Styling
It's well known now that this second-gen Amarok is not Volkswagen's own work, like the
predecessor model was, but is in fact a Ford Ranger underneath it all. This reinstates a tie-up between the two automotive giants that was last explored between 1995 and 2006, when they were knocking out the Sharan and Galaxy MPVs respectively alongside the original
SEAT Alhambra. Anyway, while the Amarok is a Ranger and the next Transporter will be related to the
Transit, this is a two-way street and so both the
Ford Explorer and the Blue Oval's utterly contentious revival of the Capri badge are essentially rebodied
ID.4 and
ID.5 SUVs accordingly.
Now, ordinarily, we'd say we prefer Ford's styling to Volkswagen's, especially when it comes to those SUVs we mentioned above. But, in this instance, as nice as the current Ranger is - and it
is nice to look at, with its sizeable C-shaped light clusters up front - we think the Amarok is the smarter thing to behold. This PanAmericana is one step down from Aventura flagship trim, which is rather like the
Wildtrak is a level below the
Platinum in the Ranger line, and for the Volkswagen then PanAmericana spec enhances the off-roading aspects of the pick-up, rather than focusing on luxury like the Aventura. It comes with mainly black exterior detailing, including for the 'X'-shaped bumper insert in the nose of the truck and for that loadbed bar behind the cab, and it would ordinarily have 18-inch black alloys, although our test vehicle had some very attractive 20-inch 'Bendigo' optional wheels fitted for £1,020. Either way, there's something about the horizontal grille lines, stance and flared-out arches of the Amarok that we heartily approve of, so it's definitely our favourite-looking truck of the moment.
Interior
The inside is where you will most easily spot the Ford influence, what with the 12-inch portrait-arranged central touchscreen for the infotainment, the chunky auto gearlever with the side buttons for sequential shift, and when you look at the arrangement of the information in the instrument cluster. But Volkswagen at least overlays its own graphical fonts and icons on top of the Ford software underneath, while the general quality of the PanAmericana's interior is superb. Unlike earlier-generation pick-ups, there are far fewer plastics of suspect quality in here and, in particular, this model's lovely black-and-brown leather upholstery (on the seats and the door cards) is an especially nice touch. Proper switchgear on the steering wheel, too, so you can operate everything in the Amarok from almost the first minute you're sitting in it as if it were second nature. It's an excellent passenger compartment, all things considered.
Practicality
Unless you need an enclosed boot for carrying your prized pooches safely in the back, it's hard to know how much more practical a vehicle you could reasonably buy in a public showroom than a one-tonne pick-up like the Amarok. It carries more than a tonne of clobber in the loadbed, it can tow the maximum of 3.5 tonnes of braked trailer (but not with a loaded-up cargo bay, it's an either/or decision as to what task you want the truck to do), it has serious off-road capability with a proper four-wheel-drive system and - as this PanAmericana - a locking rear differential, it'll swim through pretty much anything with an 800mm maximum wading depth as standard, and it'll also happily seat four adults in comfort in the cabin, provided they're not all six foot five and built like outhouses. Perhaps the only practicality drawback of the entire Amarok range is that all models are double-cabs, with no single-cab variants available. But, otherwise, what more could you want from the Volkswagen pick-up than this?
Performance
There are few places in any sphere of the automotive world right now where you can still bag a huge-hearted, six-cylinder turbodiesel. And they're only going to get harder to find from hereon in, until one day they're a distant memory. We are firmly of the opinion that when that day comes, it will be an inherently sad time. Because this 3.0-litre engine in the Amarok is an absolute jewel.
It doles out huge gobs of torque, right from the minute its turbochargers spool up and all the way to about 3,000rpm, so while the 0-62mph time on paper doesn't look took hot at nine seconds dead, the way the Amarok piles on the pace once it's rolling along is magnificent. It will get itself up to 70mph in very short order, even if we are still firmly of the opinion that Ford's ten-speed automatic transmission is needlessly, erm... over-endowed (steady...) in the ratios department. You could easily get away with eight cogs when you've got 600Nm to play with, or even six with the right sort of spacing, and it'd probably make the VW truck feel even quicker than it already is. However, while there are too many shifts when the Amarok is accelerating hard, the transmission is at least super-smooth and unobtrusive while it's changing gear, so in the main you kind of forget about how many cogs there are and instead simply marvel at its all-round slick manners.
Obviously, the 3.0-litre engine also sounds lovely, a deep, barrel-chested growl emanating from in front of the bulkhead when you ask for some meaningful acceleration from the Amarok PanAmericana, and that V6 motor never becomes coarse to listen to, nor does it generate much in the way of notable vibrations through the base of the seats or the steering wheel. Aside from the numerically superfluous gears in the transmission, the Volkswagen truck has a drivetrain of pure class.
Of course, if you want the power of a 240hp V6, you kind of pay for it with the economy. We covered just shy of 400 miles in the PanAmericana in the course of a week, and at a steadier 32mph average speed overall it achieved 25mpg on the button. A longer 140-mile out-and-back run to Hull on the A1, M18 and M62 did see a slightly more acceptable spot return of 26.8mpg, but in general you're going to be looking at mid-20s consumption - at least that's not far off Volkswagen's claimed figure for the Amarok V6 TDI, which has an on-paper best of 28mpg.
Ride & Handling
Anyone who's driven a one-tonne pick-up truck, or who has read a review of one, will know that their rear suspension - leaf springs, in the case of this Amarok, as there is no direct analogue of the mental
Raptor variant of the Ranger and its advanced chassis set-up - has to be tuned to be able to cope when it has more than 1,000kg of load in the bed at the back of the vehicle. This, though, can often mean the damping is overwrought when the truck is unladen, leading to an unsettled ride of the type you'd never experience in an equivalent-price SUV.
So if we say this new Amarok isn't entirely free from the shudder, or shimmy, that presents itself when you are traversing really badly broken-up tarmac, the rear wheels skipping over the surface rather than breathing with it, this is not to be unexpected. And, furthermore, it's in no way detrimental to the VW's overarching ride comfort and rolling refinement, which is generally fantastic. Honestly, for a giant, bluff-shaped thing like this running on tyres which have to make some concessions to off-roading and working in adverse conditions, the Amarok is truly exceptional. At lower speeds or when pounding along a motorway, its supple and long-travel set-up manages to soak up all manner of imperfections in the asphalt, while both tyre and wind noise are admirably quelled in something that has commercial leanings - even accepting this double-cab PanAmericana is never the sort of machine that's going to be pressed into service carrying building materials around an under-construction housing estate.
It's also a truck which handles rather sweetly. The steering and suspension tune of the Amarok is all Volkswagen's own work, and the engineers have done a spiffing job with it. The steering isn't that ultra-slow and dim-witted system you'd normally get in a pick-up, and while it's maybe not as sharp as the kind of sensation you'd get in a talented sports SUV, it nevertheless has a genial rate of response, good weighting and even a degree of feel that lets you hustle the PanAmericana through corners with confidence at a decent pace. Sure, there is some body roll to work around, but it's not excessive and grip levels with the Volkswagen are high, while you can even sense that drive is going primarily to the rear wheels when you're in 2WD mode. Comfortable and quiet when you want it to be, and surprisingly entertaining through the twisties when you don't, the Amarok is a proper hoot to steer and live with, as big pick-up trucks go.
Value
There are four trims for the Amarok, which run Life, Style, PanAmericana and Aventura. The first of these has the option of two four-cylinder turbodiesels, with either 170- or 204hp, while the Style buyer gets the choice of that 204hp motor or the sumptuous 3.0-litre V6 unit as seen in this PanAmericana. Both the model tested here and the range-topping Aventura are fitted with the V6 TDI only, which is a very good thing, trust us.
With a starting price just beyond £42,000 including VAT, the Amarok is reasonably priced in the main, but if you want one of these two most opulent specs - so clearly targeted at private buyers rather than commercial users - then you're looking at much closer to 60 grand with VAT and a few tasty options lumped on top. That said, the top-end Rangers are really no cheaper, and as in the immediate weeks preceding our test of the Amarok we were in a
£58,295 Tiguan and a
£49,660 Passat Estate, then a £58,434 starting price for something this large, grand and capable fitted with a luscious V6 engine doesn't seem so bad at all.
Verdict
Aside from the Amarok and Ranger 'twins', there's still the venerable old
Toyota Hilux, the budget-oriented
Isuzu D-Max and the (frankly weird)
Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster to go at if you want some kind of rugged 4x4 with a loadbed tacked onto the back of it. However, we're here to tell you that, the Ford source material aside, not a single one of the Volkswagen's rivals can get close to the Amarok's all-round superb dynamic display, nor do any of them feel half as high-quality inside as the PanAmericana. So it's basically a Ranger or this... and we think, thanks to its fabulous exterior styling, it's the VW which is the new one-tonne pick-up truck market leader.
