Volkswagen’s eagerly awaited Amarok one-tonne ute/pickup has finally arrived in Australia. Initial sales were expected to take place late in 2010 but overseas interest has been so high Amarok was delayed until now.
Though the German car giant has previously dabbled in the ute market with vehicles based on the older models in the Kombi range, as well as having some half-tonne utes on sale in Europe, this is its serious entrant into the pure one-tonne ute market.
This is a true heavy-duty work horse with a tough ladder-frame chassis and, in the 4WD versions, a two-speed transfer case.
Unlike engineers in other companies, principally in Japan, who have been forced to endlessly rework ute designs that sometimes date back for many years, Volkswagen has had the huge advantage of starting with completely blank computer screens. Computer screens that in their early stages would have contained a plethora of information on utes built by Toyota, Nissan, Ford, Mitsubishi, Isuzu and others, because there’s nothing like learning from the work put in by your competitors.
Australia is one of the world’s biggest markets for utes. Here as in places like South Africa, Argentina and Thailand, utes are more than simply work vehicles. They are also lifestyle purchases and are expected to look good as well as work long hours, sometimes with a minimum of care and maintenance.
Power for all of the Amaroks comes from a twin-turbo 2.0-litre diesel producing 120 kilowatts of power and a big 400 Newton metres of torque. The latter is available from 1500 rpm and during our review we found the engine to be more than happy to hold high gears in the six-speed manual gearbox, needing only 1200 to 1400 revs to start pulling. This ability to use high gears assists lowering the fuel consumption and Volkswagen Australia claims its new vehicle has the lowest diesel consumption in its class, with figures ranging from 7.7 to 7.9 litres per hundred kilometres depending on model.
The bad news is that there is no automatic transmission option in the Volkswagen Amarok. VW Australia is well aware that our drivers often buy this type of vehicle as a sports ute so have pushed hard for a self-shifting transmission to be developed. That may not be a double-clutch DSG unit as is being used in most models in the VW range, that’s because the characteristics of a double-clutch wouldn't suit off-road driving. Amarok will be sold in both rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive format, the latter using two variants of Volkswagen’s 4Motion system. One gives permanent four-wheel drive, while the other is selectable by the driver to let them tailor the system to suit changing conditions. There are also sophisticated electronic traction aids that vary their performance according to on-road as well as multiple off-road situations.
For example, in the off-road setting of the ABS the Amarok stops in a far shorter distance than in vehicles only fitted with an on-road system. Our first review in Australia - we have previously driven Amarok in South Africa - involved some harsh off-road driving in areas made even more treacherous by heavy rain. This is a genuine 4WD, with the ability to battle its way through sticky, muddy ruts and/or crawl carefully up or down steep rocky slopes. On the road, Volkswagen Amarok has the sort of quiet smooth feel you simply don’t get in other utes. While not car-like, it comes closer than you might imagine. Those using this double-cab ute as a family car will find the family quite content to travel for long distances within it.
All five seats have headrests and lap-sash safety belts and the three rear seats have child-seat mounting points. Volkswagen Amarok is being sold in Australia in three grades, ranging from a $33,990 2WD workhorse, to a $58,490 Ultimo AWD. Various options are offered, including some that dress it up with big alloy wheels, sports bars, side steps and all sorts of other items that the young guys love.
Volkswagen Amarok looks set to make a big impact on the pickup / ute scene in Australia. Indeed, it’s rumoured that Toyota, which totally dominates this market with its HiLux, imported the first ever Amarok to Australia, even beating the official importers to the punch by doing so.
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