Volkswagen Amarok
REPORT 5
£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
IN FEBRUARY THIS YEAR, HMRC ANNOUNCED THAT COMPANY CAR drivers who bought or leased a double cab pickup would see it reclassified as a personal vehicle therefore no longer qualifying for the flat rate of benefit in kind BIK payments charged to all commercial vehicles regardless of size Instead double cabs would be taxed on the emissions based system applied to passenger cars HMRC’s justification? That many double cab owners were using their vehicles as family cars rather than mere business tools
For double cabbists this represented a brutal tax blow The emissions of pretty much all pickups including our Amarok would see them fall into the highest BIK bracket incurring thousands of pounds more in company car tax every year
But then in a screeching Uturn worthy of Ken Block’s finest Gymkhana exploits a mere week later His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs announced that it was scrapping the tax changes and that double cab pickups would “continue to be treated as goods vehicles rather than cars”
Quite what caused HMRC’s handbrake is unclear The National Farmers’ Union made its less than upbeat feelings on the matter quite clear and if there’s one group of society you don’t want to upset it’s the guys with pitchforks shotguns and threshing machinery But you can sympathise with HMRC Because in my experiences of the past few months it’s clear the Amarok can be both a genuine commercial workhorse and also a totally feasible albeit heavy duty family SUV It’s the Jaffa cake of the automotive world by which I mean “very difficult to pigeonhole for tax purposes” not “deliciously orangey”
But it’s still officially a commercial vehicle As you were all