Discussion
Picked up my new Amarok yesterday.
Early days but so far mixed feelings. My old V6 Amarok was a brilliant work truck and this new one has a hard act to follow.
I love that the truck comes fully loaded and the only options is the colour, there will be options for a tow bar and bigger rims and obviously hardtop/roll top, but not yet available. It makes the whole ordering process a doddle.
The cabin is bang up to date with wireless charging and wireless Apple CarPlay and all other new car nonsense like lane assist and radar cruise. It’s about 20 years ahead of the latest Hilux!
The car is remarkably refined on the go. Impressive levels of NVH and a massive step up over the old V6.
The sound system surprisingly good!
Ride is firm but rides better than the 2023 ranger wild track. It still has that pickup scuttle over big pot holes on the rear axle. I’ve dropped pressures which has helped. It corners well and with little roll all things considered.
Steering feel? Well you can feel when you hit a curb..
Gearbox is a 10 speed which means it’s constantly changing gear and just sitting on the start of the torque curve. I miss riding the twin turbo surge of the old V6. This is like a CVT Audi of old.
Interior is a very nice place to be and feels more premium over the equivalent ranger.
I’d say the quality of fit and finish on a whole is below what you would expect from a VW and it’s obvious it’s not a ‘ground up’ VW product.
Sadly I predict the fuel range to be much worse than my old V6 where I used to get well over 500 miles from a tank, and 600 on a run with a light load.
To those that say it’s just a re-bodied ranger. Well it is, albeit with a nicer quieter cabin, and a slighter better handling ride.
Other nice things to note is a 5 year warranty (dpf included?) 5 year servicing and first 2 mots included.
I need to get a hard top and a better bedliner when they become available and also want bigger rims with Non M&S tyres on for summer use.
I like to give it few miles before running it with anything like it’s max weight, so will report back as and when.
I have a trips to Cornwall, wales, Scotland and then the alps to fit in before the years out so if anyones interested, I will report back when it’s run in and racking up the miles.
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/geK27otF.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/Mg8LQD84" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/Mg8LQD84.jpg)
Early days but so far mixed feelings. My old V6 Amarok was a brilliant work truck and this new one has a hard act to follow.
I love that the truck comes fully loaded and the only options is the colour, there will be options for a tow bar and bigger rims and obviously hardtop/roll top, but not yet available. It makes the whole ordering process a doddle.
The cabin is bang up to date with wireless charging and wireless Apple CarPlay and all other new car nonsense like lane assist and radar cruise. It’s about 20 years ahead of the latest Hilux!
The car is remarkably refined on the go. Impressive levels of NVH and a massive step up over the old V6.
The sound system surprisingly good!
Ride is firm but rides better than the 2023 ranger wild track. It still has that pickup scuttle over big pot holes on the rear axle. I’ve dropped pressures which has helped. It corners well and with little roll all things considered.
Steering feel? Well you can feel when you hit a curb..
Gearbox is a 10 speed which means it’s constantly changing gear and just sitting on the start of the torque curve. I miss riding the twin turbo surge of the old V6. This is like a CVT Audi of old.
Interior is a very nice place to be and feels more premium over the equivalent ranger.
I’d say the quality of fit and finish on a whole is below what you would expect from a VW and it’s obvious it’s not a ‘ground up’ VW product.
Sadly I predict the fuel range to be much worse than my old V6 where I used to get well over 500 miles from a tank, and 600 on a run with a light load.
To those that say it’s just a re-bodied ranger. Well it is, albeit with a nicer quieter cabin, and a slighter better handling ride.
Other nice things to note is a 5 year warranty (dpf included?) 5 year servicing and first 2 mots included.
I need to get a hard top and a better bedliner when they become available and also want bigger rims with Non M&S tyres on for summer use.
I like to give it few miles before running it with anything like it’s max weight, so will report back as and when.
I have a trips to Cornwall, wales, Scotland and then the alps to fit in before the years out so if anyones interested, I will report back when it’s run in and racking up the miles.
Health to enjoy it looks lovely. There is something about VW at present that is worrying - build quality. Recently a friend bought a new VW Caddy van to replace a well used but not abused Mk 7 from 2019. He says the build quality, lack of sound proofing and general efficiency does not come close to his old one. I know VW nuts who are searching for Mk7 or 7.5 VW Golfs and are well able to buy a Mk8. I've 11 VW Golfs from a new 1.3C Mk2 to my last one a well specced 2020 E-Golf. It's sad that things are slipping.
oldmanbm said:
Health to enjoy it looks lovely. There is something about VW at present that is worrying - build quality. Recently a friend bought a new VW Caddy van to replace a well used but not abused Mk 7 from 2019. He says the build quality, lack of sound proofing and general efficiency does not come close to his old one. I know VW nuts who are searching for Mk7 or 7.5 VW Golfs and are well able to buy a Mk8. I've 11 VW Golfs from a new 1.3C Mk2 to my last one a well specced 2020 E-Golf. It's sad that things are slipping.
Probably has something to do with the Ranger, Caddy and Transporter all being built by Ford.normalbloke said:
oldmanbm said:
Health to enjoy it looks lovely. There is something about VW at present that is worrying - build quality. Recently a friend bought a new VW Caddy van to replace a well used but not abused Mk 7 from 2019. He says the build quality, lack of sound proofing and general efficiency does not come close to his old one. I know VW nuts who are searching for Mk7 or 7.5 VW Golfs and are well able to buy a Mk8. I've 11 VW Golfs from a new 1.3C Mk2 to my last one a well specced 2020 E-Golf. It's sad that things are slipping.
Probably has something to do with the Ranger, Caddy and Transporter all being built by Ford.For me it’s the very small details which are almost hard to describe which makes the difference on perceived build quality, in terms of actually build quality and durability, only time will tell.
However VW quality hasnt been where people expect it to be for a while now and certainly the last gen V6 Amarok was an absolute disaster in regards to dpf problems with some people facing regular bills in the £000’s to rectify.
However VW quality hasnt been where people expect it to be for a while now and certainly the last gen V6 Amarok was an absolute disaster in regards to dpf problems with some people facing regular bills in the £000’s to rectify.
I really like these, just not quite sure I want to jump from my Transporter back to a pick-up.
I had a V6 diesel Amarok before, the 258bhp is such a punchy engine and with a Revo mine was at 340ish which is mad for a commercial vehicle.
I’m not keen on the Ford aspect of this platform sharing arrangement, but the days of VW quality appear to be mostly long gone.
The 5 year warranty is reassuring, appears to be a show of confidence in the product.
My Transporter is at the garage currently for a leaking front crank seal, the second time in 18 months/6000 miles.
Edit to add, no dpf issues at all on the 3 diesel VW’s in the family, always run on premium diesel and a squirt of Hydra when I remember.
I had a V6 diesel Amarok before, the 258bhp is such a punchy engine and with a Revo mine was at 340ish which is mad for a commercial vehicle.
I’m not keen on the Ford aspect of this platform sharing arrangement, but the days of VW quality appear to be mostly long gone.
The 5 year warranty is reassuring, appears to be a show of confidence in the product.
My Transporter is at the garage currently for a leaking front crank seal, the second time in 18 months/6000 miles.
Edit to add, no dpf issues at all on the 3 diesel VW’s in the family, always run on premium diesel and a squirt of Hydra when I remember.
Edited by DirktheDaring on Sunday 23 July 17:22
DirktheDaring said:
I always run on premium diesel and a squirt of Hydra when I remember.
Does the premium diesel not already have cleaning etc additives, and a higher cetane rating that Hydra has through the 2-EHN content which may suggest it could be used with standard supermarket diesel.Edited by DirktheDaring on Sunday 23 July 17:22
Fabia Greenline said:
Does the premium diesel not already have cleaning etc additives, and a higher cetane rating that Hydra has through the 2-EHN content which may suggest it could be used with standard supermarket diesel.
You make a good point, I’ve never bothered to check the fine print, but I’ve been using this stuff for about 5 years on various VAG diesels and had no dpf issues at all, it’s probably just snake oil, but I can genuinely feel a difference when I add this to a tank of cheap diesel, not so much on the premium stuff. HYDRA MAXIMUS fuel injector cleaner, 1 Litre treats Up To 500 L, for cleaning diesel injectors performance enhancing diesel turbo cleaner additive for diesel fuel EGR valve cleaner diesel engines https://amzn.eu/d/1vfJ9AX
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