The Volkswagen Amarok shows off what it can do
Volkswagen’s Amarok is one of the classier pick-ups on sale today, but can it still do everything a rough-and-ready truck needs to do? Jack Evans finds out
A pick-up is, first and foremost, designed to be useful. Yes, quite frequently they become trendy, almost overly-stylised modes of transportation but, when you boil it down, a truck has got to be a utilitarian machine before anything else.
The Amarok is certainly good at this. In the past month, it’s been tested on numerous occasions and each one has proved little trouble for the big Volkswagen.
The first challenge came when an older Volkswagen model – a 1972 Type 3 and forerunner to the popular Passat – needed towing to the nearby garage for essential maintenance. As you’d expect, the Amarok, with its 550Nm of torque, made short work of the job in hand. It’s the first time that the tow bar had come in handy, and it certainly did prove useful on this occasion.
That said, the Amarok isn’t unsettled by inconsistencies in the road too much, but I wouldn’t mind testing a model on smaller alloys and larger tyres. Yes, those fitted to our model do look the part, and give the truck even more presence out on the road, but I feel this could give the ride a slightly more luxurious edge. Food for thought, I suppose.
I managed a quick snatch of a drive in this updated truck out in Oman, but I’ve yet to see how it feels on UK roads. I must admit, I’ve never clambered into our Amarok, headed out on the motorway and thought ‘this needs just a little more poke’, but you can never have too much power, particularly in the pick-up segment. Hopefully next month I’ll be able to report on whether it make a big difference to the whole experience. Stay tuned.
MODEL: Volkswagen Amarok Highline
PRICE: £41,971
ENGINE: 3.0-litre V6 diesel
POWER: 221bhp
TORQUE: 550
MAX SPEED: 119
0-60MPH: 7.8secs
MPG (COMBINED): 34.9
EMISSIONS: 212g/km CO2
MILEAGE (TO DATE): 4,592
