Update: Volkswagen Amarok Review.
Ahead of its launch in Australia, South Africa, Germany and the rest of Europe, Volkswagen have debuted its new Amarok crew-cab ute in South America.
Available initially as a four-door crew-cab only, the German designed one-tonner will be built predominantly in Argentina. A single-cab variant will follow in early 2011.
Styling is typically Volkswagen with cues inside and out pointing to those of the brand’s highly-favoured passenger models.
Under the bonnet Amarok is available with a choice of two four-cylinder, turbo-diesel engines – single and twin turbocharged – developing 90kW/340Nm and 120kW/400Nm respectively. Both are mated exclusively to a six-speed manual transmission. Fuel consumption is said to be 7.6L/100km from the low-output model with CO2 figures cracking the sub-200g/km barrier (199g/km).
The Amarok will be available in RWD and AWD formats with the latter offering full- and part-time variants (both versions of VW’s 4MOTION system).
Three specification levels will be offered from the get-go: Base, Trendline and Highline. All models will offer seating for five with a fold-able rear seat allowing additional cargo capacity.
The tray measures are 1,555mm x 1,620mm with 1,222mm between the wheel arches leaving enough room for a standard pallet.
Safety features include front and side airbags, ABS brakes with off-road function, an electronic differential lock, hill descent assist, plus ESC and Traction Control.
Pricing and full specification detail for the Australian market will be announced closer to Amarok’s launch mid-2010.
will it come here? hilux and nivara drivers will be like damn… wtf is that?
Pricing and full specification detail for the Australian market will be announced closer to Amarok’s launch mid-2010.
Can anyone confirm if the VW will have a proper low range like the HiLux and D40?
Yea I think they might need these after watching the Top Gear Bolivia episode.
If this can stand up to what the trio did to a FJ40, Range Rover and the little Sierra in the latest Topgear episode in South America, VW will be on a winner. Great episode!
I much better looking ute than either the Hilux or my D40 Navara. Price will be the biggest factor as to what people buy. If the Amarok can match Hilux it will sell in volume.
Should read “A” much better looking ute. Sorry.
I wouldnt really say this is a “Much better” looking vehicle than the Navara, IMO the Navara also looks the goods, just a pity it seems to be plagued by some serious mechanical reliability problems
Mine has been but it was a first run (4 years old) .Lesson learnt. I was talking to a client last week and he has a two year old D40 like mine and he has never had a problem with it.
Hilux has had some major defects too with this current shape. I think you can just be unlucky also. I still think my Navara is better looking than the hilux but that ain’t hard as toyota seem to have a policy of building bland or ugly cars lately, however the Amarok is a good ,tough looking ute.
They are saying they are going to aim at Hilux pricing, then knock a bit off.
Even though the Hilux isnt the best in this class, it is the bench mark for sales, and VW have declared the Hilux sales is what they are aiming at.
Only prob is there are many Hilux faithfulls out there, be interesting to see if they can sway some into what looks to be a better vehicle.
They would also have to tackle Fleet sales if they want respectable numbers versus the Lux
I cant wait for a review of one of these to see if the typical Jap ute mould will be broken.
Not sure if I’d want the Americans to be given the first opinion on it though.
Might wait till a country with taste for comfort review it before getting a locked in opinion on it
A 2.0L diesel and a manual only no auto yet, still has rear leaf springs and rear drum brakes, VW are kidding themselves, with VW reliability issues and Hilux’s 3.0L engine Toyota will be pretty safe I rekon.
If you think that the hilux has been problem free your are kidding yourself. Don’t confuse it with the “unbreakable” models of days gone by. This current Hilux has had some major defects.
Not half as many as vw mate…. I work in the trade and hear horror stories from friends who work @ vw dealers. Toyota’s are still my pick for reliability in Australia.
had my Bora V64Motion from new since 2001 – apart from a window regulator, no other issues (fixed under warranty) – My 1yr old Nissan had its ECU changed this month. So don’t generalise.
I’m sure this will be safer than the 3-star Japanese rivals though?
Okay so the leaf springs are sort of justified…. but rear drum-brakes???… from Volkswagen???
Shame.
And I would love if they offered a bigger engine for a highline model, maybe the 3.6 FSI if we MUST have petrol, but the 2.5TDi seems appropriate too. The small engines wont do it for everyone…
Petrol engines haven’t been confirmed yet, but the 2.5L TDI engine no longer meets emissions requirements for Euro V compliance. The new twin-turbo version of the 2.0L TDI engine matches the previous 2.5L engine for power and torque and is lighter and more economical.
I personally didn’t overly understand why they chose to develop a new ladder-frame chassis for the Amarok instead of just using the Touareg/Q7/Cayenne’s 9L platform. The leaf springs are preferable for load carrying, but drum brakes? Cost saving measure?
I’m sure the trade-off (in terms of cost for development) would have been acceptable by using a current platform instead of developing a new one.
Touareg etc are not made to hold weight…simple isnt it??? I thought it was!
Its a ute isnt it?
Too right!!
Also who would want a ute with IRS??
Drivers of Boganmobiles.
aka..Holden ute drivers.
The 2.0 is now used in the T5 & is more than a match for the old 2.5 5cyl engine. Less fumes less fuel being used and more go. You can’t knock it.
Rear drum brakes, and leaf springs are usually used on utes, since a tax laws in certain South east asian countries require them. These things allow the car to be classified as a commercial ute, and therefore receive enormous tax brakes…
Not to mention with leaf springs you can easily remove and or add leafs to suit the load better…
Yep,
leaf springs are a must, but are the drum brakes also part of that apparent tax rule???
Easily remove and add leafs???
You have to take the whole leaf springs out if you want them adjusted, unless you are talking about the after market extra leaf that can be slapped in to strengthen the load…….
But even then that extra leaf still takes half hour to install. I cant see too many people pulling up at the sand and gravel place, putting the extra leaf in, then taking it out again once the sand is dumped off.
Leaf springs are pretty much set and forget.
If you want adjustment you need to get airbags fitted. Thats the only method that really gives you ease of changing to suit the load. They can be fitted to both Coil overs and Leaf sprung
This diesel engine, although smaller then the 3.0L Hilux diesel, still outguns the Hilux for torque.
Hilux also has leaf springs and Drum brakes, so why hang it on the VW???
Hilux doesnt get ABS standard either whereas the Amarok does.
Issue for fleets will be access to dealers to service the vehicles. We run a fleet of hundreds of HiLux and HiAce across Australia and know there is a Toyota dealer in every town . . . almost. But how many VW dealers are there? A quick look on their websites shows 105 Toyota dealers in NSW compared to 24 VW dealers. And that’s just NSW. For VW to get traction with serious fleets, they must get more dealers and offer unbelievable fleet pricing. Otherwise their dream of fleet domination is notgonnahappen.com
The Mitsubishi Triton is the Only ute on the market to achieve a 4 Star Safety Rating with Stability Control now Standard on most models and airbags all round
No ute stacks up higher with the STANDARD Equipment of any ute on the market. And has been proven by recall/track history of all major makes/models in this ute category to have the least problems out of the HILUX, NAVARA, and Mazda.
You cant go past a Mitsubishi now for POWER, SAFETY, SIZE, PRACTICALLITY, and of course WARRANTY.
Mitsubishi will be having Set price Servicing from 1st of January 2010 on all models
From only $179 FIXED, Beat that Toyota.
I agree,
the Triton is by far the best proposition in the class when everything like Value, ability, warranty etc is considered.
One thing I dont agree with is your saleswomen like speech.
Makes it sound like you work for Mitsubishi
If I was in the market for a ute, I’d get myself LC79 ute…
I’d check the amarok out too, but I reckon the LC79 will probably have a better towing, payload capacity, not to mention offroad capability…
Yes,
and then there would be things the Amarok could do better too
Why you so sensative??
Offcourse, every car has it’s pro’s and con’s?! Do you really need to spell it out?
Because I think its a bit silly to compare vehicles of different classes.
This competes with Navara, Hilux etc, and for that I think this looks promising.
Its a bit of a captain obvious that the LC79 will have a better payload etc.
But if you want to tow 3 tonne, I wouldnt even want to be doing it in a LC. When you actually look at the stats the LC can only tow an extra 500kgs, and with a motor more than 2 times the size only has 30nm more torque.
If a Navara cant do it for eg, you need a truck
Andrew M,
I think it’s a bit silly to call it a different class all of a sudden!
It’s a ute, every 4wd magazine i have read puts them (navara, hilux etc) in the same class, get over it!
Andrew M says:
“When you actually look at the stats the LC can only tow an extra 500kgs, and with a motor more than 2 times the size only has 30nm more torque.”
Don’t forget Sherlock, the LC79 and the hilux been around a while, and the amarok is yet to be released… you would expect the newer vehicle to be better!!
Also got to mention my mate, a mechanic recently purchased an old troopie ute, he used to service for a mate’s bussiness since new.
He only performed basic service on it, and it has well over 700,000Km on the clock…
I have my doubts the 2L diesel on the amarok will run for that long…
QUOTE…..
“you would expect the newer vehicle to be better!!”
So you agree the Amarok will be better???
LC competes with the Patrol.
Hilux is a class below LC, and Navara is a class behind Patrol.
They are clearly a different class of vehicles no matter what any magazine wants to compare.
It would actually be a disadvantage to LC and Patrol to be compared to the smaller class.
LC for one has styling, interior and safety stuck in the 1980′s.
Hilux also performs much better on road than its bigger brother LC
Also good diesels come out of the UK, so I wouldnt be writing the VW motor off yet
All Mitsubishi need to do now is put in a seat thats more comfortable than an esky lid, fix the engine tune so it doesnt have a horrible mid-rev flat spot and fix the styling and they’d have a winner.
The problem with the Mitsubishi is its so ugly at the back of the cab. I mean have you seen one with the fibre glass canopy? Absolutely hideous.
Too Right, and apparently the standard suspension is city biased, too soft for long term offroad work!
So Karen works for Mitsubishi right?
She makes a good point but let’s be honest, mitsu tritons are uglier than a valentines day at tiger woods’ house.
I’d have a look at one of these…. although I can only imagine what would be said turning up to a site in a euro ute.
Drum Brakes, yes pretty odd for something that is supposed to take on the Hilux. But here is the killer, no Automatic for at least 3yrs!!!! . We are supposed to be a major target market for the Amarok. Who is doing the strategic planning at VW?
I think this vehicle is being introduced into Australia for the metropolitan tradesman, Volkswagen won’t put dealers out in the middle of no where to service just one of their models. It won’t impact much on the established Market, just provide a unique alternative to boast their local commercial sales.
Just for the record; according to the Toyota homepage the Hilux also uses drum brakes on the rear for all models (2WD and 4WD).
Let’s wait for the first real car review and comparison tests with other Pickup’s
AND for the all new FORD RANGER end of 2010
are you talking about the T6 ranger replacement???
so its due end on this year???
I didn’t realise VW had another ute in South America called the Saveiro. Nice small ute. Jumbjuckish in size.
Looks the goods but will it match Toyota’s relationship with the Govo fleet sales as thats where all the Lolux’s go….
I would rather a slightly smaller ute with old fashioned proven reliability like the Mazda BT-50…strong 3ltr turbo diesel…
I think a lot of people have missed the point that VW said they were going to give the OZ ute market a shake up and they come up with this. As far as rear drums and leaf springs go think about what you are paying for any of the top line utes and what you get for that money. Independant rear sus and discs should be standard and levels of refinement should be equal to a family sedan of the same price range, and while even Toyota dont meet these criteria the Hilux is still and will be for a long time the best ute on the market. Most of the high end utes end up carrying the kids and doing the shopping so why shouldn’t they be as good as the family car for use and safety.
Too right you are. For some reason they believe they can give us ‘strayans sub par products. Just because the world portrays us as yobbos with kangaroo’s in our backyards, doesnt mean we like crap products. C’mon i thought the all conquering VW group was meant to have a product to suit all needs.
Apparently some Aussies do like crap, because they keep buying GM and Ford products
The thing is that the GM and Ford Ute’s drive better than the Jap ones.
I will agree with that, its just a shame about the rest of the ute.
As in??
So you like the better ride,
but not the better safety???
but not the better pulling power???
but not the better styling???
Unless you were aiming at reliability, but the Jap utes arent really any better, and considering they are more basic, you would think they would be
I was looking for buy vw from a good dealer because it is really important and i found it in milwaukee.