Volkswagen’s Amarok is not one of the country’s best-selling bakkies. Part of the reason, we believe, is that generally the best- sellers are manufactured right here in
South Africa, thus placing them favourably when it comes to pricing and export points. Secondly, the
Amarok is no longer sold in
single or
extended cab forms, which means only the more expensive and leisure-biased
double cab models are on sale.
As such, the
Amarok habitually only sells less than 200 units per month, compared to the top two competitive products that sell in excess of 2 000 monthly units (including single and extended cabs). However, all this does not mean the
Amarok is a bad bakkie. Fact of the matter is, it is one of the best in the business, and the new
Canyon edition is the epitome of this.
The vehicle’s main point of attraction is the special and exclusive
Honey Orange paint colour, which can be found on the exterior, including the
side mirrors.
Volkswagen then contrasted that with
black door handles,
wheel arches,
side steps,
matte black styling bar and a
rear black bumper.
Honey Orange continues its theme, appearing on the
partial-leather seats and
seat belt stitching, as well as inside around the
leather steering wheel ring,
gear lever and
centre console. The
17-inch Aragua alloy wheels are
two-tone and have lent themselves to criticism that they look too small for the
arches.
Of course this is not a new car, rather a
special edition model. That means items found in other similar-spec and
trim Amarok, are found in the
Canyon as well. These include things like
Bi-xenon headlights,
LED daytime running lights,
park distance control with rear camera,
six airbags,
brakes with ABS,
Hill Hold Assist and ESP. It also comes with
Volkswagen’s Radio Composition Media with a
touch screen and
App Connect.
Only one engine is fitted to the
Amarok Canyon, and that is the tried and trusted, powerful
3.0-litre V6 TDI. Maximum power generated by this unit is
165kW, and
torque is 550Nm. However, there is a small
overboost function that automatically kicks in for about 10 seconds during overtaking. That special function takes these respective figures to
180kW and
580Nm each. All this is sent to all four wheels via an
8-speed automatic gearbox and the highly capable company
4Motion all-wheel-drive (AWD)
system. You can definitely take the
Amarok Canyon to the depth of the bundus without any fear, provided that you know what you are doing.
Volkswagen says it can
sprint from standstill to 100km/h in 8 seconds flat,
topping out at 193km/h while returning
9 litres per 100km in average fuel consumption.
