Road test: Volkswagen Amarok Style

Thursday, 10 August 2023

The all-new Amarok is a more bold looker than its subtle predecessor.

Upheaval. If one word describes the current state of the ever popular double-cab ute segment, that’s probably it. It’s a refreshing change from the standard flow in the ute market, whereby brands would debut a new platform once every decade or two, scattering facelifts and tech updates in between to keep us all interested.

Not that there’s any problem with that – utes are meant to be simple, rough and tumble things. But, that’s what’s led us to where the ute world sits today.Pressed with the need to make electrified powertrains possible and the need to make utes safer, brands have aimed at cutting costs down by buddying up with each other.

The Style is most easily spotted via its chrome sports bar and its wheels.

Mitsubishi and Nissan now share platforms. As do Isuzu and Mazda. But the big one is the fresh union between Ford and Volkswagen. The mechanical partnership between the Blue Oval and the Wolfsburg firm is set to run deep, but it’s the new Ranger and Amarok that are the first cabs off the rank, so to speak.

Launched in New Zealand in May, the Amarok joins the Ranger at the top end of the ute market in terms of price. The range starts at $65,000 for the Life double-cab single-turbo 2.0, extending to the flagship 3.0-litre V6 $88,000 PanAmericana and $90,000 Aventura.

The Amarok’s lined tray measures 1200mm between the wheel arches and 1600mm long.

Having driven each of those trim levels at launch, each impressed for its own reasons. But, in the spirit of unwritten car journo code, it’s the mid-spec model that I think consumers are going to most gravitate towards. And that’s the Amarok pictured; the $75,000 Style.

Under the bonnet of the Style is a familiar Ford-sourced 2.0-litre biturbo diesel making 154kW/500Nm paired to a 10-speed automatic, good for a requisite 3.5-tonne towing capacity. It cops a $4,485 Clean Car Discount levy for its troubles, but that ranks it as the least pinged variant in the Amarok range.

Yes, this interior belongs to a ute. Thank goodness for physical buttons on the steering wheel, too. Thank you, Volkswagen

The Style is best interpreted as a direct rival to the established flagship ute rival set – the ‘flash worksite foreman’ class, if you like – lining it up alongside the $71,590 Nissan Navara PRO-4X automatic, the $63,390 Toyota Hilux SR5 Cruiser, and of course the $75,990 Ford Ranger Wildtrak 2.0-litre.

The Amarok has always had higher financial positioning than its key rivals. But, given it sits line ball with the Wildtrak, the Style is an exception.

Given its heavily updated platform has made it one of the most refined pick-ups in class, and given that updates to a similar extent haven’t been seen from Toyota or Nissan in years, it’s no surprise that the Ranger is the king of this group. But it begs the question, what happens when you throw in something built on the same T6 platform with a European design flare that guarantees it won’t blend in with the swathes of Rangers in the Bunnings carpark?

The ex-Raptor 2.0-litre biturbo remains a capable and enjoyable powertrain.

Volkswagen has worked exceedingly hard to make the Amarok feel like a Volkswagen through and through. And that begins with its interior and exterior styling.

On the outside, the German marque’s pencil boffins have deployed every trick in the book to give the Amarok its own character. Its door skins get their own chiselled-in character lines. Instead of being perfectly round like on the Ford, the wheel-arches are squared off.

Inside, the dashboard and seats are completely different, adopting an angular look that echoes what you’d see in a Golf, Tiguan, or Transporter. This is further supported by the Volkswagen software underpinning the excellent 12.3-inch portrait touchscreen and digital cluster. The Veedub menus are better presented than those in Ford’s SYNC system, and further enhance the Amarok’s classy feel. Volkswagen has thankfully swapped out the problematic, unpopular haptic feedback buttons on the steering wheel for physical buttons.

That said, a physical button for deactivating the start-stop function would’ve been nice. It takes four or five touches on the screen to switch it off.

The Style specifically feels anything but ‘mid-spec’ inside. The two-tone suede and fabric upholstery (with contrast stitching throughout) looks and feels premium, as does the subtle soft-touch brown panelling atop the dashboard and door cards.

The Amarok is one of Volkswagen’s best-selling models in New Zealand.

Those with a first-generation Amarok in the driveway would be keen to learn that this new one is plenty roomier, particularly in the back seat where occupants have more legroom (46mm more, to be precise) and greater seat-back recline. The outer seats come fitted with ISOFIX points.

Ford artefacts represent some of the best and worst things about the cabin. The clever door handles built into the armrests are a welcome carryover. Less so is the short-shift gear lever, which all too easily can be accidentally slotted into Park instead of Reverse thanks to its lack of resistance. I also would’ve liked some more extensive interior storage. Larger cup holders could’ve been made possible by simplifying the 4x4 control panel, for example.

It should be no surprise at all that, on the road, the Amarok is one of the most refined pick-ups money can buy. And within the Amarok family, this 2.0-litre biturbo takes the cake – its exhaust note and subsequent NVH being less rattly than the base single-turbo and less raucous than the flagship 3.0-litre.

Suede-like upholstery on the seats gives the Style’s cabin a premium look. The seats themselves are all Volkswagen, not carryovers from the Ranger.

The lack of a physical start-stop button makes turning it off a bit of a chore. It takes four presses to access this menu...

Space and comfort in the back row has improved greatly between generations.

A handsome looker, the Amarok’s squared off wheelarches are amongst its more interesting visual features.

This dovetails neatly with the Amarok’s ride. Like the Ranger, it resets industry expectations for what is possible from a body-on-frame vehicle. The Style misses out on the ‘comfort suspension’ of the Aventura and PanAmericana, but I didn’t miss it.

The Amarok’s isolated cabin and plush ride also enhances its off-road behaviour, given they make gravel roads all the more quiet to navigate. Its 217mm of ground clearance helps enable an 800mm max wading depth.

Shorter front and rear overhangs mean improved approach (30°) and departure (26°) angles, although the increased wheelbase means a slight drop in break-over angle (from 23° to 22°). We drove the Amarok off-road extensively at launch, and came away impressed.

It’s hard to deny that the 184kW/600Nm 3.0-litre is quicker, a better tower, and more fun when you’re pushing it. But, the biturbo still offers all the punch and mid-range overtaking ability you could ever need from a pick-up. It might be small in capacity, but the 500Nm under your right foot quickly erases any thoughts that you’re under gunned. It’s also less thirsty. We saw a best average of 9.5L/100km during our motorway-heavy week of testing.

It might not be a ute segment leader from a sales perspective, but that’s not for a lack of execution. The Amarok is just as capable as any of the pick-ups that dominate the market, with massively polished road manners and a hint of Euro panache. And, at the Style’s price, it’s handy value to boot.

Bonus images