AGAINST THE CLOCK

THIS reputation took a turn for the worse when the automatic was launched a few years ago. It had full-time four-wheel drive and a rear differential lock but no transfer case.

Many wrote it off as a gimmick and said it wasn’t possible to replicate low-range with a short first gear and a fancy off-road button. “It will never do what my insert name of any other mainstream double cab here can do…”

I wasn’t entirely convinced either, but over the years I’ve seen Amaroks do some amazing things. The most epic example of this is probably the time we got lost somewhere in Lesotho on a road that eventually disappeared. We were filming a Nissan Patrol at the time and even that struggled on our overnight venture to cover no more than 30km.

Obstacles included a river crossing, massive rocks, steep inclines and dodgy gravel sections covered with snow. The Amarok took some shots but it soldiered on behind the Patrol and successfully completed what has to rank as one of the harshest off-road scenarios