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2024 Volkswagen Amarok - Good power and torque
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The Volkswagen Amarok is a well-known mid-tier dual cab 4×4 that retains enough market share to compete, yet never climbs to the sales heights and reputation of sector leaders such as Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger.
Does it deserve to find more buyers? In an effort to find out more and make a valid evaluation of the current Amarok, I am heading off-road north out of Melbourne and into one of my favourite forests to put an Amarok Style TDI500 to the test.
When approaching the Amarok, its stance and overall looks are unassuming – and that is being generous. It lacks ‘muscularity’, bold styling, and falls well short of my idea of outdoor ruggedness.
Hitting the bitumen and heading out of town, the two most striking things are the clumsy indicator stalks and the engine exhaust noise.
The stalks seem to be an over complicated design that are cumbersome and unintuitive, whilst the exhaust system makes the engine sound far too much like an old two-stroke lawn mower – the theme of being unimpressive is now becoming well entrenched but there is still more to come!
The interior is also not my favourite. The faux wood looks fake (funnily enough), the door handles (like the Ford Ranger) are awkward, and the dashboard has a large recess that, whilst practical, just seems to be a great place for dust to gather.
The air vents and other appointments are dated and look like they belong on the set of Battlestar Galactica. I found many of the switches and dials unattractive, although they are practical. It’s not a great start for the Amarok, but let’s check out how it drives.
The idle stop-start fuel saver is quite slow to respond. There are momentary feelings of ‘something is wrong’ or being embarrassed by the lack of motion after the traffic lights have turned green – just before the vehicle actually re-starts and gets going...
