VW Atlas Cross Sport – Rotiform Wheels

Slammin’ cross-country on 22’s.

If you’re into VWs it’s almost guaranteed that the antics of Jamie Orr of Orchid Euro have crossed your feed a time or two in the past few years. As a roving reporter for our favorite mag, Performance VW, Jamie is always on the road and up to a new challenge—whether it’s remotely building a car in South Africa or chaperoning a group of Americans and their cars to Wörthersee Treffen. However, with COVID-19 doing it’s thing on any and all 2020 plans, Jamie had to come up with a new challenge that ticked all the safety boxes, and that’s where the VW Atlas Cross Sport comes in.

A contradictory combination of stretched tires and slammed KW suspension with a roof top tent from Thule is only the beginning of Jamie’s 2020 adventure. With the Atlas Cross Sport being a new addition to VW’s North American lineup and its introduction being eclipsed by the Corona, it’s safe to say that the scene hasn’t seen many of them modified yet. In fact, this may be the first one that any of us in the Rotiform office have seen so far. And while it’s no surprise to see one slammed on big wheels (22×10” Rotiform JDR wheels, in this case), the addition of the Thule roof top tent does spark a question or two.

In lieu of the SEMA Show in Las Vegas this year, Orr planned a cross country solo trip in the Atlas with all climates and terrains in the middle. But there’s always a catch—Jamie would be camping out atop the Atlas each night and traversing even the snowiest alpine passes on the tiniest of stretched tires, in a brand new, shiny VW. One night in the snowy mountains, another on a dry lake bed in the desert and only a couple short days later, he was in our office in Southern California.

Considering the rare opportunity, the Rotiform media team dropped everything, popped the roof top tent off, and pulled the Atlas around back for a quick shoot in the yard. All shined up, the 22” JDR wheels and Delinte tires filled the lowered arches nicely, giving a slight peek into the Tarox 6-pots behind the spokes.

After a quick sunbathing sesh, the tent was back atop the Atlas and Jamie was on his way again, with a stop to see our pals at Hoonigan before heading north to Buttonwillow for KW Suspension’s Tech Expo Day, and eventually trekking back east across the US. Thanks for the hang Jamie, and those JDR’s sure do suit the Atlas well.