Louth Motors: The Amarok Arrives

I got to take the new second generation VW Amarok through its paces at a specially prepared off-road park in Carton House recently.

The Amarok is a 4WD twin cab pickup that is a common sight on our roads.

It competes against its cousin the Ford Ranger and the offering from Izuzu, the D-Max now that Nissan and Mercedes have exited the sector.

Volkswagen’s key points from an excellent presentation are a towing capacity of 3,500kg and payload up to 1.19 tonnes with a mix of 4- and 6-cylinder turbo charged diesel engines with no petrol or electric versions – this is an all-diesel domain it seems.

The Amarok will be available to buy from July with prices starting from €47,355 for the entry-level Amarok 2.0TDI 168HP.

It is always a bit daunting putting a brand-new car through its paces off-road for fear of damaging it mechanically or cosmetically.

Confidence in your ability is the main fear because the car is so well thought out and had systems fitted to make it easy.

It is safe to say that most drivers won’t use a lot of the features but its nice to know they are there. I never cease to be amazed at how these big machines go up and down steep hills using the hill ascent and descent.

The car simply takes over and all you do is steer using the sky as a guide going up and faith when going down.

All done is a beautiful cabin that keeps the outside environment out giving you an X-Box driving feeling when in reality you are actually doing it.

The new Amarok will have an eager cohort of buyers lining up to get their hands one. Full review coming soon