New season: The new VW Amarok bakkie, built by Ford at its plant in Gauteng, has great on-road manners and a well laid-out cabin, which has been updated.
Bakkies are big business and any volume car retailer worth their salt knows the importance of having their own version.
Toyota continues to, well, lead the way on the sales charts, attributable to the over half a century of building this nameplate in various iterations.
Ford, Isuzu, Nissan and Volkswagen are some of the other players in this space, the latter having entered the fray in 2010 with the Amarok. Yes, the brand did dabble in the half-ton segment with the Citi Golf-based Caddy, but that was a one-trick pony that served its purpose well at the time.
However, there was a need for the German marque to play meaningfully in the LCV (light commercial vehicle) segment and, as such, had to develop a bakkie from the ground up. No mean feat, I may add.
Built in Argentina, the Amarok finally landed in South Africa in 2010 and I was privileged enough to be one of the first motoring journalists to get behind the wheel of the first models to arrive on our shores. The Amarok impressed with its lofty levels of refinement which would not have been out of place in a premium SUV of that time.
This is trickled down to the way it drove, with one of the plushest bakkie suspensions I had ever experienced. Over the years, the model was improved upon with a bump in power and the introduction of an automatic gearbox, which markedly changed the nature of the vehicle for the better.
The model’s zenith, however, came in the form of the headlining V6 TDI that brought with it much-needed oomph and even higher levels of refinement. It also became one of the most powerful bakkies on the market and its feisty road manners were indicative of this.
Imagine the Golf GTI of bakkies, to get the gist of its performance prowess. Okay, perhaps that is a bit of a stretch.
What that engine did to the Amarok was give it a new lease of life as buyers went in their droves to snap up the V6 TDI and not the lowly derivatives. I get the logic, and so did VW, who simply had not anticipated the overwhelming demand for the flagship model.
Granted, though, more than a decade since its inception, the model became rather long in the tooth and the cabin appointments were reflective of a bygone era.
In my opinion, the first-generation Amarok was a very well engineered bakkie that has stood the test of time. For its second generation, which is due to launch in SA in the next few months, Volkswagen signed a memorandum of understanding with Ford to co-develop the Amarok.
Yes, Ford builds the latest generation at its Silverton plant in Tshwane, alongside the Ranger, on which it is based. Sacrilegious? Not quite! These agreements will become more popular in the future as manufacturers strengthen partnerships to co-develop products.
For a number of years, Ford and Mazda have co-developed cars under auspices of the Samcor Group, such as the Ranger and BT-50 bakkies, which shared underpinnings, drivetrains and even engines. It’s economies of scale at play here. Costs are considerably lowered by developing a single platform and spinning off another vehicle from said platform.
Of course, this does not necessarily work for the better — the Nissan Navara and Mercedes-Benz X-Class collaboration being a case in point — but Volkswagen seems adamant this will not be the case here. I suppose only time will tell.
That said, we got behind the wheel of the latest, Silverton-built Amarok at its international media launch in Cape Town recently to see, first, whether VW — or is that Ford? — had done enough to improve on the previous model. Second, if it is different enough from the Ford Ranger on which it is based.
We will soon put that to the test when we bring both models together for a thorough comparison, so watch this space.
For now, however, the Amarok looks substantially unique compared to the Ford, thanks to its chrome grille in the instance of the flagship Aventura derivative. There are three other trim lines: Amarok, Life and the rugged, off-road-lifestyle PanAmericana iteration.
Sizewise, at 5.3m, the new Amarok is 9.6cm longer than its predecessor, while the wheelbase at 3.27m is 17.3cm longer than its forebear. These increased dimensions provide more room in the Double Cab. Even with the increase in wheelbase, the latest model has considerably shorter overhangs, which has boosted the model’s off-road capabilities. In particular, the front and rear overhangs are now 36 and 26 degrees, respectively.
The interior of the new VW Amarok.
The loadbox, meanwhile, is rated at 1.19 tonnes and can load a Euro pallet sideways, in the instance of the Double Cab, while the Single Cab can take an additional pallet.
The cargo box is 1.6m in length in the Double Cab and 2.33m in the Single Cab variant.
Moving inside, the cabin has been modernised. The displays consist of a 8-inch digital cockpit (on the Style and above fully digital and 12.3-inch) and the portrait-format touchscreen of an infotainment system (10.1-inch, Style and above, 12-inch).
It is a well laid-out cabin with decent levels of tactile quality to take the fight to the establishment. Most of the switchgear comes from the Ford drawer, which is not a bad thing, as it is mostly of good quality.
A number of engines will be made available in both petrol and diesel derivatives but we spent time mostly in the 3.0-litre V6-equipped flagship models, boasting 184kW and 600Nm. These are paired exclusively with a 10-speed automatic gearbox and 4Motion all-wheel drive for maximum traction.
And while the powerplant is exceptionally refined in its operation, it didn’t quite feel as punchy as the engine in the outgoing Amarok which could be a bit of a disappointment for previous owners, but not to the extent of it being a deal-breaker. In fact, quite the contrary, as the Amarok in flagship Double Cab versions now panders more to sophistication and plushness.
Its on-road manners are exemplary, exhibiting a SUV-like driving disposition that will strike a chord with discerning bakkie buyers. Even off the beaten track, the Amarok could easily hold its own and it was here that its supple suspension came to fore, ironing out ruts and dongas as it clambered up loose, rocky surfaces.
As a standalone product, the model manages to tick all the boxes with absolute glee and it will be interesting to see how it is priced when it goes on sale in March.
Suffice it to say that Volkswagen has indicated that it will fetch a slight premium over its Ford Ranger counterpart, citing that it has a more luxurious feel and higher drive polish.
Whether that is true remains to be seen when we put both models to the test.