From the Iafrica Full Throttle website. Sounds like they are pretty impressed with it.
Volkswagen is in the throes of taking the bakkie world as we know it by the throat and shaking it by its collective neck. The Amarok is a deadly serious new competitor and if off-roading is big in your big bakkie driving retinue, be sure the market has a new king.
VW chose it's first real bakkie's home base of Argentina to launch the vehicle - it will be built here at Pacheco and exported around the world with South Africa as a principal market - and after a day in all conditions on the escarpment of the Patagonian Andes, we emerged impressed with the newcomer.
Suppose it was significant that our guide on the 4x4 track that started our day's activities was Amarok's head of development Dr. Wolfgang Schreiber who was delighted to show us the prowess of his baby and reveal some pretty surprising little features.
Amarok follows in Touareg's steps
"Let the car do the driving," Wolfgang says as we headed off down the angled first section of track while we discussed the car's advanced electronic chassis aids. This is where Amarok leads the way - it's taken the humble old bakkie rulebook, ripped it up as though it was superman and then started anew.
Amarok shares many of the features common to the forthcoming new Touareg - it shifts to 4x4 on the fly at any speed and boasts a one-touch off-road mode for starters. That reconfigures the chassis, ABS braking and other systems according the the set-up the car is selected in and makes Amarok oh so easy to drive no matter how tough the going gets.
We get to a steep concrete incline and the good doctor asks me to stop and put the car in neutral. "Take your foot off the brake," he commands and the car stands for two seconds before gently rolling back, braking itself in reverse.
Child's play
"Let it idle and release the clutch," Dr. Wolfgang instructs. Amarok launches gently on my clutch action and draws easily up the 100% gradient at idle as the horison disappears below the bonnet line and I rely on the flags to aim the car.
That's quite amazing, but then the 120kW 400Nm two-stage control sequentual biturbo DOHC 4-valve per cylinder 2-litre four is just so tractable it makes it pretty much child's play to drive. "Your son can do this," Schreiber adds. I concur.
We go through several other tests, in low range 4x4 and with the diff lock off and on - exploring Amarok's hill descent braking system and failing to get it to err. We test the bakkie through the regular articulation tests - on the flat and again at maximum incline and it idles through, no problem.
Later Dr Schreiber deletes the Off Road set up and makes me brake hard from 60km/h. The car slips, slides and struggles to a halt. We repeat the same with the dirt setting on and Amarok stops in half distance. With normal ABS it battles to stop, but withthe specially profiled dirt setting it is all of a sudden double-effective stopping in gravel
Driving back to lunch I'm now convinced by VW's handsome new bakkie's off-road domination - Amarok brings a new level of high tech to the bakkie world that will have its rivals reeling for the drawing boards. The game has just moved on.
After lunch we take a ride along several splendid Patagonian Andes lakes and in the dirt, Amarok feels poised, predictable and safe. It comes with ESP - another bakkie first and something that brings with it a huge sense of security. You can diminish ESP but you can't switch it off; and it allows for some quite spirited driving.
We take time to check out Amarok's full safety suite - ABS braking, that ESP; driver, passenger and side airbags and discuss one aspect we are confident will be Amarok's next big hit - it's Euro NCAP rating ought to be quite a lot better than the current market norm.
Well-sorted chassis
Our final stint back to the hotel was along a fine stretch of tarmac along a splendid fast-flowing river valley lined with tall brown-green mountains. Amarok handles brilliantly and offers a more than adequate performance envelope. I revelled in a well-sorted chassis even for a bakkie and felt at home in the finely equipped and handsome cabin.
But then we came up behind a lunatic driving a tourist filled bus at Argentine grand prix pace. We were travelling a bit quicker and I wanted to pass, but pulling from 120km/h on short stretches was too much for Amarok. We duly pulled past once the road straightened out. I was also quite surprised to have to fight to pass 160km/h in a straight line shortly after that.
Yes, I know this is a bakkie and that behavior should be out of it's envelope. But think of the Kempton Park Cowboy who stuffs his family, the DSTV the dogs and the kitchen sink in the Navara or Hilux and hits the road towing the 20-foot Wilk and the 21-foot speed boat in his private South African road train. He knows he can trust the guts of his big Jap 4 litre and won't be satisfied with 120kW and 400Nm even if it manages a claimed 7.4 litres per hundred.
A charge on the bakkie market
We managed 9.5l/100km on the readout pretty much flat out, so if you're a greenie, this is your bakkie. VW tells us about a 90kW 340Nm lower spec Amarok as well as a petrol and a basic workhorse solution in future, but we need to know more about a big, three-litre six with sequential turbocharging good for 200kW and 600Nm as is the norm in top modern diesel SUVs.
If VW does that, they will have the whole SA bakkie market more than just cornered. Right now, besides the extreme bakkie men who shape that market in any event, Amarok has it pretty much taped.
We anticipate where VW will take its Amarok flagship it needs to fight at the top end with vigour. But for now, the rest of the bakkie market better look sharp - Volkswagen's brilliant first bakkie hits SA in August in 120kW, 400nm 2-litre TDI trim and set to sell somewhere in the R360 000 bracket. Better you be ready for that.
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