The Volkswagen Amarok is a lot of things. It was the first in a new breed of dual-cab utes from premium European brands, designed to be more car-like than established rivals like the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger, all the while without any compromise to its utilitarian abilities as a workhorse, whether it’s on the building site, bashing through the bush or towing a boat, caravan or trailer.
Following its most recent update, and the inclusion of a grunty V6 turbo diesel engine, it’s now the most powerful vehicle in its class. And, until the Mercedes-Benz X-Class arrives early next year, it is currently the most expensive.
One thing the Amarok isn’t though is popular. According to the sales figures at the half way point of 2017 where the HiLux and Ranger have cemented themselves as the best-selling cars in the country, the Amarok ranks eighth on the charts.
Does that mean it isn’t heavy metal enough for local tastes? In an effort to find out just how tough the Amarok truly is, we’ve travelled to its hometown of Hannover in Germany to set-off on a road trip that will – quite literally - take it to hell and back.
Power Rock
Before we get too hardcore, let’s start off with something fairly straightforward; a rollicking cruise through the German countryside with a rising crescendo in the chorus that is a flat-out attack on the autobahn – a combination that not only tests its everyday useability but also its ultimate power.
The Amarok is as comfortable as you can get for a dual-cab ute. In our top-of-the-range Ultimate model, which costs $67,990 (plus on-roads) in Australia, the leather-lined cabin is well presented and well-built with comfortable front seats, a great driving position and a commanding view of the road ahead – and behind.
It also has all the mod cons you need, whether it’s for a 3000km family road trip or everyday suburban or worksite duties. There’s a touch screen multi-media system with sat nav, digital radio and Bluetooth connectivity, as well as Apple Carplay smartphone mirroring, a multi-function steering wheel that allows you to control everything without taking your hands off, and plenty of storage spaces for small items, including a handy non-slip tray on the top of the dash with an additional 12V power outlet.
On the road, it belies its working-class underpinnings with a more car-like character thanks to its well-weighted steering, strong brakes (its four-wheel discs are unique in this class) and 19-inch alloys fitted with road-biased rubber.
But it’s the engine that is the front man. The 3.0-litre V6 turbo diesel – the same as that used in other Volkswagen Group models including the Porsche Panamera and Audi Q7 - delivers benchmark power outputs of 165kW and 550Nm and a claimed average fuel consumption of 7.8L/100km, making the Amarok an effortless car to drive in any environment.
While there’s some inherent turbo lag in getting away from a standstill, it picks up pace smoothly and revs cleanly through its strong mid-range with a level of refinement its rivals cannot match.
Around town, the eight-speed automatic ensures it is playing the right chord at the right time. And the soundtrack has excellent production values, with little of the grinding static normally associated with grizzly turbo diesel motors.
That helps keep things civilised at highway speeds too, where the Amarok is relatively quiet.
But German highways aren’t like the rest of the world, and our first test for the Amarok is to validate its power claims with a flat-out blast on a derestricted section of the Autobahn.
With a clear road ahead, I mash the throttle to the floor, the transmission drops down from eighth to fifth and the engine bursts into life, the tacho needle strutting its way to the redline like it was on lead guitar. At the same time, the speedo gradually increases the pace and swiftly passes 150km/h before a gearchange alters the tempo ever so slightly. It picks up speed again, and rises through 180km/h… and 190km/h… and 200km/h… and peaks at just over 210km/h.
Okay, so that’s nothing compared to the top speed of a genuine supercar, or even the handful family wagons that blasted past without fluster, and, yes, completely irrelevant for speed-restricted Australia, but it’s hard to imagine any of its rival utes getting anywhere near it, nor feeling so secure at that speed.
Speed Metal
Power is nothing if you can’t control it, and our next stop for the Amarok puts that to the test. It also literally takes it to hell - Green Hell.
The Nurburgring is considered the most demanding – and dangerous - racetrack in the world, a place where the fastest cars on the planet are fine-tuned and the quickest of those create global headlines with lap records.
But, on certain days, anything goes at the Nurburgring, as it is open to anyone, and anything. The Touristenfahrten sessions essentially turn the track into one-way toll road without speed limits with each lap costing 25 Euro ($40).
In a carpark crowded with four-wheeled rock stars, from track-bred Porsche 911 GT3 RS’ to stripped-out BMW M3s, million-dollar hypercars and roll-caged rent-a-racers, the high-riding Amarok stands out like someone wearing stilettos and a Taylor Swift T-shirt at a Rammstein concert.
It must have looked just as awkward on the track too, whether it was those flying past us in quicker machines or for the hundreds of spectators scattered around the circuit, watching it sway through the corners as if it was impersonating Guns N Roses singer Axl Rose while its tyres screamed like Soundgarden’s former front man Chris Cornell.
From behind the wheel though, the Amarok was as impressive as it was hilarious. It’s high-riding stance, ladder-frame construction and boxy body aren’t ideal for trackwork, but the total integration of the package is greater than the sum of its parts. Sure, the front tyres washed wide in the slower corners, the steering isn’t pin sharp, and the brakes need to be treated with respect, but the Amarok didn’t feel any different to a regular family SUV when pushed to its limits. In fact, it rode the ‘Ring’s curbs with aplomb, the permanent all-wheel drive transmission gave it great traction and the powertrain was more than up to the task, slingshotting the Amarok between the 177 bends and powering it close to 200km/h along the Kottenborn straight.
According to our video footage, the Amarok lapped the combined 25km Grand Prix circuit and Nordschleife in 12min 40seconds, which I reckon has to be a lap record, at least for a diesel-powered, dual-cab ute… painted grey… driven by an Australian… on a Thursday afternoon.
Whatever the case, the Amarok was tough enough to survive Green Hell.
Dark Metal
But could it survive the world’s most gruelling motor race?
The Le Mans 24-hour is an epic endurance event that tests the stamina of man and machine on the track, but also the hundreds of thousands of spectators that descend on the French town for the twice-around-the-clock spectacle.
So, after a six-hour trek south-west from the Nurburgring via the World War I battlefields of Northern France and a peak-hour passing-by of Paris that established we could easily live with the Amarok as an everyday machine, our next test was to see if we could live in it.
Bleary-eyed and ear-battered after watching some of the fastest, loudest and most amazing machines race into the early hours of the morning, it was time for a couple of hours of shut eye at Hotel Amarok, which was parked just a couple of hundred metres away from the Mulsanne Straight.
Despite the ever-present strumming of race cars accelerating through the forest and a near full moon lighting up the night sky, I managed a few hours kip in the tray of the Amarok, wrapped-up in as many jackets as I had to fend off the cold, with two camping mattresses (bought at the last minute from the French equivalent of Big W) trying their best to iron out the tray’s lumpy liner and the wheelarch acting as some sort of pillow.
I would be reluctant to say it was anything close to a five-star experience, but sleeping in the back of a ute has been a rite of passage for generations of Aussies, particularly at B&S balls in the country.
Looking around the carparks and campgrounds in the early morning, where the low light glistens off tinny walls and wisps of smoke still bellow from makeshift BBQs – while a few stumbling all-nighters still revel against the fence, cheering on their favourite cars with a drink in hand – it’s easy to comprehend that Le Mans is the French equivalent of a B&S.
A bit classier perhaps, just as the Amarok is a step-up on the social ladder than a Toyota 70-Series LandCruiser pick-up with a Bundy Rum sticker on the back window.
Sludge Metal
However, a LandCruiser is a legitimate hardcore four-wheel drive and there’s a perception that the Amarok is a bit soft, especially compared to some of its key rivals.
That has arisen because it has a full-time all-wheel drive transmission with electronic driver aids like a modern SUV rather than a part-time system with a low-range transfer case.
It’s difficult to find anything that resembles a serious bush-bashing challenge in Europe’s heavily industrialised 'outback’ to test the Amarok’s off-road ability, other than some picturesque forest trails and climbing a crumbling mound of asphalt on the side of the road, but previous experience has showcased it can go further off the beaten track than most will ever take it.
However, the reality is the Amarok does have some shortcomings at the extreme end of four-wheel driving. Like the drummer from Def Leppard, who only has one arm, it is still hugely talented and better than most, but somewhat hindered.
Metal Fest
The Amarok’s biggest test has nothing to do with its abilities however. It is a popularity contest among the most hardened crowd to see if it is genuinely heavy metal enough to justify its tag.
We’ve come to Hellfest, a metal-only music festival where 200,000 punters invade the small southern French village of Clisson – a couple of hours drive south of Le Mans – to see if it bangs heads with headbangers or riffs with the riff raff.
In a crowd that is as diverse as you’ll ever see – including everything from big-haired stereotypes wearing ripped jeans, bandanas and denim jackets covered in band patches to a gaggle of guys wearing nothing but a sock each (I’ll let you guess where), from normal families to groups dressed-up like fantasy characters – nothing appears to be out of place at Hellfest, including the Amarok as we crawl through the strangled streets.
In the time it takes us to travel through Clisson’s village centre, we get cheered by many, oinked at by a guy wearing a pig mask and pick-up a couple of heavy metal veterans in the tray looking for a rest from the miles-long walk to the festival site.
We also get our fair share of devil horns, which I reckon is the heavy metal equivalent of a thumbs up.
For those about to ‘Rok
In any case, the Amarok stands up to the toughest conditions.
Sure, in the top-spec Ultimate configuration, it’s an expensive dual-cab ute and it’s missing some safety equipment, but if you can look past those hurdles then it is a legitimate alternative to the popular Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux that are dominating worksites, boat ramps and even suburban school drop-off zones around the country.
In fact, it is more car-like than any of its rivals and its engine is a real standout, not only for its outputs but for its refinement. It can truly Amarok N Roll.
2017 Volkswagen Amarok V6 TDI550 Ultimate Price and Specification
Price: $67,990 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 3.0-litre V6 turbo diesel
Power: 165kW at 2500-5400rpm
Torque: 550Nm at 1500-2500rpm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic, AWD
Fuel use: 7.8L/100km
14 Comments
LX355 | 2017-08-04 01:21:04
That was a good article [I only watched the video] and was very interesting. How did the Vette go at the 24 hour?
The truth | 2017-08-04 01:45:15
Next week we take VW Golf across the Simpson Desert..... How does the Amorok go off road? Who cares what time it does the 'ring in, or what the top apeed is? It's a ute.
The truth | 2017-08-04 02:37:30
Hugely hindered and only modestly talented off road. Poor clearance, no real 4wd system with low range in the auto, and too much electromechanical tomfoolery to be trustworthy. Toyota L/C ute still use mechanical activation of 4wd system, and manual locking hubs. Why? It is very easy to see where you stand, and nothing can mysteriosly go wrong = reliable.
DJM61 | 2017-08-04 03:36:04
More Rock Hudson than Ayres?
Revlup66 | 2017-08-04 04:26:01
Still to see best test, Can any 4x4/pick-up, drive over a speed hump at Bunnings without stopping too engaging low range?!?!?!?!?!
Selector 2 | 2017-08-04 04:41:57
At $73K worth considering Toyota 70 Series Dual Cab, unbreakable off road, front and rear diff locks standard, Toyota dealers ubiquitous in the bush V8 turbo diesel that can be chipped for more performance, 4 wheel disc brakes, best wading depth of all 4WDS, unstoppable in the worst off road conditions, made for Australia.
stevecro | 2017-08-04 06:01:37
we?ve travelled to its hometown of Hannover in Germany to set-off on a road trip that will ? quite literally - take it to hell and back. I don't think you did. That statement quite literally blew my socks off
Mick09 | 2017-08-04 22:03:26
I wish these articles were more objective and highlighted the shortcomings of the vehicles as well as the highlights. To me it it seems a very pro VW article, remembering this was the company that tried to globally cheat in emissions tests.
The truth Mick09 | 2017-08-05 01:59:01
Agreed. Never let the truth stand in the way of advertorial content, or stray too far from the media pack offerings from the manufacturer.
Sidney Mincing | 2017-08-05 23:10:17
.....wisps of smoke still bellow from makeshift BBQs Really? Wisps, bellowing?
Billed | 2017-08-06 02:53:46
It's a bit like a Pajero. A great four wheel drive driven by people who don't go off road.
Selector 2 | 2017-08-06 08:19:53
A cock in a frock in a rok?
andyfreeze | 2017-08-07 05:10:36
The truth, can you give me fugures as to the % of people who buy these things that trick them up to go through the simpson desert? I think that myth should be well and truly busted. The majority of sales goes to ordinary people who DON'T know where the simpson desert is and think they are tough because you know, you turn them over every few years never usung its full capabilities.
The truth | 2017-08-08 09:30:51
@andyfreeze. Ever driven in an area outside of Sydney/Melbourne? Nah, I didn't think so. North Queensland/WA/NT in the wet season is reason enough to expect a functional vehicle that isn't going to poop itself when asked for a bit of reliability as you are one downpour away from stuck, possibly for several days n rising water. Toyota has been master of the game out bush for decades - why? - everything may be a bit old tech, but in that context is is tried and tested, AND WORKS. Amorok had an 80% catastrophic failure rate (blown engine/turbo) when put into service by a couple of WA mining companies. East West engines are not made to be used North South. Oil pickup too far aft in a very shallow sump with insufficient baffling causes oil starvation on 1:7-1:8 continuous smooth declines/ramps used in mining. (BTW I was in charge of the leasing of these vehicles - first hand knowledge). Do I have a bee in my bonnet about poor or inappropriate engineering being passed off as being suitable for Australian conditions? You bet I do....