Volkswagen Amarok 2023 Review – International

The 2023 Volkswagen Amarok range will include five models, four engine choices and a huge bump-up in equipment specification when it launches in Australia in April.

The five models are the Core, Life (was Sportline), Style (was Highline), the new PanAmericana and flagship Aventura.

The four engines are all from Ford: single- and twin-turbo four-cylinder 2.0-litre diesel, 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel and a 2.3-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol already seen in Australia in the Mustang.

While the linkage between Amarok and Ranger is comprehensive, VW has achieved significant exterior differentiation. Only the glasshouse, roof and some knick-knacks like door-handles and mirrors are shared. The body panels below the shoulder line and the entire cargo box are unique to the ‘German’ ute.

The work has paid off because it definitely has its own handsome identity that’s less bullish than the Ranger yet still lives in that tough-truck environment.

Volkswagen isn’t yet talking Amarok pricing for Australia, but it’s going to be at the more expensive end of the congested dual-cab 4x4 ute field, likely positioned above equivalent Rangers as well as other key rivals such as the Toyota HiLux, Isuzu D-MAX and Mazda BT-50.

The two models we’re focussing on here are the off-roady PanAmericana, which is new to the range, and the urban-ish second-generation Aventura, which is the flagship.

The PanAmericana should start somewhere near the mid-$70,000s before on-road costs, while the Aventura could threaten $80,000 or even start above it. Just for comparison’s sake, the current Aventura is priced at $73,490 plus on-road costs. The locally-modified Walkinshaw ‘W’ models are already into the $80K bracket before ORCs.

W-series replacements are coming but they are still a fair way away.

There are no warranty, servicing intervals or servicing cost details yet released for the new Amarok, but expect it to be covered by VW’s normal five-year/unlimited-km warranty and have a capped-price service program.

The 2023 Volkswagen PanAmericana and Aventura share a high equipment baseline and then deviate from each other to define their characters.

External items common to both in Australia are expected to include front bumpers in an X-design theme, side steps, roof rails and LED tail-lights. Inside there are leather trimmings for the seats, dashboard and door inserts, and 10-way powered front seats.

The PanAmericana is essentially a black pack while the Aventura prefers chrome exterior trims, including door mirrors, side steps and rear bumper.

The PanAmericana rides on 18-inch all-terrain rubber, has a sports bar, soft tonneau cover and spray-in bedliner.

The Aventura comes with massive 21-inch alloy wheels, a sailplane, powered roller-cover and drop-in bedliner.

Inside, the two cars get different shades of leather and trim treatments, plus ambient lighting.

Equipment shared with lesser models includes an insulating windscreen, dual-zone climate control, puddle lamps, a multifunction steering wheel, the unloved shift-by-wire e-selector from Ranger, keyless entry/start and an electronic parking brake.

The cargo box includes LED lighting and lashing rings that can each take a tensile load up to 400kg. One obvious miss compared to the Ranger is the rear quarter step Ford made such a big fuss about. VW customers weren’t that fussed about having it apparently.

All new Amaroks come with a full-size spare tyre although VW has yet to clarify whether they will be mounted on steel or alloy wheels.

A vastly increased standard safety equipment list is a cornerstone of the 2023 Volkswagen Amarok’s appeal.

The new model includes the full suite of front, side, knee, curtain and front-centre airbags. It also includes a sophisticated form of autonomous emergency braking that employs both a radar and camera and detects both pedestrians and cyclists.

The one thing we are still waiting on is an ANCAP safety rating, but the expectation has to be it will deliver five stars.

In addition to AEB, the driver assistance package of the PanAmericana and Aventura includes blind spot monitoring, intelligent adaptive cruise control with lane keep assist and speed sign recognition, cross-traffic alert, a 360-degree view provided by four cameras, hands- and feet-free park assist and front/rear parking sensors.

The Amarok also comes with tyre pressure monitoring, an intelligent speed-limiter, driver drowsiness detection, multi-collision brake and eCall, which contacts rescue services when an airbag is triggered.

Standard on both PanAmericana and Aventura, as well as the cheaper Style, are IQ.Light LED matrix headlights that don’t dazzle oncoming drivers with high beam.

As per Ranger, the Amarok’s blind spot assist system includes trailer coverage when towing.

As the flagship models in the 2023 Volkswagen Amarok line-up, the PanAmericana and Aventura benefit from the best infotainment tech available from the co-development parts bin.

That includes a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and the 12.0-inch digital touch-screen. These are the same size and offer fundamentally the same services as those found in the top-spec Ford Ranger. They even use Ford’s Sync operating system.

However, VW’s designers have overlaid their own graphics and presentation. The cluster even includes a proper round tacho dial, not the weird half-effort in the Ranger.

Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity are standard, as is wireless smartphone connection. Pumping out the sounds is a 640-Watt Harmon/Kardon eight-speaker (including a sub-woofer) audio.

There is one USB-A and one USB-C port mounted under the touch-screen, two 12V outlets in the cabin and one in the cargo box. A 120V/230V three-pin socket is on the back of the lidded bin.

The 2023 Volkswagen Amarok PanAmericana and Aventura are both powered by Ford’s Lion turbo-diesel V6, while the Aventura also offers the 2.3-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder option.

Sadly, the 222kW/452Nm petrol engine was unavailable to drive in Cape Town, so we’ll concentrate on the 184kW/600Nm single-turbo SOHC 60-degree V6.

We already know all about the substantial development it’s gone through to be fitted in Ranger, Everest and Amarok, so we won’t reprise that.

The interesting thing is the engine offers up to 16kW less power than the top-spec V6 in the outgoing original Amarok range, but regains some ground by adding an extra 20Nm of torque.

Attached to the engine is Ford’s 10R80 10-speed torque converter auto and – for the first time in Amarok’s history – a permanent 4x4 system with low-range gearing to aid it for gnarlier off-road work.

There are no official fuel consumption numbers for the 2023 Volkswagen Amarok range as yet. But for comparison’s sake the Ford Ranger Wildtrak V6 with the V6 drivetrain claims 8.4L/100km on the ADR combined cycle.

During our driving over more than 200km on open roads that included plenty of low-revs cruising in high gear, as well as some steep mountain passes, the PanAmericana on test ended with a 10.2L/100km average according to its trip computer.

The entire 2023 Volkswagen Amarok range measures up wider, longer and heavier than its predecessor. It uses the same fundamental suspension layout as before – double wishbones up front and leaf springs and live axle at the rear – but this time round it’s based on Ford’s third-generation T6 ladder frame rather than VW’s own design.

VW has varied suspension tune depending on the model. Essentially, the entry-level Core, the Life and the mid-spec Style share the same chassis and steering set-ups.

The PanAmericana uses a softer suspension tune reflecting its off-roader intent, while the Aventura swings the set-up halfway back toward the cheaper models and goes for a faster tune of its electro-mechanical rack-and-pinion steering.

What kinda spoiled trying to surmise how this all added up was VW’s decision to fit all the PanAmericanas on test with 20-inch highway rubber rather than the standard 18-inch all-terrain tyres.

This produced an irritatingly pattery ride on mildly uneven surfaces. Happily, it seemed better able to cope with big sharp-edged hits at speed. The chance to briefly trial the stiffer Style on 18s produced a notably better ride. That bodes well for the PanAmericana when it gets to Australia with its standard rubber fitted.

Sadly, the Aventura proved to have a dispiritingly tough ride on any surface that wasn’t bum-smooth. It even felt like our test vehicle had a wheel out of balance at some speeds as an obvious vibration was set up and even transmitted into the steering wheel.

Steering tune is definitely set-up to be heavier at speed than the Ranger. It is intended to be more in keeping with the current Amarok. The weighting was entirely acceptable, but the overall feel of this upsized second generation was more ponderous than the original.

Both flagship Amaroks were quiet in most circumstances – our PanAmericana produced some wind noise off the mirrors, but it was a gusty day.

The big V6 is refined and smooth but is not the fireball the specs might have promised. Certainly, someone who steps out of a gen-one Amarok V6 is going to notice the urge is less immediate.

VW wanted to add an overboost function to the engine but Ford wouldn’t play ball on that. A sport mode was judged too expensive to add to the six drive modes on offer and manual shifting via steering wheel paddles – as per Ranger Raptor – was ruled unnecessary.

So that means manipulating the engine manually via the clutzy e-shifter or just letting the 10-speed auto do its thing. Even with its energetic efforts at low engine speeds, the transmission couldn’t prevent the response from sometimes being lethargic and occasionally even falling into a laggy hole.

There was no chance to drive the 2023 Volkswagen Amarok PanAmericana or Aventura off-road – instead we were shuttled into the 155kW/500Nm biturbo four-cylinder Style for that experience.

As a result of the joint-venture development program the four-cylinder Amaroks now have a part-time 4x4 system, although low-range gearing is also added here. Other key off-road features include a locking rear diff and hill descent control.

Changes between high and low range are made via a dial on the centre console (the V6s do it the same way but a add a high-range 4x4 Auto function). All these features were experimented with during a scrabble around the mountainous and rocky wine country east of Cape Town.

The Amarok Style never felt seriously challenged for traction or ground clearance and rarely touched down its steel underbody protection.

Measure for measure the 2023 Volkswagen Amarok is 96mm longer than the old one at 5350mm, 34mm narrower at 1910mm overall and also narrower across the tracks. The wheelbase grows a massive 173mm to 3270mm.

The claimed turning circle drops slightly from 12.95m to 12.93m. The new generation is significantly heavier at up to 2540kg versus the old 2244kg peak weight. Braked towing capacity is given at 3500kg and the Gross Combined Mass is upped from 6000kg to 6500kg. A Gross Vehicle Mass is yet to be confirmed.

The peak Amarok payload – presumably for the base model Core – is claimed to be 1.19 tonnes, up from one tonne.

The bed length is about 70mm longer than before at 1624mm and the width between the wheel-arches grows slightly to 1227mm. This means it can continue to fit both Euro and Aussie pallets between the wheel-arches.

Wading depth is substantially increased from 500mm to 800mm and ground clearance is also up slightly to 237mm. Approach and departure angles are slightly improved but ramp over is reduced.

While not quite as compellingly and convincingly different to the Ford Ranger as the exterior, the interiors of the 2023 Volkswagen Amarok PanAmericana and Aventura have their bespoke items.

Both the steering wheel and front seats have been redesigned. While using the same frames as the Ranger, the seats employ a softer foam and more bolstering to produce a more pliant seat than is the German norm without it being an unsupportive mess.

The reach- and rake-adjustable steering wheel comes with a pleasingly high grade of leather wrapping on the rim. Some of the switchgear on the spokes is familiar from the Ford.

The instrument cluster design is especially effective because it is clean, classy and in the VW style. It would be great if it offered more tunability of look, but that was outside the budget apparently.

VW has redefined access to the infotainment screen with a row of tabs and a volume button sitting below. It’s not entirely successful as adjustments of the air-con have to be made via the screen, which whites out while the temperature is changed.

Storage includes double gloveboxes, a centre lidded bin, substantial door bins in all four doors and double pockets on the back of the front seats. There are cup-holders on the centre console and in a fold-down armrest for rear-seat passengers.

The rear seat has been significantly improved in the new Amarok. The longer wheelbase has liberated lots more legroom and the seatback has been reclined to provide a more relaxed seating position.

It is still pretty upright like in most dual-cabs, but it is a lot better.

Our South African drive of the 2023 Volkswagen Amarok PanAmericana and Aventura – and Style, albeit too briefly – showed enough promise for us to know this is a good ute.

Importantly, Volkswagen has done plenty of good work to ensure its progeny from this joint-venture has a healthy amount of its own identity and appeal.

But there are still important unknowns. Pricing is yet to be made completely clear and the PanAmericana’s disappointing tyre choice for the launch drive did not help us get a proper handle on how it will work on Aussie roads with its standard 18-inch rubber.

Right now we can say the new Amarok will be one of the best dual-cab 4x4 utes on offer in Australia.

But only after the pricing is unveiled, we experience it in local conditions and conduct back-to-back testing against logical rivals will we know if it’s the best ute of them all.

Roll on April!

2023 Volkswagen Amarok PanAmericana at a glance:
Price: $75,000 (estimated, plus on-road costs)
Available: April 2023
Engine: 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel
Output: 184kW/600Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Fuel: NA
CO2: NA
Safety rating: NA

2023 Volkswagen Amarok Aventura at a glance:
Price: $80,000 (estimated, plus on-road costs)
Available: April 2023
Engine: 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel
Output: 184kW/600Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Fuel: NA
CO2: NA
Safety rating: NA