering over a week ago already.


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## camaroz1985 (Mar 2, 2020)

I put the aFe intake on ours, got it used for less than half price. Little bit more noise, but so rarely floor it that I don't really notice. I figured for the price just having a reusable filter was almost worth it. Any HP or MPG improvement (which I'm sure are negligible) are just a bonus.


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## Chuck_IV (May 21, 2020)

Back when we had a 2004 Dodge Durango, Dodge themselves sold "sport" type exhaust replacement systems(I thing they were made by Magnaflow). It was literally plug and play, Simply unbolt the old exhaust right before the muffler and the system had the muffler and all the pipes right out to the back, including a nicer exhaust tip. The system really added a nice rumble and growl. 

Too bad VW doesn't do something like this(although I'm not even sure Dodge still offers this type thing anymore either).


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## Elitef (Sep 13, 2020)

Any vids you can share of how it sounds?
Looks like afe is on back order until end of october so now looking to purchase elsewhere for faster delivery.

Wish i could find it used


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## Laccos (Aug 10, 2019)

ECS tuning is making an open style intake for the Atlas. I would wait for it and get something that will certainly make the engine bay look better.


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## Elitef (Sep 13, 2020)

Any ETAs? Will it be this year, next year, or when?


Laccos said:


> ECS tuning is making an open style intake for the Atlas. I would wait for it and get something that will certainly make the engine bay look better.


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## jagunter12 (Nov 1, 2020)

*Do you see any increase in throttle response?*

wondering - for those that have installed a cold air intake for the 2021 v6 atlas, has the accelerator response improved? Currently, the lag is little long and even with the k&n drop in, I'm not seeing any real drop in lag time when accelerating....

Any ideas or thoughts?


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## KarstGeo (Jan 19, 2018)

jagunter12 said:


> wondering - for those that have installed a cold air intake for the 2021 v6 atlas, has the accelerator response improved? Currently, the lag is little long and even with the k&n drop in, I'm not seeing any real drop in lag time when accelerating....
> 
> Any ideas or thoughts?


That lag is electronic/ECU-driven. I suggest looking into a pedal tuner which they do make for the Atlas.


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## samwoo (Apr 16, 2020)

Chuck_IV said:


> I finally did put the aFe in. I can tell a little bit of difference upon acceleration, harder the acceleration, the more I can hear the difference. Otherwise it’s nothing that significant. I kinda doubt the K&N would be much, if any, different from the aFe in sound
> 
> I know aFe also makes a cold air intake(Momentum) for the Atlas. Look at YouTube for a video of the sound. It sounds really good, but at $350, it seems overpriced for what you really get out of it. If it were around $200, I may have considered it.


Someone once told me VW has some of the best engineers in the world working for them if changing to a cone filter made a real difference they would have already have done it get a kn drop in and be happy


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