The South African bakkie market is almost as fiercely contested as the English Premier League title race. Volkswagen, the multi-brand automotive giant, made a late entry into the popular double-cab sector in the third quarter of 2010 with its attractive Amarok.
The local motoring press was impressed with the package, from styling, space, and on-road manners, but did find the 2.0 TDI (Turbo diesel injection) engine somewhat underpowered for a vehicle of this size. VW has now heeded that call, and introduced stronger and less fuel consuming TDI engines to the double-cab range.
This time, VW used their wizardry by using a two-stage control bi-turbo which coupled with common-rail direct injection sees the 2.0 power plant boasting 400 Nm, which amazingly comes in at between 1500-2250 r/min. VW claim that despite an increase in power by 12 kW to 132 kW, fuel consumption on the 4×2 version is a miserly 7, 9 l/ 100 km, while the 4 Motion derivative increases to 8, 0 l /100 km.
The other TDI engine, which pushes out only 90 kW, and comes close to its sister engine, produces 340 Nm of torque from a low 1750 r/min. Lastly, the Amarok double cab gets petrol power in the form of a 2.0 TSI engine, which produces 118 kW and a huge 300 Nm of torque, it does, as would be assumed, use according to VW fractionally more fuel, with a figure of 9, 6 l / 100 km. But despite having the lowest torque figure, it does have the best acceleration times. VW claim a sprint time of 9.9 seconds to accelerate from 0 to100 km/h.
The Amarok has sold nearly 7200 units in double cab form since its launch, with these new engines it certainly is making a huge leap to tackle sales from the Japanese bakkies that South Africans have become all too familiar with.
Pricing is listed below; Amarok comes standard with a 3 year/100 000 km manufacturer warranty and 5 year/90 000 km Automotion Service Plan. All models have a 6 year anti-corrosion warranty and 15 000 km service intervals.
Retail Pricelist (Vat Included)
Trendline
Amarok Double Cab 2.0 TSI 118kW Trendline 4×2 – R313 500
Amarok Double Cab 2.0 TDI 90kW Trendline 4×2 – R341 700
Amarok Double Cab 2.0 TDI 90kW Trendline 4Motion – R391 900
Highline
Amarok Double Cab 2.0 BiTDI 132kW Highline 4×2 – R375 100
Amarok Double Cab 2.0 BiTDI 132kW Highline 4Motion – R425 300
