We’ve spent just about four months with the big blue beast and in that time have come to admire its sheer breadth of talent, learning that, far from being a pure load-lugger, it is actually a car of many talents.
First off let’s make that distinction, it’s not a car, it is a pick-up truck, but it’s a pick-up that really wants to be a car. Sure, it’s built to carry great loads and will do that with aplomb, but everything from the rear-window forward screams “I’m just a big car”. It’s things like the excellent interior and leather seats, the kind of inside that rivals any mid-range big SUV, the ease of driving experience, even the cupholders in the back. Everything inside is designed to make you feel like you’re in a car, not a truck.
That’s no bad thing. It makes the Amarok a bit more liveable than some of the purer pick-ups on the market. It also means it stacks up more to the state-side kind of everyday SUV, the ubiquitous southern big-‘un that’s never really going to see a building site. Of course, it can also mean that if you are using the Amarok for real work, you might want to take your shoes off when you get inside. It’s not to say that Volkswagen haven’t thought things through, the interior is definitely more rough-and-ready than the rest of the VW range would be at this price point, but it isn’t the inside of a pure workhorse.