This bakkie’s not for sissies

VW HAS WITHOUT A DOUBT PRODUCED THE BEST DOUBLE CAB ON THE ROAD The smaller engine has proved to cope with offroading and long-distance travel.

Iam not a bakkie person. I do not need huge ground clearance, large tyres and a load bay for any practical reasons, nor do I need to look like Bok of the Bosveld… Parking a new Ford Ranger in an underground parking bay in Rosebank a few years ago was a nightmare – even with the rearview camera. And, travelling as a passenger in a bakkie on a few occasions was a reminder that rear seat passengers in most vehicles of this type must be experiencing karma of a sort for misbehaving in a past life, so excruciatingly uncomfortable are these back seats.

Another reason I have had an aversion to bakkies is that, generally, there is an oaf behind the wheel who thinks his “Kalahari Ferrari” is able to taking on anything else. Double cab bakkie drivers are the new road hogs.

Many of these speed maniacs fail to realise that, in many cases, the suspension design of this basic commercial vehicle has not evolved in the same way as pick-up vehicle engines have, especially over the past 15 years.

So, the fact that your powerful turbodiesel engine can push you easily to speeds over 160km/h doesn’t mean your suspension and tyres – designed to cope with 120km/h max – are similarly capable.

There are some hefty double cabs on the market at the moment, with Ford’s five-cylinder turbodiesel Ranger, which packs a 147kW power punch, having hitherto been the king of the hill.

I say hitherto, because Volkswagen has not just taken that title away from Ford, it has well and truly kicked automotive sand into its face with the debut of an Amarok with a V6 turbodiesel motor, which has a brawny 165kW on offer.

The VW, will hit 100km/h in under nine seconds, which is almost three seconds faster than double cab competitors from Ford, Toyota and Isuzu.

Given my experience with bakkie road hogs, that should have irritated me. However, once a VW fan, always a VW fan… and I have previously driven other Amaroks, which have 2.0l four-cylinder turbodiesels. The basic Amarok, with its comparatively small capacity engine, has been frowned upon by the “manne” in the past, because it is regarded as under-powered and unable to take the strain of extended hard work.

In reality, the smaller engine Amaroks have proved to cope with the carrying, offroading and long-distance travel.

The Amarok is, in fact, no sissy, with a chassis that has the most bracing points in the class.

Of all the bakkies around at the moment, the Amarok is the closest one can come to driving a car. Obviously, its large size is a consideration, but behind the wheel, the vehicle seems to shrink.

The V6 has already generated heaps of praise from the motoring hacks. One motoring writer called it the “Porsche of bakkies”, in reference to the fact that the 3.0l engine also does duty in Porsche Panamera sports saloon. Yeah, yeah, yeah… But, as I pulled out to overtake some on the highway and headed in the fast lane and push the accelerator to the floor… whoaah! It felt just like a Panamera.

The power and torque in the V6 Amarok make for effortless, yet fast, progress, and the vehicle feels more planted on the road than any other bakkie I can recall.

Offroad, the Amarok is equally capable, thanks to VW’s FourMotion all-wheel-drive system which, in the eight-speed auto transmission in the vehicle features an ultra-low first gear which takes the place of low range. It also has a rear diff lock.

I’ve seen what it can do offroad and, again, it is no sissy.

Tootling along at the 120km/h highway speed limit, the Amarok engine feels as though it is barely ticking over, while wind noise is muted. The tyres are similarly quiet and there is not a squeak from the cabin plastics.

And that is the moment I realised: I could live with a car like this.

It feels like an executive sedan on the highway and it has near go-anywhere potential off it.

Is this the best double cab bakkie on the market at the moment? Without a doubt …