VOLKSWAGEN AMAROK Core Plus

UNRAVELLING our swags for the first night reminded us of a few clever features in the Amarok. A 12V outlet in the tray gives options for camp lights or fridges, for example, and there’s a light integrated into the sports bar to illuminate the load area. It’s clever stuff and shows the thoughtfulness injected into Volkswagen’s inaugural ute.

It’s comfy, too. Slipping behind the wheel of the Amarok is like settling into your favourite chair; comfortable, familiar and ready for the long run. The supportive seats team with an excellent driving position to kick things off nicely. And from the moment we jumped in it there was never an issue finding a hidey hole for our kit, with the dash-top binnacle a handy overflow, albeit one that reflects whatever it is you’ve put there into the driver’s field of view.

At $50,990 the Core Plus we’ve enlisted for our outback adventure is the most you can spend on a four-cylinder Amarok, but it’s a comparative bargain in this company. It comes with alloy wheels, a chunky black sports bar, and Apple Carplay and Android Auto plumbed through a user-friendly 6.3-inch touchscreen. Ours also came with optional satellitenavigation as well as Alcantara trim, for a more elegant seat finish. Even then there are significant omissions, such as rear side airbags, commonplace on rivals. It also misses out on rear air vents and tyre pressure sensors.

If you want the full leather fruit with electric folding seats you’re pushed into the more powerful V6, which can take you to almost $70K. It’s indicative of a car that does things differently. At two litres in capacity its four-cylinder diesel is by far the smallest here, assisted by one small and one larger turbocharger to provide more huff across its rev range. The 132kw power peak only just slips past the Hilux, while its 420Nm torque figure is outdone by its outback rivals. However, the Amarok has additional assistance in the form of its eightspeed auto. With more ratios than its contenders it’s a better chance to keep the engine in its sweet spot, with the wellcalibrated unit slicing expertly between ratios for elegant, if not astonishing, performance.

It makes for easy progress, either

close to the 110km/h limit so common in the outback, or when carving through undulating canyons. There’s a maturity and accessible nature to its drivetrain.

However, it’s the Amarok’s manners that impress most. On country roads there’s a relaxed nature to it, the steering predictable and responsive and the unladen tail behaving close to an SUV in the way it fends off bumps. Throw a few kilos in that broad load area – it can accommodate a pallet between its wheel arches – and the equation is almost as convincing.

Rolling onto gravel roads for the first time also reinforces one of the advantages of the Amarok: its permanent all-wheel drive system. Rather than twirling dials to engage the front wheels, they’re always running, which is ideal for this sort of trip. It’s already set so the driver can forget. However, as things got rockier up a dry creek bed, there was no option to select low range; the typical low range transfer case simply doesn’t exist on an auto-transmission-equipped Amarok. Fortunately, the torquey engine makes for easy progress in all but the slowest terrain. Even without what was once considered essential off-road hardware, the Amarok is mighty impressive in its ability. For our adventure there was nowhere the Amarok shied away from, its generous clearance and articulation teaming with its locking rear diff to shuffle things along with the sort of competency few would expect from high-range only. We tried the off-road mode that sits alongside the gear selector, but its benefits are minimal and, in many cases on these touring roads, you’re better off leaving it disengaged, allowing slightly friendlier mapping of the transmission.

The Core Plus we tested here ups the wheel size to 17 inches, but they’re still very capable Pirelli Scorpion all-terrains, which worked beautifully on this trip. Keep it out of the really slow going, then, and the Amarok is a tough and capable companion. Its spacious cabin is welcoming and its broad driving demeanour a winner for big adventures. For those wanting more, it’s comforting knowing there’s a V6 available for good measure too.

FOR OUR ADVENTURE THERE WAS NOWHERE THE AMAROK SHIED AWAY FROM