Bakkie that poses as a car
AMAROK: VW’S OFFERING CAN GET ITS BOOTS DIRTY WITH THE BEST OF THEM
Has won its spurs, even though it has only a 2.0-litre engine.
The Volkswagen Group – which includes premium brands like Porsche, Lamborghini and Bentley – is not afraid to do things differently … and has a history of launching vehicles which make hardened petrolheads wonder, “What were they thinking?”
Porsche launched the Cayenne SUV to the sounds of gobsmacked journalists across the globe, who wondered if the iconic sports carmaker had lost its marbles by coming up with a 4x4 which could actually go pretty far off-road.
It wasn’t long before the customers proved the Doubting Thomas motoring scribblers wrong, as the Cayenne went on to become the best-selling vehicle in the Porsche line-up, showing the Germans were expert at predicting the fashion SUV wave and riding its crest for a decade.
Volkswagen, as a brand, has been less fortunate.
Its Phaeton luxury saloon was one of the best cars in the world when it debuted in the late ’90s, every centimetre the equal of anything put out by Mercedes-Benz or BMW. But nobody bought it because … well … VW.
There were similar gasps of disbelief in South Africa when VW brought the Amarok to market in 2010.
This is the country, after all, where it would not surprise you to hear of a platteland farmer naming his son Hilux in honour of the all-conquering Toyota bakkie. Isuzu’s KBs also have legions of diehard fans, because they simply do not break.
VW’s bakkie was nothing revolutionary in concept: rugged ladder chassis (better reinforced than the competitors), with front engine and rear-wheel drive.
There were single and double cab versions, as well as a 4x4 model.
This shocked more than a few people when it came out with only an automatic gearbox, which had no low-range. It took a lot of explaining to show that the first gear in the auto box was so low it took the place of low range.
A number of trans-Africa expeditions in sponsored VW Amaroks have underlined the reality that it can get its boots dirty with the best of them.
The debate among “the manne” about that low-range issue was nothing compared to the barroom hot air about its real Achilles
heel: it only has a 2.0-litre engine.
The competition, which also included Ford’s Ranger, had motors ranging from 2.8 litres through 3.0 litres, all the way about to 3.2 litres … all of them turbodiesels, like the Amarok.
The VW’s trick to pushing out 132kW of power (in the same ballpark as the others) was to use twin turbos on the top model. And, getting on for a decade later, the engine has won its spurs.
The reality is that the VW bakkie did win many converts away from Ford, Toyota and Isuzu, although not at the scale where it would really challenge their market share.
One of the reasons was that, of all the pick-up trucks on sale in this country, the Amarok drives the most like a car.