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Volkswagen Amarok
HELLO
£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
FOR A LONG TIME NOW, I’VE WONDERED WHETHER A DOUBLE-CAB pickup wouldn’t make an excellent alternative to a full size SUV.
Five seats, buckets of luggage space – albeit somewhat al fresco luggage space, unless you’ve got a load cover of some kind – and more off-road smarts than any Touareg/XC90/Range Rover/Q7 customer might require, plus the ability to take a job lot of garden waste to the tip without lining the boot with a tarp: what’s not to like?
This, at least, is the theory. And now I’ve got a few months with VW’s new Amarok to discover whether this theory is a) genius or b) utterly daft. Can a posh double-cab pickup do the job of a big family SUV? Let’s find out.
So, KV23 AYK. You’re not going to lose it in the Budgens car park, that’s for sure. In second to topmost, off-road focused PanAmericana trim – which includes a rear diff lock, added underbody protection and black alloys – and wearing Bright Blue metallic paint (a £600 option) the Amarok looks seriously purposeful, all square arches, debossed tailgate lettering and utilitarian seriousness. My kids think it’s the coolest vehicle in the history of the universe, but then again they think Haribo on toast is the height of culinary sophistication, so do with that information what you will.
What the Amarok is, unquestionably, is utterly enormous. This second gen ’Rok is nearly 100mm longer than its predecessor, measuring 5,350mm from nose to tailgate. That’s 300mm longer than the new Range Rover. Also far from downsized: the price. Amaroks start at £33,000, but that’s without VAT. Our version tips the scales at £47,255 before tax, or £57,231 on the road.
So is the Amarok a very expensive pickup, or good value giant family SUV? Or both? Or possibly neither? And is it actually possible to park a nearly eighteen-foot-long truck anywhere in southeast England? All these questions answered over the next few months. Time to ’Rok and roll…
SPECIFICATION
2967cc, V6 turbo, 237bhp, 367lb ft, 10spd auto, 4WD
28.0mpg, 265g/km CO2
0–62mph in 9.0secs, 112mph
2,300kg
MILEAGE: 2,760 OUR MPG: 27.3
GOOD STUFF
Shares its underpinnings with the Ford Ranger, quite different to look at. This isn’t a hasty rebadge job.
BAD STUFF
A 3.0-litre V6 + current fuel prices = not a
