Long termers

THERE’S nothing like spotting a yellow low-oil warning light to trigger an involuntary lift of your right foot. Until now, this powerful double cab has been faultless, but the appearance of the little illuminated can of oil in the instrumentation required an immediate stop to check.

An unsheathing of the dipstick revealed levels on the low side and an extra pint at the nearest service station returned the black line to its accustomed position further up the long, thin sliver of metal. Still, I needed to make sure all was in order and immediately booked in the Amarok with Volkswagen’s Barons Cape Town dealership. They were able to accommodate me within two days and I dealt with friendly service manager Avril Sacco (this, of course, was done without me mentioning a connection with CAR magazine). I dropped off the vehicle at 08h00 and, throughout the day, Avril sent me updates on the progress and nally that I could collect the vehicle at 15h00. It turned out my blue double cab’s oil consumption was nothing abnormal, with Avril highlighting a paragraph in the owner’s manual that declares, “Depending on how you drive and the conditions in which the car is used, oil consumption can be up to 1,0 L/2 000 km – and is likely to be higher for the rst 5 000 km for new vehicles.”

I wouldn’t say I’ve been driving the vehicle particularly harshly – although I’ve been guilty of using the full 180 kw on overboost to dispatch the odd hot hatch – but at least I know all is well under the hood and there’s no chance of the big 3,0-litre V6 eating its internals. Barons also replaced a clip on the powersteering hose, which was part of a routine upgrade done on its rst service. All in all, a very positive service experience.