WATCH: New VW Amarok takes on rivals in drag race

The 2023 Volkswagen Amarok has arrived fresh from South Africa and so it’s no surprise that our friends at Cars.co.za has already compared the all-new model back-to-back with its key dual-cab 4x4 ute rivals.

In fact, it’s gone a step further and put them side-by-side on the drag strip, and the result of this seven-vehicle four-cylinder diesel ute drag race will surprise most.

In this era of 150kW/500Nm benchmarks for four-cylinder turbo-diesel pick-ups, you’d definitely be forgiven for thinking the new Ford Ranger and its VW mechanical twin would romp away from lower-output utes like the Isuzu D-MAX and GWM Ute.

And for the most part that’s what happens in Cars.co.za’s seven-way drag race between the Ranger, Amarok, D-MAX, GWM Ute, Toyota HiLux, Mitsubishi Triton and Nissan Navara and Ute, but the new bi-turbo twins were dealt a curveball nobody saw coming and were bested by the unassuming Triton.

Significantly down on power and torque compared to the Ranger and Amarok – 133kW/430Nm v 154kW/500Nm – the Triton wasn’t the quickest ‘bakkie’ out of the blocks, but its notably lower kerb weight quickly allowed it to spring to the front of the race, where it stayed until the finish line.

The gutsier Ranger and Amarok gained slowly as speeds climbed – but nowhere near quickly enough, with the Ranger finishing a vehicle length behind the Mitsubishi and the Amarok close behind the pair after a less than great start.

The HiLux was next and just edged out the D-MAX in the final metres to take fourth, while the Navara managed to gap the GWM, which came last.

An obvious omission from the line-up was the LDV T60 Max with its class-leading 160kW twin-turbo powertrain, however, there’s a very good reason for its absence – it’s not offered in South Africa.

The inclusion of the V6 Ranger and Amarok would of course have changed the finishing order, but those vehicles are in a league of their own as the only mainstream diesel V6 utes on sale here.

Indeed, it will be interesting to see how the new Amarok and Ranger compare when powered by the same Ford-sourced 3.0-litre turbo-diesel – and whether the new Amarok V6 is as quick as its predecessor, which combined more torque and less weight and was the previous 0-100km/h benchmark.

For now though, the aging but trusty Triton takes the gong as the quickest four-cylinder diesel ute on the market, proving that age and output don’t always tell the full story – and that the new-generation Triton has big shoes to fill.

Related: Best Dual-Cab 4x4 Ute 2022
Related: Volkswagen Amarok 2023 Review