Volkswagen Amarok
REPORT 4
£55,440 OTR/£57,231 as tested/£599 pcm
WHY IT’S HERE
Does a posh double-cab pickup make the ultimate family SUV?
DRIVER
Sam Philip
NOW THAT’S MORE LIKE IT. I’LL BE HONEST, WHEN HEMMED INTO crowded southeast England the Amarok can feel a little overspecified for day to day pottering Like using a Chiron to deliver takeaway pizza round a provincial town centre sure it’ll do it but you’re not necessarily tapping into its reserves of talent
But stick the big ’Rok on the side of a snowy mountain in the Alps with the mercury touching C and it transforms from slightly ponderous SUV into Greatest Car in the Entire World It’s a beast This you get the sense is what the Amarok was born to do chew its way along forest tracks haul a job lot of firewood down a snowy trail drag a stricken bullock from an icy lake OK we didn’t drag a bullock from an icy lake but had we needed to
It blended in with the local crowd that’s for sure The locals who work out here clearing roads managing forests they’re not driving Land Cruisers or Defenders or even Panda xs They’re all in pickups
OK partly that’s a cost thing and partly because they’re lugging around whatever it is burly mountain folk lug around the mountains chainsaws and St Bernards and barrels of brandy? so a flatbed’s kinda useful But it’s also because pickups are the right tool for the high altitude job built to uncomplainingly biff through bad terrain wear an inch thick layer of mud salt and grime with pride get a hose down once a year if they’re lucky
The worse the weather got the better the Amarok got One evening we were treated to an unexpected though short lived six inch dump of snow As the valley ground to a standstill SUVs sliding into ditches vans broadsiding themselves across the road the Amarok trucked happily on its excellent drivetrain and excellent winter tyres finding grip where others failed Not every WD system is born equal and this Amarok’s with low ratio transfer case and locking centre and rear diffs is the real deal