Covid-19 – the name that most if not every motoring journalist hate right now. Reason being that the disease has backlogged so many new car launches, with most of them being digital. Slowly but surely things are starting to pick up even though we have a long way to go and the fact that this disease is going to be with us for a while. None the less Volkswagen South Africa decided to launch the 190kW Amarok differently. They had us tick a few boxes on a questionnaire to establish which was the best place for us to travel, whilst enjoying its new brute of a bakkie. Our weekend away saw us staying at the rather magnificent The Gorge Private Game Lodge & Spa, which is 170 km from Durban. For those who were unaware, this 190 kW Amarok is the most and fastest production bakkie in SA right now, talk about bragging rights.
The Amarok has been around for over ten years now, though ageing I must say that it’s aged very well. I like its boxy but yet masculine shape. Our launch model was in Highline trim which was finished in Indium Grey and sporting some rather good looking 19-inch Milford alloy wheels (optional). If you want something more stylish you can get yourself top of the range Extreme model. The Extreme model gets you added exterior features such as sportier wheels and a body-coloured sports bar.
I personally think that the Amarok has one of the classiest cabins as far as bakkies go. It looks like a VW Polo cabin, which is not entirely a bad thing. It comes standard with Vienna leather seats, Park Distance Control with rear-view camera, and climatronic air-conditioning. The Cabin is spacious at the front but when it comes to rear legroom it’s being outdone by its competition. Unfortunately, it doesn’t come with a conventional tonneau cover for the rear loading bin so one had to pack their luggage on the back seats.
Powering the most powerful and fastest production bakkie in South Africa is a 3.0-litre V6 TDI that produces 190kW and 580 Nm of torque. That’s 25kW more power and 30Nm more torque than the outgoing 165kW model. it’s equipped with an overboost that will give it 200 kW for 10 seconds. All that power is sent to all four wheels via an 8-speed automatic gearbox. With all that I have mentioned, it will catapult the V6 Amarok from 0 – 100 km/h in just 7,6 seconds and will go on to do a top speed of 207 km/h. This engine is strong and my word is this car quick. It just goes through the gears so quick like it’s no one’s business. Thanks to its 8-speed gearbox, it always knows what gear to be in at all times. The over-boost function comes in very handy when it comes to overtaking, I had a couple of fellow motorist in awe when being passed by a bakkie so easily. It puts a grin on my face every time I floor the loud pedal because of how stupidly fast it is.
During our journey, we were met with a few steep hills, but the Amarok demolishes them with very little effort. To avoid going up too fast up some steep hills, I had the accelerator half depressed and the gearbox selects the correct gear (in my case it was sixth gear) and it just pulls like a freight train, the way this thing moves is impressive. When it comes to the ride, it very comfortable whether you’re on gravel or tar, it offers a very good ride. VW claims 9.5 l/100 km, I saw myself achieving a consistent 9.8 l/100 km. This truly is a sportscar of the bakkie world.
One of my favourite things about the Amarok is the way it drives, It drives like a normal passenger car. Meaning it’s easy to manoeuvre in mall parking lots, and easy to drive on the road. With VW collaborating with Ford on the next Amarok, I really hope it doesn’t lose its touch and this magnificent engine. The V6 Amarok starts at R921 900 for the Highline and R996 000 for the Extreme model. At the price point, it does lack some key standard equipment like a tonneau cover, dust sealing for the load bin, and a larger touch screen. With that being said, it was fun driving SA’s fastest bakkie.
