Low-slung sports cars, swanky sport-utility vehicles and sprightly electric sprinters are all great. But the rugged simplicity of a good ol’ double-cab bakkie offers its user possibilities that other body formats cannot match. Aside from a cavernous loading bin for all manner of items, from livestock to curtain rods, the peace of mind afforded by a tall ground clearance and robust ladder-frame chassis is a strong case in itself.
This is especially if you live in Johannesburg, whose roads are looking rather worse for wear these days. A Porsche 911 like the one we tested this month is a handy, nimble tool for dodging potholes. But in a pick-up like the Volkswagen Amarok, you can simply drive through them. We signed up for a six-month test with the German steed in October last year. You may recall that in 2022 we ran a similar shakedown with the car’s doppelgänger, the Ford Ranger XLT.
Yes, in case you forgot, the two are fraternal twins. The Volkswagen uses the same ingredients and is even produced at the same factory in Silverton, Tshwane. Of course, the Teutonic brand has given the basic architecture of the Ranger its own touch, with distinct aesthetics and a slightly revised cabin. The Ranger is by no means a poor starting point for a badge-engineered development. It was, after all, the first ever double-cab to win a South African Car of the Year title.
Its big virtue of refinement has translated well into the Amarok copy, as we have learned over the past three months and 7,500km. Now you might have guessed from the modest white paint, hardy black bumpers and small alloys that our unit is very much a worker bee specimen. Its cabin is equally demure, with dark fabric upholstery and a rubberised floor that can be washed down.
All very pragmatic, but still surprisingly comfortable, equipped with the essentials and nothing more. Despite being the base model, it still has the slick tablet-like infotainment screen, digital instrument cluster and steering-mounted controls. Did we mention it had a manual gearbox? The Ranger we tested was equipped with 10-speed automatic transmission, which sometimes felt as though it had too many ratios. By contrast, the Amarok's ability to row-your-own is quite empowering. The six-speed shifter has a direct, nicely weighted feel to it. And it has yielded benefits in fuel economy too: an around-town average of 7.8l/100km — a full litre lower than what was achieved with the Ford. That manual is linked to a 2.0-litre, turbocharged-diesel unit (125kW/405Nm).
It's obviously not as potent as the V6 also on offer, but it gets the job done, with frugality being the bigger priority. It carries a standard price of R662,400. Issues? The front seats have really tall bolsters, which always catch one’s thigh on ingress. And the omission of physical buttons for air-conditioning temperature and fan speed are glaring: having to navigate through the on-screen menus to tinker with these functions is hardly ideal. Over the December the Amarok faced a lengthy trek, from Johannesburg to Cape Town, to Gqeberha and back. It was a real trooper over the 3,700km slog, indicating an average consumption of 6.9l/100km upon our return .
The sturdy Amarok felt quite at home on the open road, cruise control set to the national limit, plump tyres doing well to bolster the already well-tuned suspension characteristics. Various journeys and errands are on the cards for our Amarok over the remaining three months of the test period. And given its workhorse constitution, we intend to put its hauling, towing and mucking competencies to the full test.
